New London — It wasn't long ago, maybe a month, that Jemal Davis, the football coach at Norwich Free Academy, might have broken into some Gloria Gaynor.

This was when his team was having its eggs scrambled by some of the state's iron, perhaps leaving Davis to convince himself that, yes, the days would get better:

"Do you think I'd crumble; Did you think I'd lay down and die? Oh no, not I, I will survive."

You go, Gloria.

Because then it was Thursday, Thanksgiving, and there was Davis on the turfed lawn of his blood rival, forgoing the musings of Ms. Gaynor and diving right into ... wait for it ... Robert Frost.

And who says football isn't educational?

Go figure. The football coach quoting the poet. Davis thought it appropriate that his kids heard "The Road Not Taken," Frost's poem about people whose roads are bumpier, but ultimately more fulfilling, toward the ultimate goal.

Introducing the NFA Wildcats of 2016. Once with a record of 1-2. Slapped silly by Xavier and Darien, two of the state's Rockefellers. But then came a convincing win over Staples ... some confidence ... and now a seven-game winning streak, capped by Thursday's 13-0 win at New London, before 2,500 fans at Cannamela Field.

The Wildcats are in the playoffs for the fifth time under Davis, an NFA grad, who graduated from coach to preacher for a while Thursday. He told his kids — his kids who once doubted but now believe to the most exponential degree — they are going to win a state championship.

"Robert Frost," Davis was saying. "'The Road Not Taken.' Everybody else (in the Eastern Connecticut Conference) wants an easy road to the playoffs. We took a hard road. You know what? These guys had their head down against Xavier and Darien and now their heads are up because of that experience. We've got too many people concerned about trying to get opportunities based on their schedule. We've scheduled hard and now we're in."

Davis should go to the window and collect. He is totally correct. Sadly, his message will be lost on the crowd that believes NFA should schedule hard because of its size. Everyone else in the ECC should schedule hard, too. If you're Class M, go find high level Class M opponents. The result is this:

"I shall be telling this with a sigh; Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

That's the last line in Frost's poem.

Note that NFA stopped New London five times inside its 20 on Thursday. Maybe because the Wildcats had seen worse several times all season and built a few bonds other schools wouldn't know about?

"What it comes down to is not about who we faced, but guys believing," defensive coordinator — and the next great head coach around here — Jason Bakoulis said. "They've bought into competing in practice every day at a high level. They are playing with tremendous heart. All the guys. (Justin) Francis, Jawaun (Johnson), Caleb (Parker), Isiah (Price), it's what they've created in practice. A competition among each other ... For me and all the defensive coaches we believe in those guys and obviously they believe in themselves."

They sure do. Now they get Southington in the playoffs. Last time the teams saw each other, Southington inhaled NFA. Not a game. This will be different. This is a different group here. NFA has seen Xavier, Darien, Staples and New London. There's no flinching. This is a good team. Made better by its schedule.

"We played four top 10 teams," Davis said. "We lost to two and beat two. If that doesn't prepare you I don't know what does. You keep playing. Our kids kept playing.

"This is our fifth playoff team. All the experiences are different. This team can reference that we've played really good teams. That's been the blueprint of teams that have won state championships."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro