Southington's LUDICROUS SPEED, Ansonia, clocks, polls, notables, STORYTIME, etc. We're not telling you the word count anymore
Southington’s Logan LaRosa and Alessio Diana were both asked how much sprinting is involved at practice to get the team conditioned for their light speed offense.
Both began their answers with, “Oh, my God.”
“It’s just tiring, every day,” Diana said. “You might think we’re used to it, but, no, it gets tiring every day because you’re going fast every time. We don’t play like this out of nowhere. It’s conditioning in the summer and winter. We always run, every day. It’s just a constant grind.
“I you’re not going full speed, you’re either getting yelled at or you’re sitting down. If you’re not going hard, then you have to sit on the sidelines. That’s basically it.”
The Blue Knights believe that tempo is a weapon, and they wield it as well as any team in the state. The two-time defending Class LL champions go as fast as they can to eventually gas an opponent, something they did once again in last Friday’s game at fellow Class LL power Glastonbury.
Southington spent the first three quarters having to play from behind until its pace caught up to the Tomahawks. It scored 27 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win 61-41.
“It’s probably 5 percent of the time that I’m actually walking,” LaRosa said about practice. “The practices are just unbelievably fast-paced. Our coaches emphasize that every practice. We have a high-tempo period where we step it up even more. Then, during our team periods (offense vs. defense), it’s exactly like you see during the game ... and we just keep going.
“Going against our offense really helps us against other offenses.”
The Blue Knights’ stats were ridiculous last Friday despite possessing the ball for less than half of the game (23 minutes, 9 seconds).
Southington ran 79 plays for 31 first downs and 613 yards.
“Our mentality is we’re going to be better if we’re faster,” Blue Knights coach Mike Drury said. “To me, the less the kids think, it gets that kind of attacking mentality, and that's what we want to do. We want to be an aggressive-style defense. We want to play a fast-attacking offense.”
Coaches such as Tony Franklin, Chip Kelly and Gus Malzahn were among those who popularized the concept of operating an up-tempo offense when Drury took over Southington in 2011. He and his staff worked diligently to put together their own system.
“I takes time, it takes work,” Drury said. “We visited various colleges and talked to coaches. How they practice. How they do things.
“We took a little bit from multiple colleges. … The majority of (our system) is we just sat down as a staff, put the whole thing together and kind of created it and tweaked it along the way. … We had to create a language system, verbal and signs, and then we’re always looking at how we can get faster than that. How do we communicate so that we can go as fast as we can?”
Tempo don't mean a thing if there ain't talent on the team, which Southington certainly has. Senior quarterback Jasen Rose is headed to UConn and has completed 66 percent of his passes for 878 yards with 18 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Junior Vance Upham may be the state's most in-shape high school football player. Southington uses a platoon system, but Upham plays both running back and linebacker. He ran 31 times for 229 yards and two touchdowns against Glastonbury.
Diana, playing on a sprained ankle, had 12 carries for 172 yards and a score.
"Vance is a power runner," LaRosa said. "Alessio is more of a (taking a cut) and he'll break through."
Drury said, "They prepare themselves for games like this. I think it showed why we believe this is the best backfield in the state."
Rose added 21 carries for 99 yards and three touchdowns.
Do the math — that trio combined for 64 carries for 500 yards and six TDs.
Glastonbury (3-1) gave the Blue Knights hell for most of Friday’s game, their toughest test since, well, last season’s Week 1 game.
The combination of UConn-bound quarterback Keyion Dixon and Jake Madnick kept gutting Southington’s defense with one long run after the next. They combined to run for 326 yards. They also gave their team a 41-34 lead after three quarters.
“He’s an elite athlete,” Drury said about Dixon. “I think he’s probably one of the best athletes in the state. He’s a great one. Even when you’re in the right spots, he can make you miss.
“Rob Thomson, our defensive coordinator, simplified things a little bit for the guys at halftime and just allowed them to go out there and play fast.”
Upham tied the game with a 3-yard run to open the fourth quarter.
Southington kept running play after play as fast as it could, generally using Upham as a hatchet to hack away at the Tomahawks' defense.
