Killingly, STORYTIME~!, Top 10s, the usual ga-ga
Howdy,
Confidence is both a mysterious and many-splendored thing.
Killingly won just twice last season, yet its belief in itself grew after close losses to Griswold, Montville and New London. It was sign of improvement and what it could accomplish this year.
Killingly lost its season-opener to Griswold 27-22, with the latter scoring the go-ahead touchdown with four seconds left.
Yeah, that one stung, but Killingly refused to let the loss drag it down. It won its fifth straight last Friday, 35-13 over New London, and leads the CIAC Class M rankings.
Yep, Killingly football is back.
“That was a tough one,” Killingly coach Chad Neal said of the Week 1 loss. “We were at home. From the 20-to-the-20, I thought we dominated, but we just couldn’t put it in the end zone.
“The first thing I saw when they returned to practice was that they wanted to improve. They wanted to fix their mistakes. In previous years, we may not have recovered from that first loss. It would be, ‘OK, it’s the same old, same old (losing).’ The kids weren’t going to accept it anymore and that was the difference.”
This year has been a throwback to Killingly’s winning years, and, perhaps appropriately enough, its season was jump-started by senior fullback-middle linebacker Austin Caffrey, who Neal calls a “throwback player.”
“Week 2, we played at Plainfield and started slow,” Neal said. “Caffrey put a huge hit on Tyler Ballard (on fourth-and-2 from the Plainfield 48-yard line) that caused a fumble. It got us going.
Killingly came back from an early deficit to win 34-12.
“That’s the thing about this group of kids, especially this senior class — they’re not accepting losing anymore,” Neal said.
The aforementioned Caffrey has been a monster for Killingly. He’s a four-year starter who’s led the team in tackles the last two seasons. He’s also the kicker.
“Everything revolves around him,” Neal said. “He’s a throwback, that kid. Against Bacon Academy, his run was a long one using a trap out of the shotgun. Pretty much everything else was out of the I-formation.”
Yeah, THAT Bacon game (Oct. 10). The Bobcats started 4-0 and were the talk of the state, using their no-huddle, pass-till-they-puke passing game to strafe opponents.
Killingly marched into Colchester in Week 5 and literally marched all over Bacon, 40-7.
Spencer Lockwood and Caffrey combined to run 52 times for 479 yards and five touchdowns for Killingly. Only six plays didn’t involve those two.
Seniors Josh Angel, Justin Lasher, Conner Lemly, junior Collin Byrnes and sophomore Alex Fontaine paved the way up front that game (Killingly really, really loves to run, God bless it).
More impressive was that Killingly held the Bobcats to seven points.
“The first series, they went right down the field,” Neal said. “Then we made an adjustment. We used three rushing linemen and just kind of sat back a little bit. We got some pretty good pressure from those three guys up front (among them the 275-pound Angel) and kind of forced them to make mistakes.
“We didn’t have guys covering all over the field, but if (Bacon) caught it, they knew they were going to get hit. The receivers had a lot of drops. We’re a physical team. That’s one thing about our team — they like to hit. We haven’t had that in quite a while.”
Neal also credited the play of juniors Kyle Derosier (quarterback) and Vasileios Politis (defensive back) and sophomore Jake Gauthier (tight end).
STORYTIME~!
Doug Bonjour, Hearst Inc.: 10 takeaways from Week 7.
Sean Patrick Starfish, GameTimeCT.com/New Haven Register/21st Century Monolith: Inside the SCC. WHERE'S @CURRENSCC?
Sean Patrick Starfish and Pooch Diggity Dogg, GameTimeCT.com/New Haven Register/21st Century Monolith: Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Norwich Bulletin: Area notebook.
Pooch Diggity Dogg SOLO, GameTimeCT.com/New Haven Register/21st Century Monolith: Amity regains its focus, ends losing streak, earns first win under Czepiga.
Dave Ruden, The Ruden Report: Changes at Ridgefield include a return to winning ways.
• • • •
Gaze lovingly upon The Day of New London Top 10 state coaches' poll: 1. Southington (6-0, 11 first-place votes); 2. Darien (5-0, two first-place votes); 3. New Canaan (5-0); 4. Shelton (6-0); 5. Windsor (6-0); 6. North Haven (6-0); 7. Newtown (6-0); T8. Ansonia (6-0) and Glastonbury (5-1); and, 10. Wethersfield (6-0).
A more detailed version of the Top 10 is attached below.
• • • •
The GameTimeCT.com/New Haven Register/21st Century Monolith Top 10 media poll: 1. Southington (27 first-place votes); 2. New Canaan; 3. Darien (two first-place votes); 4. Windsor; 5. Shelton; 6. North Haven; 7. Newtown; 8. Glastonbury; 9. Ansonia; and, 10. Wethersfield. Crazy how closely it mimics the coaches' poll.
• • • •
Ned Freeman's cold, calculating computer rankings for CalPreps and MaxPreps: 1. Darien; 2. Shelton; 3. North Haven; 4. Southington; 5. Notre Dame-W.H. (4-2); 6. New Canaan; 7. Newtown; 8. West Haven (4-2); 9. Ansonia; and, 10. Staples (5-1).
Glastonbury was 11th, Windsor 20th and Wethersfield 25th.
