The Lonesome Polecat (state variant): What just happened?
Howdy,
Okay, what the hell just happened?
We here at the palatial dumpster known as Polecat Worldwide have seen a lot of crazy Thanksgrabbing weeks.
First that springs to mind is 2014, in which a blizzard of upsets pushed elebenty Class LL teams who were ranked in the teens before Thanksgrabbing Day into states.
The Thanksgrabbing in the year of our lord, two thousand and 17, was not as crazy on the field as 2014.
On-and-OFF the field, holy crap in a pita, Thanksgrabbing 2017 really out-Thanksgrabbinged itself.
To wit(less):
• Darien had two players arrested Wednesday in connection with a Nov. 6 assault. They didn’t play vs. rival New Canaan on Thanksgrabbing and it cost the Blue Wave.
• Almost half the teams ranked in The Day's Top 10 state coaches’ poll lost — No. 1 Darien, No. 5 Windsor, No. 6 Masuk, and No. 9 West Haven.
• Middletown's defense allowed just 79 yards and didn't give up a touchdown as it dominated Windsor, 24-7.
• Wolcott would've qualified for Class M with a Thanksgrabbing Day win. It wasted a 15-point lead and lost to Holy Cross, 42-28.
• Law, ranked 10th in the Class M ratings prior to this week’s games, beat Foran in the final minute, 34-28. It also and took advantage of Wolcott's loss to earn its first postseason berth.
• Wilbur Cross rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat Hillhouse, 26-20.
• New London rallied from a 22-point deficit, scored the go-ahead touchdown with 3.3 seconds left and beat Norwich Free Academy, 26-22, in the 156th game of the nation's oldest rivarly.
• An administrator texted the CIAC the wrong team winning the Bristol Central-Bristol Eastern game when they reported the score. The corrected score caused a tie between Fitch and Windsor in the Class L rankings, with Windsor taking the third seed away from the Falcons via the tiebreaker (total number of opponents wins).
Are we missing anything? PROBABLY.
We’ll get to the Thanksgrabbing week review in a moment, but first, YOUR (unofficial) playoff pairings (the CIAC football committee will given them the A-OK Friday):
CLASS LL
No. 8 Fairfield Prep (8-2) at No. 1 Greenwich (10-0).
No. 7 West Haven (8-2) at No. 2 Shelton (9-1) (THE REMATCHENING) (HOT SCC-on-SCC ACTION).
No. 6 East Hartford (9-1) at No. 3 Darien (9-1).
No. 5 Naugatuck (9-1) at No. 4 South Windsor (9-1).
CLASS L
No. 8 New Canaan (8-2) at No. 1 Middletown (10-0).
No. 7 North Haven (8-2) at No. 2 Hand (9-1) (MOAR HOT SCC-on-SCC ACTION).
No. 6 Maloney (9-1) at No. 3 Windsor (9-1) (THE REMATCHENING).
No. 5 Masuk (9-1) at No. 4 Fitch (10-0).
CLASS M-MMMM GOOD
No. 8 Law (6-4) at No. 1 Killingly (10-0), the official Class M team of Polecat Worldwide because they RUN THE GOTTDANG BALL.
No. 6 SMSA/University/Classical (7-3) at No. 3 No. 2 Coventry/Windham Tech/Bolton/Lyman Memorial (10-0) (THE REMATCHENING).
No. 7 Barlow (7-3) at No. 3 Sheehan (9-1).
No. 5 Watertown (8-2) at No. 4 Berlin (8-2).
CLASS S
No. 8 Seymour (8-2) at No. 1 Ansonia (10-0) (Yes, it’s another THE REMATCHENING).
No. 7 O’Brien Tech (8-2) vs. No. 2 St. Joseph (9-1) at Trumbull.
No. 6 Valley Regional/Old Lyme WARRIORCATS (9-1) at No. 3 Rocky Hill, masters of GOD'S OFFENSE (10-0).
No. 5 Stafford/East Windsor/Somers (9-1) vs. No. 4 Bullard-Havens (9-1) at Penders Field, Stratford.
And now, YOUR Thanksgrabbing week review. It's a lot. We tried to be selective. No lie:
THANKSGRABBING EVE
Anthony Simpson caught two touchdown passes from Daron Bryden in the game’s final five minutes to give the WARHAWKS the win.
Simpson and Bryden hooked up for a 24-yard touchdown with four minutes, 23 seconds remaining to cut the Tomahawks’ lead to 28-27. The extra point was no good, however.
Bryden threw a go-ahead 19-yard touchdown to Simpson on fourth-and-9 with 1:37 left.
