Four local schools are positioned well in CIAC playoff picture
Howdy,
Time is a weird, warped thing.
They say time flies when you’re having fun, except that you have the most fun when you’re young and don’t have a mortgage, rent, car payment, bills, etc. You have to deal with all those things when you’re older, when time blitzes you.
Time has slunk to a crawl during a presidential campaign with a rancid toxicity that goes against everything that America was supposedly founded upon.
Time has sped along in football, however. Six weeks have passed. Six weeks remain. The CIAC playoffs are getting closer, and four area teams are in good standing.
New London is currently third in Class L behind Middletown and three-time defending champion New Canaan, respectively. All three teams are 5-0. So is fourth-ranked Windsor.
Three of the Whalers’ remaining five games are against winning teams. The first is at Wilbur Cross (4-1) of the Southern Connecticut Conference Tier II. Its lone loss was to Fairfield Prep (4-1), 21-6, but the Governors haven’t beaten a winning team yet (oppoents are a combined 5-16).
New London plays at Waterford (3-1) on Nov. 18. It will host Norwich Free Academy (3-2) on Thanksgiving.
It is common for two-loss teams to qualify in Class L. It wouldn’t be surprising if a 7-3 team qualifies this year, either.
Middletown and Windsor should both be unbeaten when they meet on Thanksgiving Eve.
New Canaan plays host to Greenwich (4-1) this Friday and at Trumbull (3-2) on Nov. 4. It also plays host to unbeaten Darien on Thanksgiving (Darien has won the last four Thanksgiving games).
No. 5 Harding (4-1) plays Abbott Tech/Immaculate (3-2), Capital Prep/Achievement First (4-0), and Bullard-Havens (4-1) the next three weeks.
No. 6 Masuk plays New Milford (4-1, Friday), at Bunnell (4-1, Oct. 28) and at unbeaten Newtown on Thanksgiving Eve.
Naugatuck (5-1), ranked sixth, plays arguably the two best teams in the Naugatuck Valley League on the road next month — Wolcott (5-1, Nov. 4) and unbeaten Ansonia (6-0, Thanksgiving).
No. 8 Cheney Tech (4-1) plays host to Capital/Achievement on Friday. It also plays Prince Tech (3-2, Oct. 29) and Abbott Tech/Immaculate (3-1, Nov. 18).
Every other team in the division has at least two losses and at least one dangerous game. New London, then, should be safe even if it loses twice.
The top eight teams qualify in each division.
A look at the other divisions in which area teams are in good standings:
CLASS M: Valley Regional/Old Lyme (4-1) is second and Waterford (3-1) is seventh.
VR/OL is in very good shape because three of its final five games are against teams with one win or less. It plays host to Prince Tech (3-2) on Friday. It plays host to Lewis Mills (3-2) on Nov. 4. Lewis Mills and Prince haven’t beaten a winning team, and VR/OL has played a tougher schedule.
Waterford has an odd schedule going forward as it plays four games on the road against Griswold (1-4, Friday), winless Bacon Academy, Stonington (3-2, Nov. 4), and Plainfield (3-2).
The Lancers return home on Nov. 18 to face New London. It plays host to winless East Lyme on Thanksgiving.
Every team in Class M has at least a loss. It's also the most forgiving of the four divisions towards three-loss teams. A three-loss team has qualified in Class M four of six seasons since the CIAC added a quarterfinal round in 2010.
CLASS LL: Norwich Free Academy (3-2) has ground to make up as its ranked 14th, but it won’t face anyone better than it’s already played (Darien, Staples and Xavier).
The Wildcats have three games remaining against winning teams. It plays at Stonington on Friday, at Stamford (3-2, Nov. 12), and at New London.
NFA has a chance to qualify should it win out thanks to Fairfield Country Interscholastic Athletic Conference and SCC Tier I scheduling.
Defending champion Darien (5-0), ranked first, ends its season at Staples (5-1, Nov. 11) and New Canaan (5-0).
No. 3 Shelton (5-0) plays Cheshire (4-1, Oct. 28), at Fairfield Prep (4-1, Nov. 4) and at home against fifth-ranked West Haven (5-0, Nov. 11).
