Howdy,

The Valley Regional/Old Lyme coaching staff looked at both the division breakdown and enrollment numbers for this season when they were released last spring and realized that if they had the good fortune to make it to a state final, Ansonia would most likely be waiting.

Sometime after that, the coaches rounded up the senior class to let them know that defensive coordinator Paul Ginter would step down after the season.

Ginter’s message — this year would be his last ride, and who was going to take it with him.

The Warriors went along with Ginter for the ride, and it turned out to be one crazy trip. They scored all their points in the final seven minutes of last Saturday’s CIAC Class S-Large final and rallied to beat Ansonia, 21-20, for the program’s first state title.

The Warriors (13-0) joined fellow champions Southington (Class LL-Large) and Windsor (Class L-Small) as the state’s only unbeaten teams. They also finished eighth in both The Day of New London coaches’ and New Haven Register media polls, a first for the program.

Valley/Old Lyme’s senior class will graduate as the most successful in program history. They helped the program to three of its four playoff appearances as well as back-to-back Pequot Football Conference championships the last two years. They also had a very tight bond with the coaching staff, which Ginter made known to them.

“(Paul) was so close to this senior group that he said, ‘I’m going to go out with these guys,’” King said. “We brought the seniors into the gym along with the coaches and he said to them, ‘This is it. I’m going to go out with you guys. I’m all in. I’m going to work my butt off for you. I’m going to take days off from work for the playoffs or whenever I need to and concentrate on game film and game plan.’”

Valley/Old Lyme players did their part by going 11-0 during the regular season. That included a 6-0 win over Morgan on Halloween, highlighted by a goal-line stand in the second quarter. The following week, the Warriors stopped Avon three inside their own 20 in the fourth quarter to win, 17-9.

“We knew that was going to be a tough road right there,” King said. “Luckily we got through those two. Those were some nail biters.”

Ansonia, which was ranked eighth in the coaches’ poll prior to states, was the toughest team Valley/Old Lyme would face. The Chargers had a dangerous offensive trio in quarterback Jai’Quan McKnight, running back Tajik Bagley and receiver Tyler Bailey and a defense that shut down high-scoring Naugatuck on Thanksgiving (a 47-12 win). The program also has a reputation and tradition that can psych out opponents.

“The mystique of the program did nothing to our kids, believe it or not,” King said. “We were more affected by it than the kids, to be very honest with you. It was just another game (to them), but it was the biggest game of their life. They knew it would be the best team they played all year, probably the best team we’ve faced since St. Joseph (in the 2010 playoffs) that was absolutely loaded.

“They knew they had their work cut out for them but they knew if they stuck together and hung together and did what we did best that good things were going to happen.”

The good things didn’t happen until the final seven minutes, and they came in bunches. A short Chris Jean-Pierre to Evan Smith pass that the latter took for a 40-yard touchdown after juking out three defenders (teammate Andrew Tuscano also provided a key block). Jean-Pierre ran for an 8-yard touchdown with 3:26 left as Valley/Old Lyme cut its deficit to 20-14.

The Warriors caught two more breaks in succession. The first was when Bagley caught the kickoff and was knocked over by McKnight, his teammate, at the Ansonia 9.

Bailey broke free for a run on first down for 21 yards. but Dan Figuenick knocked the ball loose and it landed in Justin Cheverier’s hands for a fumble recovery at the Chargers’ 41.

“That was the play of the season,” King said.

Jean-Pierre ran for a 4-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal to tie the game. The snap on the extra point was low, but Matthew Sapere got the ball on the tee, and Roche’s extra point gave the Wildcats a 21-20 lead with 22 seconds left.

“It was a storybook ending,” Valley/Old Lyme coach Tim King said. “And it wasn’t like we played the school of misfits toys. It was Ansonia. … That was a team that’s been to the finals 28 times and won 19. That’s just incredible, and hats off to them.