The pace finally caught up to Glastonbury with players gasping for air or missing tackles they'd normally make. Rose ran for a 6-yard touchdown to give Southington the lead with 8:02 remaining. Diana followed with a 24-yard touchdown run. Rose scored again on a 48-yard run.
“They (Glastonbury) have some guys going two ways, and that’s always a tough thing,” Drury said. “We wanted to make sure we kept the pressure on.”
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The first thing you notice when you see Ansonia is its lack of overwhelming size. All those behemoths it’s had who trampled overwhelmed foes over the years are gone. The Chargers have dudes who are mortal-sized.
The second thing you’ll notice is that Ansonia is working on incorporating 18 new starters. It (wisely) leans on all-staters Tyler Bailey and Tajik Bagley on offense. The defense needed about a half to adjust to Seymour in last Thursday’s game. Chargers’ head coach Tom Brockett said that the team is a work in progress that will continue throughout the year.
The last thing you’ll notice about Ansonia — that it keeps on winning. It scored three second-half touchdowns to win 35-14.
“We struggled in the first half,” Brockett said. “I think (the second half) was a big sign that those guys are taking a positive step forward.”
The Chargers (3-0) are ranked ninth in this week’s Day of New London Top 10 state coaches’ poll.
Defensive back Justin Lopez, one of Ansonia’s newbies, came up with the first of two pivotal plays in the Seymour game. The game was tied at 14 late in the third quarter when the sophomore intercepted a pass on the Chargers’ side of the field and returned it to the Wildcats’ 38 yard line.
Ansonia ran a reverse pass on the next play with junior first-year starting quarterback Bryson Cafaro throwing a touchdown to senior Angel Falero.
“There’s not one offensive lineman that’s every played a varsity snap,” Brockett said. “We’ve got a lot of new guys over there (on defense). I think we started a little slowly. Seymour had us on our heels in the first half. I think they just had to get used to the pace of the game. Once we did that, we were OK.”
Ansonia will be in any game thanks to Bailey and Bagley, who combined to touch the ball on 42 of their team’s 51 offensive plays.
Bagley ran 27 times for 199 yards and a touchdown. Bailey ran 14 times for 78 yards and three touchdowns and caught a 12-yard pass.
“Yeah, good things are going to happen (when the ball is in their hands),” Brockett said. “Obviously, Angel made a big play there on the reverse pass, so we’ve got some guys that will make plays. But Bagley and Bailey can’t do anything without those guys, and that’s what’s important. You’ve seen them and they’re great players and they’re going to make great plays, but they can’t get anything if the blocking is messed up. I think (senior) Malcolm Martin, our fullback, played great in the second half and the offensive line really took over.”
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As is often the practice in games that become one-sided, officials will order the game clock to keep running except for scores, injuries or timeouts. While coaches from both sides are in typically in agreement, that wasn’t the case for Griswold’s Gregg Wilcox during last Friday's game against Norwich Free Academy.
Wilcox didn’t know there was going to be a running clock in the fourth quarter of his team’s 34-6 loss to NFA and asked the referees not to do it.
“We need to get better,” Wilcox said. “We need to get reps. We needed to run some offense that gave us some success. I didn’t want the clock to keep running.”
At Wilcox’s request, the remainder of the game was clocked as normal. And the Wolverines put together an end-of-the-game drive that resulted in their lone score of the night, a 1-yard run by Brandon Yeaton with just over one minute left.
(Unlimited love to Steve Nalbandian for providing that note).
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It was a weird time for almost all involved when Ellington played the Stafford/East Windsor/Somers co-op last Friday.
Ellington and Somers started began a successful co-op with one another back in 2006. They were forced to split up during the offseason due to CIAC rules — schools that can field more than 35 players can't be part of a co-op.
Ellington had gotten too big, so it and Somers had to go their separate ways.
Sean Patrick Starfish, the watchman of CIAC sports and overlord of the GameTimeCT.com/New Haven Register/21st Century Monolith, did a bang-up job writing about how difficult it was for Ellington and Somers' players leading up to the game. You MUST read it.