Bloomfield’s Ky'Juon Butler was a bully. He powered his way to touchdown runs of 3, 33 and 15 yards.
For those of you who wail and gnash your teeth about smaller schools playing larger schools, please note that Glastonbury (Class LL) has 691 more boys enrolled than Bloomfield (Class S).
THANKSGRABBING EVE
No. 8 Middletown 24, No. 5 Windsor 7
Middletown beat the Warriors at their own game — by playing ravenous defense. It only allowed one first down in the first half.
The Blue Dragons had only one sustained scoring drive because the Warriors’ defense was pretty ferocious against the run. Windsor, which has five shutouts, stopped two drives deep in its territory.
STONE Belzo completed 10 of 14 passes for 73 yards with two interceptions for Middletown and ran 10 times for 43 yards and two touchdowns. Teammate Xzavier Reyes had to scrap for every yard and finished with 27 carries for 98 yards.
WHAT.
Dan Mason scored on runs of 49 and 2 yards as the Nighthawks stunned the Panthers and beat them for the sixth straight season.
The game was over a day ago and we still can't process it. The Panthers had mangled the South-West Conference the entire season, outscoring their opponents by an average of 40 points.
The Nighthawks were embarrassed by Bunnell in previous last game, 40-0 (Nov. 10). Masuk opened the season with a 42-13 win over the latter.
East Hartford 26, Manchester 25
David Ortiz scored on a 5-yard run with 5:30 left to lead to Hornets to victory. Kevon Jones ran 20 times for 120 yards and a touchdown for East Hartford. Jevin Frett was crazy for the Manchester as he scored three straight times on an 85-yard kickoff return, a 9-yard catch, and an 87-yard punt return.
Phoenix Billings threw for 85 yards and touchdown and ran for 51 yards and two scores in the first half for the Tigers. Ian Butler also returned his single-season school record ninth interception for a 46-yard touchdown.
Stafford/East Windsor/Somers 27, Windsor Locks/Suffield/East Granby 6
Colton Engel ran 27 times for 177 yards and three touchdowns and threw a 15-yard touchdown pass as the Bulldogs unofficially clinched their second postseason in a row.
Rocky Hill 35, Cromwell/Portland 7
Matt Osgood caught touchdowns passes of 29 and 24 yards from Dan Cavallaro for the Terriers and threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Diamonte Baker.
Ian Sadick threw six touchdowns passes and ran for another for 246 total yards for the Wildcats. Tyler Ganim caught three of Sadick’s TD passes (39, 13, and 35 yards).
Coginchaug/Hale-Ray 28, North Branford 27
Elijah Rivera threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Curry on fourth down with 1:49 remaining to give the Blue Devils the win. Pat Ladas ran 33 times for 251 yards and three touchdowns for C/H-R.
THANKSGRABBING~!
Owen Shin ran 27 times for 120 yards and a touchdown and Grant Morse kicked two field goals (24, 44 yards) to help the four-time defending Class L champions earn their 13th straight playoff berth.
Jake Cianco (25 yards) and Zach Miller (42 yards) scored on interception returns for New Canaan (8-2), which had lost the previous five Thanksgrabbing clash to their Gold Coast rivals.
Seniors Jack Joyce (quarterback) and Brian Minicus (receiver-safety) didn’t play after turning themselves in to the New Canaan Police on Wednesday. Senior Nick Green (linebacker) also didn’t play with Darien head coach Rob Trifone not commenting on his absence, according to the Stamford Advocate.
The Blue Wave had won 34 straight games. Their chance to win a third-straight Class LL title is questionable without Joyce and Minicus. Trifone told Dave Ruden of The Ruden Report that he didn’t know if they’d play in the quarterfinals.
No. 2 Greenwich 31, Staples 14
Lance LARGE had seven catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns and Tysen Comizio ran for 102 yards and a score for the Cardinals, who'll likely be the NEW No. 1 as well as the Class LL frontrunner given Darien’s status.
No. 3 Ansonia 46, Naugatuck 28
Future Central Connecticut Blue Devil Markell Dobbs ran 36 times for 404 yards and six touchdowns as well as four two-point conversions as the Chargers won the battle of unbeaten NVL rivals.
Darwin Amaya ran eight times for 45 yards and had a 45-yard catch for Ansonia. It leads the series 71-37-10.
Doreon Chapman ran six times for 103 yards and two touchdowns for the Greyhounds, who gave the defending Class S champions their “closest” game of the season.