“We came off the highway (coming home from the game) and there were 10 fire trucks and tankers. They took us through the streets of Deep River. … Then we got up to the school and it was incredible. There had to be close to 500 people in the parking lot. The fire trucks came in blasting their horns. The kids were like, ‘I’m living a dream.’ It was pretty neat for a small community to band together on short notice.”

• • • •

Mike Drury has been at Southington for just four seasons and coached them to back-to-back state championships. What’s more impressive is that it’s Drury’s first head-coaching gig.

Drury, 32, had some good role models along the way. His first coaching job was working under current Middletown head coach Sal Morello when the former was at Cromwell. Morello was the Panthers first coach and took them to the Class S state final in their first varsity season (2001). They beat Ansonia, 14-12, to win the Class S title in 2008.

“I really learned what it’s like to start a program from the ground up, and there were a ton of things,” Drury said. “He used to have to jump through hoops. He had to bus the kids to practice every day, he worked the mental toughness game, and it showed with their success.

“I worked with Joe Stochmal at Oxford. He’s another coach who started a program from the ground up. He made that into a successful program. He’s extremely detailed-oriented in terms of practice and game-planning. It was great to learn from him there.

“I had some great people to work with. I was an assistant coach at Bristol Central. Brian Archibald, he was a tough coach. He got everything out of his kids.”

Drury also grew up with the perfect role model — Chuck, his father. Chuck Drury coached Pomperaug for 27 seasons and led them to three South-West Conference titles and a Class MM state title. He was respected by his peers as much for his integrity and humanity as he was for his coaching.

Chuck Drury resigned from Pomperaug in 2011 to be on Mike’s staff.

“I had been able to work with Dad behind the scenes,” Mike Drury said. “The relationship he had with his players was incredible. His kids would run through a brick wall for him. They still say that to him to this day.

“Working with those coaches, it helped (me).”

• • • •

Two classy moments seen during the playoffs:

• New London’s Oscar Calcano had to be helped off the field during the Whalers 46-14 Class M-Large semifinal loss at Brookfield. He watched the rest of the game with one leg propped up on the bench.

Bobcats players, when they got to the end of the handshake line after the game, went over to Calcano to shake his hand.

• St. Joseph’s Mufasha Abdul-Basir hugged Ledyard’s JoJo Shumaker moments after the Class M-Small final and talked to him for a bit before going to celebrate a 37-7 win with his team.

CLASSY.

• • • •

We're not going to bother going into the details of the FCIAC's latest move to save its championship game because it makes our head hurt. YOU are, however, encouraged to read Sean Patrick Bowley's report about it at GameTimeCT.com.

We will write the following, however:

1. Anyone from the FCIAC territories who swears that its league title means more than a CIAC state title is either a liar or delusional.

Ain't no way New Canaan would exchange its state title for the FCIAC's. Uh-uh. Not happening.

2. This has as much to do with money as anything else. The title game has been an ATM machine for the league.

3. Should the FCIAC feel that it must protect its league final at all costs, fine — secede from the CIAC.

• • • •

The Day of New London’s Top 10 state coaches poll. … is atop this page.

• • • •

The New Haven Register Top 10 media poll: 1. Southington (12-0, all 27 first-place votes); 2. New Canaan; 3 Windsor; 4. Darien; 5. St. Joseph; 6. Xavier; 7. Shelton; 8. Valley Regional/Old Lyme; 9. Newtown, and, 10. Brookfield.

• • • •

Ned Freeman’s cold, calculating computer rankings for CalPreps.com and MaxPreps.com: 1. New Canaan (helped by its opponents having a ridiculous combined 89-50 record); 2. Southington; 3. Darien; 4. Xavier; 5. St. Joseph; 6. Shelton; 7. Windsor; 8. Newtown; 9. Fairfield Prep (7-4); 10. Valley Regional/Old Lyme. Brookfield was 12th.

Xavier finished so high thanks to having the top strength of schedule rating. Its opponents were a combined 88-53, featuring the likes of Shelton (12-1), Newtown (11-1), North Haven (9-3), Notre Dame-West Haven (9-4), Fairfield Prep (7-4), Staples (7-4), and West Haven (6-5).

