The Lonesome Polecat (state variant): YOUR semifinal review and repository

December 03, 2017 11:00 pm • Last Updated: December 04, 2017 11:51 am

By Ned Griffen

n.griffen@theday.com

Howdy,

Our brains are (more) scrambled (than usual) from sleep deprivation, so let’s not mess around here.

YOUR 2017 state finals:

CLASS LL: No. 1 Greenwich (12-0) vs. No. 3 Darien (11-1) at Boyle Stadium, Stamford, 11 a.m.

CLASS L: No. 2 Hand (11-1) vs. No. 5 Masuk (11-1) at Willow Brook Park, New Britain, 11 a.m.

CLASS M-MMMM GOOD: No. 1 Killingly (12-0) vs. No. 6 Barlow (9-3) at Willow Brook Park, New Britain, 3 p.m.

CLASS S: No. 1 Ansonia (12-0) vs. No. 2 St. Joseph (11-1) at West Haven, 11 a.m.

All finals will be played Saturday.

Before we proceed with the semifinal review, CONFERENCE SCORECARD:

CCC (7): 4-7 It’s last four teams were eliminated on Sunday. Note that one of its losses was via HOT CCC-on-CCC ACTION between Windsor and Maloney in the quarters.

CTC (2): 0-2.

ECC (2): 2-1.

FCIAC (4): 7-1.

NVL (4): 2-3 (including HOT NVL-ON-NVL ACTION between Ansonia and Seymour in the quarters).

Pequot (4): 2-4. It’s last two teams were bounced on Sunday (there was also HOT PEQUOT-ON-PEQUOT ACTION in the quarters between SMSA/University/Classical and Coventry/Windham Tech/Bolton/Lyman Memorial).

SCC (7): 3-6 (including a double shot of HOT SCC-ON-SCC ACTION in the quarters — West Haven and Shelton, and Hand and North Haven).

SWC (2): 4-0. Quality, not quantity.

Now, onto the games:

CLASS LL

No. 1 Greenwich 36, No. 4 South Windsor 7

The Cardinals gave South Windsor a rude welcoming as Gavin Muir tossed a 63-yard touchdown pass to Stephen Bennett on the game’s first play.

Tysen Comizio ran 17 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns for Greenwich and Muir threw for 205 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Harris. Also, Tyler Blizzard had 2.5 sacks and Gramoz Bici added two more.

Connor Kapisac completed 17 of 34 passes for 174 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for the Bobcats (10-2).

There was some hostility-ilitybilitydility during the postgame as South Windsor was miffed that the Cardinals threw late in the game from the 5-yard line, according to Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant. Words were said. Cops had to intervene. ‘tis the season of giving.

To read more about this game, please visit David Fierro at GameTimeCT/Hearst Monolith, Dave Ruden at The Ruden Report, and Mike at the Courant.

No. 3 Darien 27, No. 7 West Haven 13

Jack Joyce scored on runs of 3 and 22 yards and threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Cornacchia to help give the Blue Wave a chance to defend their title.

Alex Dehmel recovered a fumble in the end zone for the two-time, two-time LL champions.

Kyle Godfrey scored on runs of 2 and 69 yards for the Westies (9-3).

To read more about this game, please visit Scott Ericson of the GameTimeCT/Hearst Monolith.

• • • •

CLASS L

No. 2 Hand 31, No. 3 Windsor 6

Now this was impressive — Windsor has some players on offense who can put a game on tilt in an instant, yet the Tigers shut them all down for three quarters.

Hand scored the game’s first 31 points and outgained the Warriors, 258-88, through three quarters.

The Tigers’ PHOENIX Billings had fun at Windsor’s expense. He threw for 123 yards, including touchdowns to Chris Bartosic (18 yards) and Michael Tarantino (13 yards), and scored on a 55-yard run. The burly Brian Casagrande added a 3-yard touchdown run.

Tomasz Johnson ran for a 64-yard touchdown with 2:52 remaining for the Warriors (10-2), who played for the L title last year.

To read more about this game, please visit Sean Begin of the Hartford Courant, and Handsome Mike Madera of the GameTimeCT/Hearst Monolith.

No. 5 Masuk 28, No. 8 New Canaan 14

The day’s lone surprise was a big ‘un. The Panthers scored on their first two possessions and dominated the four-time defending state champions in a game that was nowhere as close as the score.

Masuk decided to defend Rams sophomore QB Drew Pyne by flooding the field with eight or nine defenders into pass coverage, according to Doug Bonjour of the GameTimeCT/Hearst Monolith.

Pyne, who has received offers from colleges like, oh, Alabama, completed 19 of 34 passes for 242 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. The Panthers’ Michael Zuk returned one of those INTs for a 46-yard touchdown.

Dropping all those dudes into coverage didn’t hurt Masuk’s run defense, either, as the Rams had just 47 yards on 25 carries.

Panthers QB Matt Hersch refused to let New Canaan or a foot injury hold him down as he completed 21 of 28 passes for 228 yards with two touchdowns. Nick Lorusso (seven catches, 78 yards) caught both touchdowns.

Zuk added eight catches for 80 yards.

Quintin O’Connell had nine catches for 104 yards and two touchdowns for New Canaan (9-3), which was the consensus preseason No. 1 among anyone in or around football.

It’s daze like Sunday that makes you further appreciate Cheshire winning a state-record six straight CIAC titles from 1992-97.

It also makes you appreciate how ludicrous it was for Washington High of Sioux Falls, S.D. (1951-64) and the Saint Louis School of Honolulu, Hawaii (1986-99) to both win a national-record 14 consecutive state titles.

• • • •

CLASS M

No. 1 Killingly 49, No. 4 Berlin 7

This was football as art — Killingly literally ran the Redcoats down, often running a two tight end set with three running backs. TO HELL WITH YOUR FIVE WIDES AND EMPTY BACKFIELDS.

Killingly ran 52 times for 427 yards and seven touchdowns. It made one crucial error when it attempted a pass in the second quarter. It was intercepted and set up Berlin’s only score.

Spencer Lockwood had 30 carries for 265 yards and four touchdowns for Killingly, and he became the sixth player in state history to rush for 3,000-or-more yards in a season. He has 3,026 yards, sixth-best all-time according to the Connecticut High School Football Record Book.

FULLBACK Zach Caffrey ran nine times for 101 yards and two touchdowns and Jacob Nurse scored on a 1-yard run.

All hail Killingly’s front seven of John Cacciapuoti (left tackle), Ethan Canova (left guard), Michael Diruscio (center), Matt Phelan (right guard), Alex Fontaine (right tackle) and tight ends Jacob Gauthier and Quinn Gervasio for making all of that glorious smashing-and-bashing possible. Zack Burgess had two interceptions, too.

Kevin Dunn completed 5 of 19 passes for 108 yards with a touchdown for the Redcoats (9-3). Andrew Brochu (29 yards) caught the touchdown.

No. 6 Barlow 53, No. 7 SMSA/University/Classical 14

BARLOW IS GOING TO ITS FIRST STATE FINAL, MAN~!

The Falcons ran that sexy triple option with ruthless efficiency, scoring on their first seven drives.

Trevor Furrer (2, 7 yards) and Cal Peterson (2, 11 yards) were among the dozens (and dozens) who ran for Barlow’s touchdowns.

Theoretically, if the Falcons and Killingly are both operating at peak efficiency in the M final, then there should be no more than four pass attempts. Have Meshuggah perform a 30-minute halftime set (and two hours postgame) and it will Polecat Worldwide’s version of Woodstock.

Joshua McLeggon ran nine times for 50 yards and a score for the TIGERHAWKS (8-4), who made states for the first time and won their first postseason game last Tuesday.

To read more about this game, please visit Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant, and Ryan Lacey of the GameTimeCT/Hearst Monolith.

• • • •

CLASS S

No. 1 Ansonia 52, Stafford/East Windsor/Somers 19

Here’s the best way to sum of this game — the Chargers started sophomore Tyler Cafaro at quarterback in place of the injured Justin Lopez, they didn’t attempt a pass (JOY), and they still rolled the Bulldogs.

Eep.

Central Connecticut-bound Markell Dobbs ran 13 times for 147 yards and three touchdowns for Ansonia. He also had one of the game’s biggest plays on defense. S/EW/S’s Julian Rivas caught a screen pass and was headed towards the end zone when Dobbs blazed from the other side of the field and hit Rivas to force a turnover.

Bulldogs coach Brian Mazzone was both honest and funny discussing that play.

“We get a lead (if Revis scored),” Mazzone told Joem Joe, Mor-elli-o of the GameTimeCT/Hearst Monolith. “My head would have exploded. It was phenomenal. In the Pequot (League), we don’t see a lot of D-I kids. That kid came across the field and laid out (Revis). What a play. Who else makes that? Not a lot of kids we see makes a play like that.”

Shaykeem Harmon scored on a 47-yard run and a 37-yard interception return for the Chargers, who scored six straight touchdowns to go ahead, 52-6.

Colton Engel ran 19 times for 94 yards and a touchdown and completed 8 of 24 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns and scored on a 20-yard run for S/EW/S (10-2).

To read more about this game, please visit Joe Burns of the Hartford Courant, Mark Jaffee of the Waterbury National Communist, and Joe-Joe.

No. 2 St. Joseph 49, No. 3 Rocky Hill 20

The Cadets landed haymakers early as they led 14-0 before the Terriers ever touched the ball, and scored on four of their first five plays.

David Summers completed 17 of 23 passes for 217 yards and five touchdowns and scored on a 36-yard run. Jared Mallozzi scored on catches of 11, 5, and 15 yards.

The Terriers (11-1) had the ball for 33:04, according to the dapper John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant, proving once again that time of possession just doesn’t mean what it used to mean.

Joseph Ferreira (1 yard), Will White (3 yards) and Danny Cavallaro (1 yard) all ran for touchdowns for Rocky Hill. Sadly, this is the last time we can write this this season — GOD’S OFFENSE.

To read more about this game, please John Nash of the GameTimeCT/Hearst Monolith, and Mssr. Altavilla.

• • • •

Ned Freeman’s cold, calculating computer rankings at CalPreps.com: 1. Darien (again, the computer model knows not of the Blue Wave’s suspensions); 2. Greenwich; 3. Masuk; 4 Hand; 5. St. Joseph; 6. West Haven; 7. New Canaan; 8. Ridgefield (7-3); 9. Staples (6-4); and, 10. Killingly. Ansonia is 14th because of its schedule.

The computer has also spit out its championship predictions, too:

CLASS LL: Darien 27-22.

CLASS L: Masuk 27-21.

CLASS M: Killingly 42-22.

CLASS S: St. Joseph 40-28.

• • • •

Thanks for reading. We’ll have championship previews for you later in the week.

Adios….

Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.

STORIES THAT MAY INTEREST YOU