New London was idle last week due to a bye, but losses by Cheshire and Middletown allowed the Whalers to move up to 10th in The Day's weekly Top 10 state high school coaches' poll on Monday.

Middletown was eighth in last week’s rankings, Cheshire 11th and the Whalers 12th.

Middletown (6-1) was upset last Friday by Newington, 27-24. That loss, and Newington’s record (3-4), dropped the Blue Dragons out of the Top 10.

Cheshire (5-2) lost to third-ranked Shelton last Friday, 34-20. Its other loss was to unbeaten and fourth-ranked West Haven, 41-14.

New London (6-0) was the beneficiary of those two losses. The Whalers have three shutout wins and have allowed only 5.5 points a game, second best in the state behind sixth-ranked Windsor (5.4 ppg).

New London’s first challenge as a Top 10 team will be this Friday at Wilbur Cross (4-2). It closes the regular season with back-to-back road games at Ledyard (3-4, Nov. 11) and Waterford (4-2, Nov. 18), and plays host to Class LL hopeful Norwich Free Academy (5-2) on Thanksgiving in the 155th game of the nation’s oldest rivalry.

— Ned Griffen