West Haven plays at sworn enemy Notre Dame of West Haven (3-2) on Friday, and plays host to sixth-ranked Fairfield Prep on Thanksgiving.
Prep plays at seventh-ranked Cheshire this Friday. Cheshire also has the state’s most obscene end to the season as it also vs. Notre Dame (Nov. 4), and at second-ranked Southington (5-1, Thanksgiving), in addition to its games against Prep and Shelton.
Speaking of rough schedules, here’s what No. 8 Staples (5-1) has left — at Ridgefield (3-2, Friday), vs. St. Joseph (4-1, Nov. 4), Darien, and at No. 9 Greenwich (4-1, Thanksgiving).
Greenwich plays at New Canaan, at Ridgefield (Nov. 11), plus its Thanksgiving game against Staples.
CLASS S: On one hand, Stonington isn’t cooked with a 3-2 record.
On the other hand, the Bears play host to NFA this Friday, so we’ll wait, then, before assessing their chances.
• • • •
Ledyard made great use of its bye in Week 5 by getting its house in order and making some changes, among them its offense.
The Colonels had used the spread in their first four games with Max Ebdon playing his first varsity season at quarterback. Interim head coach Mark Farnsworth and his staff opted to scrap that approach over the break and go back to the double wing, which it successfully used last season, and started junior Preston Poulton at quarterback.
Ledyard's offense did just enough in last Friday's 12-6 shocker over then-unbeaten Waterford. It scored twice after the defense gave it the short field.
The Colonels used the double wing, a.k.a. GOD’S OFFENSE, last season to win the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division and advance to the Class M semifinals.
Last year's offensive line was experienced and brawny. Ledyard's line this season is young and small, so the double wing helps because it's predicated on getting the most bodies to the point of attack with the run.
“The kids believed in it,” Farnsworth said. “Considering the type of players that we had, we really felt after examining it that it was in our best interests (to change). We made some moves on the offensive line to help us with that, and it gave us the chance to give Manny (Deshields-Sanabria) and Max the ball and let them run, which was their strong suit.”
Few offenses are better at bleeding the clock than the double wing, which also works in Ledyard’s favor. The offense struggled badly through four games and put the defense on the field for far too long.
The Colonels managed just 143 yards on 43 plays against the Lancers but kept the clock moving. For instance, they got the ball to start the second half and ran nine straight plays for just 18 yards. That ran the clock down to six minutes, 36 seconds, however.
• • • •
Fitch ran the ball respectably in the first half of Saturday’s game at Bacon Academy, but struggled on the perimeter.
The Falcons made a second-half adjustment to help their toss sweep, and it made the Bobcats want to toss their cookies. Fitch ran for five touchdowns that half to win, 48-6.
“In the first half, when we had an unbalanced line, they would take No. 83 (linebacker George Tsakiris) and move him over the unbalanced side,” Falcons head coach Mike Ellis Jr. said, “and what they would do is blitz him right off the edge and still have two people playing over the top of our receivers, so that was taking away our toss play.
“Then when we went to our base formation, they brought the linebackers in, but 83 was still kind of able to scrape out wide on the motion. So what we did, and it was really (assistant) Jordan Panucci who suggested this at halftime, we squeezed it down (it moved its split ends from 12-to-14 yards outside the wing to a yard). They squeezed down with us. Now, when we got the ball on the perimeter, we had the seams, and that was really the difference in the ball game because with Cleon (McLish) running it, now they kind of didn’t have an answer for it and we could get big yardage when needed.”
McLish took a pitch to the right for a 27-yard touchdown and gave the Falcons a 20-7 lead midway through the third quarter.
Fitch led 27-7 when it ran toss right, then left, for 37 yards down to the Bacon 23-yard line.
Two plays later, Hamear Stephens took the pitch running right for a 13-yard touchdown.
The Falcons got the ball back with four minutes left and ran toss left to Isaiah Sebastian on first down. He ran for a 54-yard touchdown.