• • • •

So, um, we absentmindedly deleted the ballot that Polecat Worldwide submitted to media poll coordinator Pooch Diggity Dogg of the GameTimeCT Monolith on Monday. We also can't remember who we voted where after No. 4.

This much we can tell you — this was one of the harder final ballots in recent memory. Part of the problem was because there were eight state champions. Another was teams swapping losses amongst one another.

Southington was a no-brainer at numero uno and, as you see, was a unanimous choice amongst the wags.

And then things got fun.

New Canaan and Windsor were both worthy of second. New Canaan won a tougher division (Class L-Large) than Windsor. It also played a better schedule with wins over Class M-Small champion St. Joseph (41-14, Nov. 11), unbeaten Wethersfield (27-14, L-Large semis), and FCIAC champion and rival Darien in the state final (21-20).

The case for the Warriors — they were one of just three unbeaten teams, won Class L-Small (the program’s first title), and were among the state leaders in points against (6.7 average).

The Rams got the nod based on strength of schedule (it’s ridiculous it lost once given its opponents were a combined 39 games over .500). Their loss was to Darien in overtime in the Thanksgrabbing FCIAC final, 28-21 (they also wasted a 21-0 lead).

Darien was placed third behind New Canaan as it lost in the L-Large final, 21-20, after an errant snap on an extra point screwed up the attempt. It also flubbed the dub as it led the Rams at halftime, 20-7.

Xavier was another issue as it lost three of its last four regular season games, including a 10-3 home loss to Hand (5-6) on Halloween, followed by a 28-20 loss at Shelton. It needed three teams to be upset on Thanksgrabbing to qualify. It was part of a SCC circle of strife — Fairfield Prep beat Notre Dame-West Haven (35-18), ND beat Xavier (27-24) and Xavier beat Prep (35-28). It also caught a break when Shelton’s Mark Piccirillo fumbled the ball at the Falcons’ 1-yard line with under a minute left in last Saturday’s LL-Small final with the game tied at 21-21 (whether or not Piccirillo fumbled or not has caused some folks to wind-and-rewind video of the play as if it were the Zapruder film).

The flip side to the Xavier debate — it went on the road and beat unbeaten three-time South-West Conference champion Newtown (13-7) and found a way to beat the Gaels in the rematch.

Shelton had to be slotted a spot behind Xavier based on splitting the games and coming agonizingly close a title.

Newtown had to be in the Top 10, but behind both Xavier and Shelton. Couldn’t drop out a team that lost to the eventual L-Large champion and beat M-Large champion Brookfield twice (21-14, and 42-0 in the SWC final).

Wethersfield needed to be ranked around the teens. It finished the regular season 11-0. It also rallied back from a 21-point deficit at New Canaan and cut its deficit to seven points in the third quarter. It lost, 27-14, but it gave the Rams more trouble than St. Joseph (although the latter had an awful day and had starters hurt).

Hadn't ranked Valley Regional/Old Lyme all season and had doubts about its ability to run the ball with power in the state final. It proved us wrong had to be around 10-or-so.

Ledyard was another issue as it bludgeoned every team it played up until last Saturday’s clunker in the Class M-Small final. The Colonels picked a bad time to have its worst day. It didn't help that the ECC’s already bad rep got even worse as Ledyard and NFA lost by a combined score of 86-7 in the finals (not to mention the 46-14 thrashing New London took at Brookfield in the M-Large semis).

The Colonels had to be put ahead of Brookfield, however, as we thought it was better.

(Note that the coaches voted Brookfield ahead of Newtown as some place a bigger emphasis on winning a state title due to its difficulty over head-to-head play. Don’t agree with it in this case, but c’est la vie).

We DO remember taking Prep and ND at 13th and 14th respectively. Prep didn’t make states and underachieved based on how much it returned from last season’s Class LL runner-up, but it did beat ND head-to-head, and we liked its offense better than the latter.