Christian Rider ran for 88 yards and two touchdowns and threw a 28-yard touchdown to Mark Hickman as Ellington beat Stafford/East Windsor/Somers, 40-7.
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Gaze lovingly upon The Day of New London Top 10 state coaches' poll: 1. Southington (10 first-place votes); 2. New Canaan (one first-place votes); 3. Darien (one first-place vote); 4. Shelton (4-0); 5. Windsor (4-0); 6. Newtown (4-0); 7. North Haven (4-0); 8. Glastonbury; 9. Ansonia; and, 10. Wethersfield.
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The GameTimeCT.com/New Haven Register/21st Century Monolith Top 10 media poll: 1. Southington (28 first-place votes); 2. New Canaan; 3. Darien (one first-place vote); 4. Windsor (one first-place vote); 5. Shelton; 6. North Haven; 7. Newtown; 8. Glastonbury (it moved up one spot — Polecat HQ staff will accept some responsiblity); 9. Ansonia; and, 10. Wethersfield.
It's weird how both polls often have the same teams. It's as if the Illuminati was involved. Or a hive mind. Oh, to hang out with Seven of Nine.
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Ned Freeman's cold, calculating computer rankings for CalPreps and MaxPreps: 1. Darien; 2. Southington; 3. New Canaan; 4. Newtown; 5. North Haven; 6. St. Joseph (2-0); 7. Shelton; 8. Notre Dame-West Haven (2-2 — computer must be giving it credit for opponents that are a combined 12-3); 9. West Haven (3-1); and, 10. Greenwich (2-1). Glastonbury was 14th, Windsor 16th, Ansonia 23rd and Wethersfield 24th.
Note that it takes a few weeks for the computer to develop a better understanding of things. Most of its knowledge at the moment comes from past performance of teams and leagues, but once it gets more data, it's as accurate a gauge of the state scene as pollsters' opinions (if not moreso).
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Dig the ballot Polecat HQ filed for the media poll:
1. Southington.
2. New Canaan.
3. Darien.
4. Glastonbury: Yeah, we moved it up seven spots. Deal with it. We've seen some of the top teams around the state already, and we cannot come up with more than three that would force Southington to keep rallying. We also cannot think of more than seven teams that could beat Glastonbury, either.
5. North Haven: Sure wish it played Shelton this season.
6. Shelton: Sure wish it played North Haven this season.
7. Windsor.
8. Newtown.
9. West Haven: Hate moving Team A ahead of Team B when it was soundly beaten by them. In this case, West Haven was thumped by Notre Dame-West Haven in Week 2 (40-18). ND, however, has lost two in a row with starting QB Christian Lupoli missing all but a half of those games. Thus we have the Westies ranked ninth and dropped ND.
10. Conard: Don’t think the Chieftains have gotten enough credit from media or coaches’ voters for taking Glastonbury to the brink in Week 2 (Glastonbury ended the game with a TD on an untimed down to win, 50-49).
11. Wethersfield: Devon Smith completed 21 of 31 passes for 320 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 105 yards and a TD in a 42-26 win over Bristol Central last Saturday. Central gave Windsor fits until it pulled away for a 26-12 win in Week 1. Just saying.
12. Ansonia.
13. Brookfield (3-1).
14. Bacon Academy (4-0).
15. Torrington (4-0): Considered New Fairfield (3-1), but it has a loss, albeit it to a then-healthy Class M-large champion Brookfield in Week 1 (27-13)
HATED to drop Xavier (2-2). We believe its a good team, and its losses were to West Haven (35-28, Week 1) and Taxachussetts-power St. John of Shrewsbury (34-28, OT, last Saturday). Injuries are a concern, though. Starting QB Luke Schoonaker, who played after enduring mononucleosis, took a hard hit to the side and was hospitalized at halftime. Xavier head coach Sean Marinan told Gentleman Jim Bransfield of the Middletown Press that starting tailback Collin McCarthy may have broken his ankle late in the game, too.
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Some other notable results from Week 4:
No. 4 Shelton 17, Notre Dame-West Haven 7
Chris Kanios scored on a 62-yard interception return as the Gaels beat then-No. 10 ND. It was one of four turnovers the Gaels forced in the first half. Peter Hoff added 26 carries for 90 yards and a score.