• • • •
So much for offensive linemen not understanding their value. New London went into last Friday morning expecting that starting center Jovan Aimetti would be its starting center that night. Except that Aimetti injured his foot in gym class during the day and couldn’t play. The result: a disjointed center/quarterback exchange at times and not much of a running game for the Whalers, who nonetheless escaped with a 14-7 victory. Several teammates walked over to Aimetti during the game to acknowledge his absence. … New London’s best overall player Friday night might have been linebacker Monty Johnson, whose interception in the first half set up Melquann Gomez’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Star Stokes. … Biggest play of the night: receiver Gio Lopez’s long reception to the Stonington 3-yard line that set up the night’s decisive score.
Stonington may be the best bet to win the ECC’s Division II. Its defense is legitimate, evidenced by the way it stifled New London’s run game. The offense moved the ball fairly successfully, too, particularly when Nick DeDominicis ran the ball in the second period. … The Bears play host to NFA Friday night in what could be an interesting game. Stonington showed the ability to thwart New London’s big play threat. NFA may be missing quarterback Shea McManaway (concussion) as head coach Jemal Davis said he'd would have to pass concussion protocol all week to play the game. His absence would leave the ball in the hands of Jawaun Johnson, the league’s biggest threat. Could be a fun game.
• • • •
Was this the day East Lyme finally figured it out? The final score suggested more of the same for the winless Vikings — a 36-10 loss to NFA — but the game played quite differently. East Lyme ran for nearly 240 yards of offense against NFA’s defense that all but shut down Staples the week before. East Lyme plays a winnable game Friday at home against Ledyard. … The Vikings have moved starting quarterback Dylan Hatajik to receiver. He was close to making several big catches down the field.
NFA appears to have three outstanding players at all three levels of its defense: lineman Malik Gibson, linebacker Adelino Daviega and cornerback Caleb Parker. All three played very well Saturday. Parker led the ECC in interceptions last season. … NFA athletic director Erik Swallow estimated the crowd at Saturday’s homecoming game to be in the neighborhood of 1,500.
• • • •
Thanks to staffer/disconsolate Yankees and Boston College football fan Mike DiMauro for the notes on East Lyme, New London, NFA and Stonington.
• • • •
That's all for now. We'll look at the state scene Monday night or Tuesday morning online.
Thanks for reading.
Vaya con dios.
CIAC PLAYOFF POINT STANDINGS / WEEK 6
CLASS LL
Team Record Ave.
1. Darien 5-0 128.00
2. Southington 5-0 122.00
3. x-Shelton 5-0 120.00
4. Newtown 5-0 120.00
5. West Haven 5-0 118.00
6. Fairfield Prep 4-1 100.00
7. Cheshire 4-1 98.00
8. Staples 5-1 95.00
9. Greenwich 4-1 94.00
10. x-New Milford 4-1 90.00
CLASS L
Team Record Ave.
1. Middletown 5-0 126.00
2. New Canaan 5-0 122.00
3. New London 5-0 120.00
4. Windsor 5-0 112.00
5. Harding 4-1 96.00
6. x-Masuk 4-1 90.00
7. x-Naugatuck 5-1 90.00
8. Cheney Tech 4-1 90.00
9. Notre Dame-WH 3-2 80.00
10. x-Bristol Central 3-2 76.00
CLASS M
Team Record Ave.
1. Wolcott 5-1 103.33
2. Valley/Old Lyme 4-1 102.00
3. Berlin 4-1 100.00
4. St. Joseph 4-1 98.00
5. x-Bunnell 4-1 96.00
6. Hillhouse 4-1 96.00
7. Waterford 3-1 95.00
8. Killingly 4-1 92.00
9. Abbott/Immac. 3-1 90.00
10. Gilbert/NW Reg. 4-1 88.00
CLASS S
Team Record Ave.
1. Ansonia 6-0 145.00
2. Cromwell/Port. 4-0 130.00
3. Capital/Achieve. 4-0 130.00
4. Bloomfield 5-0 128.00
5. Staff./EW/Somers 5-0 124.00
6. Seymour 4-1 122.00
7. Oxford 5-1 103.33
8. East Catholic 4-1 98.00
9. Bullard Havens 4-1 96.00
10. O'Brien T ech 3-1 95.00
x-holds tiebreaker
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