No. 4 St. Joseph 65, Trumbull 6
David Summers completed 15 of 20 passes for 253 yards and four touchdowns in the first half for the Cadets. Jaden Shirden also ran for 162 yards and four touchdowns for St. Joseph, which led 51-0 at halftime. The Eagles beat St. Joes last season, 39-7, so, yeah, payback.
Jake Roberts threw for 102 yards and three touchdowns and scored on a 3-yard run for the Gaels. He did all that in the first half, by the way. It was Shelton’s 13th straight win over the Red Raiders.
Fairfield Prep 21, No. 9 West Haven 14
Will Lucas threw touchdown passes to Finn Duran (16 yards) and Chris Duffy (43 yards) and scored on an 11-yard run as the Jesuits snapped their four-game losing streak to the Blue Devils.
Jesuits. Blue Devils. Why, after something-something years, are we just NOW noticing that this SCC Alpha Division rivalry is Heaven vs. Hell?
Prep managed to keep the Westies’ fleet of running backs in check. Chris Chance ran 12 times for 89 yards for the Blue Devils and Kyle Godfrey added 10 carries for 40 yards and a touchdown.
The Jesuits deserve a lot of credit for making states given their injuries. They lost running back Doug Harrison, their offensive catalyst, to a season-ending ACL injury in Week 2. Lucas also missed three games to an ankle injury.
Abbott Tech/Immaculate 48, Wolcott Tech/Housatonic/Wamogo 6
Jordan O’Brien ran 14 times for 171 yards and had two catches for 47 yards, including a touchdown, for THE UNITED (6-4).
The Falcons turned what was the equivalent of a Class M qualifier into a (drools) triple-option showcase. Barlow ran for FIVE HUNDRED AND NINTY YARDS. We're getting the vapors. Cal Peterson (a FULLBACK) ran 16 times for 227 yards and three touchdowns and had a safety for the Falcons. Trevor Furrer added 13 carries for 119 yards and picked off a pass playing D.
Sean Kelly completed 7 of 14 passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns and ran 15 times for 87 yards and two scores for the Hornets.
Bristol Central 33, Bristol Eastern 27
Yale-bound Dathan Hickey didn't so much go out with a bang for the Rams (7-3) as he went out with a BOOM. He ran 28 times for 333 yards and four touchdowns in his final game with Central. Hickey scored on back-to-back 75 yard runs with five minutes remaining to break a 21-all tie. Ariza Kollaverja ran for an 8-yard touchdown and caught a 9-yard touchdown for the Lancers.
Ja’len Madison ran 22 times for 164 yards and three touchdowns for the Bulldogs (8-2), who needed a New Canaan loss to make states. Jarrod Davis added six carries for 94 yards and a touchdown.
Tyler Valdez ran seven times for 55 yards and scored twice for the Vikings (7-3) and Isaac Tomblin added seven carries for 51 yards and a score. HATS OFF to East Lyme for turning it around after finishing 1-9 last season. Peter Turello had two interceptions for the Lancers.
Fairfield Warde 55, Fairfield Ludlowe 22
Tyler Llewellyn for for 120 yards and three touchdowns and scored on a 61-yard pass for Warde.
Tyler Andrews ran for 139 yards and a touchdown and Tyler Nelli threw an 8-yard touchdown and ran for two scores for Fitch.
Collin Wiltshire scored twice for the Colonels.
Bryce Mileski ran 21 times for 70 yards and two touchdowns and C.J. Mattson had two of the Wolverines’ four interceptions as they beat the Panthers for the 14th time in 15 years. Griswold allowed just 47 yards on 22 carries.
Harding 39, Bridgeport Central 12
Quran Blow and Coleman Adams maximized their touches to lead the Presidents to their fourth straight win over the Hilltoppers. Blow ran eight times for 135 yards and two touchdowns and had an interception. Adams had four carries for 129 yards and a touchdown, scored on a 49-yard catch, and recovered a fumble.
Hartford Public 46, Bulkeley/HMTCA/Weaver 6
The Owls won their ninth straight against the Bulldogs as Lavarey Banton ran 15 times for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Joemar Scott also completed 7 of 11 passes for 90 yards and two touchdowns and scored on a 13-yard run.
Corey Fappiano completed 12 of 19 passes for 360 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two more as the Crusaders kept the Eagles from making states. DeAndre Wallace had six catches for 211 yards and a touchdown for Holy Cross (6-4), which trailed 22-7 in the second quarter.
Killingly 55, Woodstock Academy 6
Spencer Lockwood ran 15 times for 177 yards and four touchdowns as Killingly finished unbeaten for the first time since 1953.
Mike Plaskon ran for a go-ahead 14-yard touchdown with 57 seconds left to send the LAWMEN to states for the first time.