No. 7 North Haven 47, East Haven 0
Mike Montano had 10 carries for 158 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 87 yards and a touchdown for the Indians in a battle of unbeaten teams.
Zach Tripodi ran 30 times for 163 yards and a TD and threw a 52-yard touchdown as the Rebels pillaged unbeaten Masuk. Hopefully YOU didn't take your eye off New Fairfield after its Week 1 loss to Brookfield in Week 1 (27-13). It returned its entire backfield, offensive line and most of the defense and is a good bet to quailfy for Class M.
Trinity Catholic 33, Trumbull 20
There was no drama for Trinity this week as it led by as much as 32-6 and took down the unbeaten Eagles. Anthony Lombardi completed 12 of 15 passes for 196 yards with two touchdowns. Said it before. Gonna' say it again — the Crusaders will play for the Class S title.
The young Westies (3-1) led 48-8 after three quarters as they took apart unbeaten Hillhouse. The Blue Devils are devout believers in the running arts and do it well — Kyle Godfrey had 12 carries for 74 yards and three touchdowns (and scored on a 12-yard fumble return), Chris Chance had 12 carries for 122 yards and two touchdowns, and Anthony Godfrey had 14 carries for 146 yards and two.
Nate Filippone ran 13 times for 87 yards and a touchdown and scored on a 75-yard kickoff return. The Eagles also forced three second-half touchdowns and held Naugy’s dangerous Antoine Sistrunk to 13 carries and 33 yards in that half. Ansonia, Torrington and Wolcott are the class of the NVL, and praise Buddha, they all play one another (Wolcott at Torrington, Oct. 16; Ansonia at Torrington, Oct. 23; and, Wolcott at Ansonia, Nov. 13).
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Games of note this week:
Middletown (3-1) at Maloney (4-0), Friday, 6:30 p.m.
Maloney has been a pleasant surprise after four straight losing seasons (a combined record of 13-28). Is it for real? It's about to find out against the new and improving Blue Dragons.
No. 4 Shelton at West Haven, 7 p.m.
Things everyone at Polecat HQ misses about their days when we were located in New Haven County — the best pizza in the state, the best Mexican in the state, and the weekly SCC D1 pitfights. Shelton-West Haven was always one of our favs.
Stratford (4-0) at Brookfield (3-1), Friday, 7 p.m.
Good to see the once mighty Red Devils start so strong after several lean years. They haven't played anyone in Brookfield's weight class, however. They're catching the Bobcats at a good time as leading rushers/key defenders Andrew Collins (broken foot) and Bobby Drysdale (sprained ankle) have missed the last two games.
Bloomfield (3-1) at Avon (3-1), Saturday, 1 p.m.
Bloomfield is in Class S, Avon Class L. It's hard to qualify for either division with two losses.
St. Joseph (2-0, 2-0 FCIAC D-II) at No. 3 Darien (2-0, 1-0), Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
The two-time Class M champion Cadets have looked just fine after graduating so much talent. All their newcomers have a heckuva' challenge here, though.
Bullard-Havens (3-0, 3-0 CSC) at Capital Prep/Achievement First (3-0, 3-0), 2 p.m.
Cap Prep/Achievement hasn't lost a conference game in over four years.
Notre Dame-West Haven (2-2) at Xavier (2-2), Saturday, 7 p.m.
The loser falls to 2-3. Who predicted that before the season? PUT YOUR HAND DOWN, YOU LIAR.
• • • •
MOAR NOTABLES~!
Bennie Fulse ran for 109 yards and three touchdowns as No. 5 Windsor blanked Farmington last Friday, 47-0. Jordan Knight added nine carries for 76 yards and two touchdowns for the Warriors (4-0). … Hunter Cobb ran 23 times for 202 yards and three touchdowns as No. 6 Newtown thumped Bethel last Friday, 42-0. ... Dane Borges kicked field goals of 36 and 37 yards in Friday’s rain as Brookfield bounced Barlow, 34-6. It was Brookfield’s second straight game without leader rushers/key defenders Bobby Drysdale (sprained ankle) and Andrew Collins (broken foot).