Glastonbury rounded out the ballot. It got further credit for playing five Class LL playoff teams during the regular season — at Southington (a 41-38 loss — the Blue Knights' closest game all year), at Hall (a 20-14, overtime loss), at NFA (a 24-0 win), vs. New Britain (a 30-6 win), and vs. Windsor (a 28-14 loss).

• • • •

STATGEEKERY~!

Some wacky numbers from last weekend's state finals:

• Five of the eight state champions had less yardage than their opponents: Brookfield had just 157 yards against Berlin and scored just one offensive touchdown in last Friday's game. It won, 14-0.

Ansonia had a 404-288 edge in yardage against Valley/Old Lyme. It also averaged 8.1 yards per play. Yet the WARRIORCATS won.

Capital Prep/Achievement First 122 less yards than North Branford (322-200) in last Saturday's Class S-Small final. It won 20-13, namely because the Thunderbirds fumbled seven times and lost five of them.

New Canaan had 25 carries for minus-49 yards. That's a bit skewed as quarterback Mike Collins was sacked eight times for minus-59 yards.

• TIME OF POSSESSION MEANS NOTHING: Everyone here at Polecat Worldwide believes in the power of the manly discipline of the running arts. We'd hold onto the ball for 58 minutes if we could.

Time of possession has become SO overrated, however. NFA, for instance, had the ball for 29 minutes, 3 seconds. Southington had over FIVE TIMES more yardage than the Wildcats (495-to-98). It also had a 55-51 advantage in plays run (averaging 9 yards) and 24 first downs.

• NUMBER OF PLAYS AIN'T EVERYTHING, EITHER: Notre Dame of West Haven had a 73-49 edge in plays against Windsor. Didn't matter — the Warriors had 401 yards to its 267.

• SOUTHINGTON'S OFFENSE: The Blue Knights had a 300-yard passer, two 100-yard receivers, and a 100-yard rusher.

Jasen Rose completed 24 of 31 passes for 348 yards and five touchdowns. Matt Maxwell (8 catches, 127 yards, 3 TDs) and Alex Jamele (7 catches, 126 yards, 2 TDs) were his top targets. And Vance Upham ran 15 times for 102 yards and a score.

The Blue Knights also had the weekend's leading tackler — defensive end Daniel Williams (14).

• DEFENSE: ND cut Windsor's lead to 19-16 in the third quarter. The Warriors answered with two defensive touchdowns in six minutes. Eric Vinson scored on a 69-yard interception return. Tyler Coyle later recovered a fumble and took it 89 yards.

Bobby Drysdale had four of Brookfield's nine sacks against Berlin. Teammate Nick Seis added three.

Darien's Mark Evanchick had half of his team's eight sacks.

• FIELD POSITION: Jean-Pierre had five punts and averaged 44.6 yards.

• • • •

STORYTIME~!

Kurmudgeonly Kountry Kyle Brennan, Waterbury Anarchist-American: Blue Knights play bigger by tackling, battling, lover harder.

Bryant Carpenter, Meriden Record-Journal: Bloom wore off long ago, and, What’s the buzz? It’s definitely that Southington ‘D’.

Ray Curran, GameTimeCT.com Monolith: Inside the SCC.

Pooch Diggity Dogg, GameTimeCT.com Monolith: State notebook.

Mike DiMauro, TEAM DAY: ECC has a long way to go to be a football conference. YEP.

Jeff Jacobs, Hartford Courant: Windsor coach’s words resonate beyond football. That would be Rob Fleeting, one of trillions of extraordinary Southern Connecticut State graduates.

Cameron McDonough, CentralCTCommunications.com: Southington’s seniors led way to top.

Shoreline Jimmy Zanor, GameTimeCT.com Monolith: A memorable season and game for Valley Regional/Old Lyme.

Some cat, TEAM DAY: Happy Holiday for Blue Knights, named No. 1 in The Day's Top 10.

• • • •

Thanks for reading. More whenever needed.

Vaya con dios, Gint.