Thanksgiving week is the best week of the high school football season. Rivalries and pride are at stake. So are CIAC playoff seeds and berths.

Nine of the teams ranked in The Day's Top 10 state coaches’ poll are involved in this week's biggest games. Those games include:

• No. 1 Darien vs. No. 2 New Canaan: The defending CIAC Class LL champion (Darien) vs. the defending Class L champion (the Rams).

• No. 3 West Haven vs. Fairfield Prep: The Westies have earned a LL quarterfinal and are playing for a top two seed in Class LL. The Jesuits must prevail to qualify for that class.

• No. 4 Southington vs. Cheshire: Southington already has a LL quarterfinal locked up. The Rams must beat the Knights to have a chance of joining them.

• No. 5 Windsor vs. Middletown: Both have already qualified for Class L. The winner gets a better seed.

• No. 6 Newtown vs. Masuk: Newtown will play host to a LL quarterfinal next week. The Panthers need to get past the Knighthawks to get into the L tournament.

• No. 7 Ansonia vs. Naugatuck: The Chargers have a Class S quarterfinal in hand. Now they can keep the Greyhounds out of Class L.

• No. 10 New London vs. Norwich Free Academy: The Whalers earned a Class L home quarterfinal and have a chance to earn a top two seed. The Wildcats must win for their fourth trip in five seasons to the LL playoffs.

And those are just games involving Top 10 teams. There’s also St. Joseph (8-1) vs. Trumbull (7-2), and Rocky Hill (8-1) vs. Cromwell/Portland (9-0), two games with major playoff implications.

It's a great week to be a fan.

— Ned Griffen