Should you wonder why the computer ranked ND fifth despite its two losses, its schedule has been hell. The computer ranks the Green Knights' schedule the state's toughest, as their opponents are a combined 27-10. Their losses were to No. 4 Shelton (17-7) and No. 7 North Haven (42-21). ND starting QB Christian Lupoli missed the second half of the North Haven game to injury and all of the Shelton game.
• • • •
Dig the ballot Polecat HQ filed for the media poll:
1. Southington.
2. Darien.
3. New Canaan.
4. Glastonbury
5. North Haven: It beat Fairfield Prep (49-14) and Notre Dame-West Haven (42-21) by far larger margins than Shelton did (35-27 and 17-7, respectively).
6. Shelton.
7. Windsor.
8. Newtown.
9. Notre Dame-West Haven.
10. Ansonia: OK, we're on board now. That was a helluva' beating it put on Torrington.
11. West Haven.
12. Wethersfield: May be underselling it. There's time to fix it. Like after this week.
13. Conard (4-2): Only losses were to Glastonbury and Southington. A lot of teams would lose to one or both, and it gave Glastonbury fits in a 50-49 loss on the final play.
14. St. Joseph.
15. Middletown (5-1): The Blue Dragons have reloaded well after graduating such a talented senior class. They lost to Wethersfield (24-19). No shame in that.
• • • •
Thanks for reading. More soon.
Vaya con dios….
THE DAY OF NEW LONDON TOP 10 STATE COACHES' POLL
First-place votes in parentheses, record through Saturday, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis and last week's ranking
1. Southington (11) 6-0 382 1
KNOW THIS: Vance Upham needed just seven carries to finish with 168 yards and two touchdowns in last Friday's 53-25 win over Conard. Alessio Diana added 14 carries for 138 yards and two scores.
NEXT: vs. New Britain, Friday, 7 p.m.
2. Darien (2) 5-0 352 2
KNOW THIS: HATS OFF to head coach Rob Trifone on earning his 200th win this Saturday (the Blue Wave lumped Danbury 49-6).
NEXT: at Wilton, Friday, 7 p.m.
3. New Canaan 5-0 344 3
KNOW THIS: Peter Swindell tied the state career field goal record with his 18th in Saturday's 24-14 win over Greenwich. He needs one more to pass Roberto Inesta of defunct St. Mary of Greenwich.
NEXT: at Norwalk, Friday, 7 p.m.
4. Shelton 6-0 290 4
KNOW THIS: Last Friday's 42-7 rout of Xavier came at a cost as senior receiver-defensive back Chris Kanios, the Gaels' most dangerous player, broke his fibula. Awful, awful way to have a career end.
NEXT: vs. Amity, Friday, 7 p.m.
5. Windsor 6-0 262 5
KNOW THIS: Windsor at Wethersfield this week. FINALLY.
NEXT: at Wethersfield, Friday, 7 p.m.
6. North Haven 6-0 256 6
KNOW THIS: For your consideration — Shelton beat Fairfield Prep (35-27) and Notre Dame-West Haven (17-7). North Haven beat Prep (49-14) and ND (42-21). Just something to think about.
NEXT: vs. Hillhouse at West Haven High, Friday, 7 p.m.
7. Newtown 6-0 221 7
KNOW THIS: Maybe the Nighthawks will be pushed by New Fairfield (5-1) in Week 10 (Nov. 13). Otherwise, they're going to mash their way to a fourth straight unbeaten regular season.
NEXT: vs. Stratford, Friday, 7 p.m.
T8. Ansonia 6-0 201 8
KNOW THIS: The Chargers' 54-14 squishing of Torrington last Friday was their 50th straight win over an NVL foe. Just pencil it in for four more.
NEXT: vs. Oxford, Friday, 6 p.m.
T8. Glastonbury 5-1 201 9
KNOW THIS: The Tomahawks' displaced Ansonia at No. 8 after Week 5. The Chargers took back that ranking last week by one point. Both teams gained more points this week and tied for eighth. Aren't rankings the craziest?
NEXT: at Hartford Public, Saturday, 1 p.m.
10. Wethersfield 6-0 160 10
KNOW THIS: Wethersfield vs. Windsor this week. FINALLY.
NEXT: vs. Windsor, Friday, 7 p.m.
Also receiving votes: Notre Dame-W.H. (4-2), 125 points; Middletown (5-1), 84; St. Joseph (4-1), 77; New Fairfield (5-1), 64; Morgan (6-0), 46; West Haven (4-2), 42; Staples (5-1), 39; Granby (6-0), 34; Hand (5-1), 32; Tie, Harding (6-0) and Trinity Catholic (4-1), 20; Bloomfield (5-1), 14; Brookfield (4-2), 11; Conard (4-2), 10; Tie, Berlin (5-1) and Torrington (6-1), 9; Wolcott (5-1), 7.
The following coaches voted: Rich Anganaro, Brookfield; Tom Brockett, Ansonia, Jim Buonocore, Ledyard; Craig Bruno, Naugatuck; Scott Daniels, Glastonbury; Joe DellaVecchia, St. Joseph; Steve Filippone, Hand; Rob Fleeting, Windsor; Steve George, Newtown; Tanner Grove, Montville; Tim King, Valley Regional/Old Lyme; Sean Marinan, Xavier; Marce Petroccio, Staples.
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