Kevin Iobbi ran 15 times for 98 yards and three touchdowns and caught a 1-yard touchdown as Greenwich routed Bridgeport Central last Friday, 42-0. … Joe Catania ran for 164 yards and four touchdowns in Rocky Hill’s 48-20 win over Plainville last Friday. Grant Nieves added 123 yards rushing and a TD and scored on an 83-yard punt return. … Theo Blaschinski had 20 carries for 183 yards and two touchdowns and caught a 34-yard touchdown to help Hall best Simsbury on Friday, 35-20.
Dalton Daley had 10 tackles and scored on a 75-yard interception return and Demetrius Marianna added three sacks as East Hartford blanked Bulkeley/Hartford Magnet/Weaver on Friday, 28-0. … Nathaniel Richam-Odoi ran for 137 yards and four touchdowns as Conard beat New Britain on Friday, 31-12. … Jake Loiselle ran nine times for 66 yards and three touchdowns and scored on a 40-yard interception return as Berlin smashed Northwest Catholic on Friday, 50-6. ... Sean Allen ran 11 times for 252 yards and four touchdowns as Woodland bounced Watertown last Friday, 40-7. Allen set the school-record for career rushing yards (3,693), besting the record held by current Woodland offensive coordinator Jack DiBiase (3,640).
Parker Tregoning ran LIKE A MAN for Coginchaug in Saturday’s 46-14 rout of Windsor Locks. Tregoning ran for 410 yards and six touchdowns. His yardage would rank 11th for the most yards rushing in a game, according to the Connecticut High School Football Record Book. ... Not to be outdone, Tye Rodriguez ran 35 times for 308 yards and four touchdowns for Hartford Public in Saturday’s 28-19 win over Manchester. Teammate Justin Freeman added 13 tackles and a sack. … Jakob Vera caught touchdowns of 94, 35 and 25 yards — all in the first half — and scored on a 78-yard kickoff return as Capital Prep/Achievement First downed Thames River on Saturday, 54-6. Kyle Zajack completed 10 of 14 passes for 271 yards and four scores.
• • • •
Chris Brown, Grantland and Smart Football: Why Power Running Works. Brown knows more about Xs and Os than many of the folks you hear yammering on TV (or us fools in print). We feel dumb for not linking this sooner given we're true believers in the manly discipline of the running arts.
Kurmudgeon Kountry Kyle Brennan, Waterbury Anarchist-American: Filippone, Wolcott in 'real good position'. Yerp. Also, Kelly reminiscent of Seymour's Moir, Deptula. That would be Jaylen Kelly, the Wildcats' multi-talented quarterback and punter.
Norwich Bulletin: Area notebook.
Raconteaur Bryant Carpenter, Meriden Record-Journal: Tuesday Morning QB.
Ray Curran, GameTimeCT.com/New Haven Register/21st Century Monolith: Inside SCC football.
Pooch Diggity Dogg and Starfish, GameTimeCT.com/New Haven Register/21st Century Monolith: Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Scott Ericson, Hearst Inc.: 10 takeaways from Week 4.
Mark Jaffe, Waterbury Anarchist-American: Hearts find young leader at quarterback.
John Nash, Norwalk Hour: Area notebook.
Dave Ruden, The Ruden Report: (Stamford) Black Knights using attitude to get an edge; and, Strong first half sign of encouragement for (New Canaan's) Lou Marinelli.
• • • •
Lastly and certainly not least, we extend our deepest sympathies to one of the best dudes in high school sports, Valley Regional/Old Lyme head coach Tim King, as well as his family after his father George died last Tuesday.
George King quarterbacked Old Lyme in 1941 prior to the program being disbanded in 1943, largely due to World War II. King was honored last season when the Valley Regional/Old Lyme co-op played the first football game at Old Lyme since 1943.
Tim King coached his team when it played at North Branford last Thursday. The Warriors stunned North Branford in double overtime 27-21 and dedicated the game ball to George King.
The game ball will be buried with George.
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Thanks for reading. More soon.
Vaya con dios....
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