Plaskon ran for 152 yards and two touchdowns and scored on a 69-yard punt return for the Law, the first team to make states with four losses.
Jared Hubler ran for 177 yards and three touchdowns for the Lions. It was the final game for 12-year head coach Jeff Bevino.
Cruz Lenhart had two interceptions, recovered a fumble, and caught a 9-yard touchdown pass for Maloney. Larue Graham completed 14-of-30 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns for the Spartans, who regained the lead in the Stoddard Bowl (30-29-1). A.J. Marinelli completed 11-of-19 passes for 122 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions for the Panthers.
The nation’s oldest rivalry was the game of the day.
New London trailed 22-0 with over seven minutes left in the third quarter before starting a memorable comeback.
The Whalers trailed 22-20 when they started their final drive at their own 10-yard line with 1:46 left in the game.
Game-breaker Gio Lopez caught a 43-yard pass from Owen George and took it down to the NFA 7 with 7.4 seconds left.
Elijah Parker made a leaping catch in traffic for a game-winning 7-yard touchdown from George.
George completed 21 of 34 passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns.
Lopez had seven catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns and had a pick in the end zone.
Parker had eight catches for 85 yards and two scores.
Shea McManaway completed 24 of 38 passes for 266 yards with two interceptions and a touchdown for the Wildcats. He also scored on a 1-yard run.
NFA leads the series 77-68-1. The first game was played in 1875.
Mark Montano ran 16 times for 188 yards and two touchdowns to help the Indians return to states. GOD’S FATHER’S OFFENSE.
Kyle Gordon completed 15 of 22 passes for 208 yards with four touchdowns and an interception and ran for 103 yards to pace the Bears (6-4) to their fourth straight win over its city rival. A.J. Hall added six catches for 90 yards with three touchdowns and had an interception for Norwalk. Chris Druin ran 17 times for 89 yards and two touchdowns and completed 10 of 25 passes for 126 yards and a score for the Senators.
Chris Elias completed 12 of 16 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown and scored on runs of 1 and 35-yards as ND won their 12th straight Green Bowl.
RHAM 28, Bacon Academy 21 (OT)
The Sachems rallied from a 14-0 halftime deficit to win THE RAIL.
Terrance Bogan made the Trojans’ life miserable as he ran 14 times for 184 yards and four touchdowns for the Titans. Jordan Davis added 11 carries for 138 yards and three scores. Randy McFarline ran 26 times for 176 yards and three touchdowns for Lyman.
Who would’ve thought five weeks ago that Southington would miss states?
The Blue Knights were rolling halfway through the season. They were 6-0, ranked second in The Day's coaches’ poll in late October, and seemed like a lock to qualify for LL for the sixth straight season.
Southington then lost two of its next three games.
The Blue Knights couldn’t stop East Hartford from scoring twice in the final 2:16 in a 27-20 loss on Oct. 27. It was Southington’s first regular-season loss since a 49-37 defeat to Hall Oct. 19, 2013.
Two weeks later, the Blue Knights led South Windsor by 14 points at halftime and 13 late in the third quarter.
The Bobcats rallied to send the game into overtime. The Blue Knights had a touchdown catch waved off due to a personal foul and turned it over on the next play. Cameron Plourde’s 22-yard field goal gave South Windsor a 30-27 win and put Southington in jeopardy of missing states.
The Blue Knights had to beat Cheshire to have a shot at qualifying and did their part. Ryan Montalvo ran 25 times for 186 yards and a touchdown to give Southington its sixth straight Apple Valley Classic win. Evan Johanns added field goals of 17, 35 and 30 yards.
Fairfield Prep’s upset win over West Haven prevented Southington from clinching the final berth in LL.
The Black Knights had one of the day’s more notable upsets as they beat the resurgent Vikings to win the city championship.
Cam Freckleton (35 yards) and Lenny Garcia (37 yards) both ran for touchdowns for Stamford (4-6). Malichi Hill scored on a 50-yard kickoff return, and Daniel Collazo caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Terry Forrester.
Saquan Kelly scored on runs of 3 and 52 yards for Westhill (6-4), which has made great strides.
Thames River 42, Quinebaug Valley 30
Trey Stimson ran for a go-ahead 1-yard touchdown with 1:30 left to give the Crusaders the win. Stimson ran 21 times for 132 yards and three touchdowns for Thames (5-5). The Crusaders’ Albert Velasquez ran 11 times for 108 yards and also scored three times.
Nick D’Elia completed 9 of 15 passes for 173 yards and four touchdowns and ran five times for 73 yards in the Indians' dress rehearsal for their first trip to states since 1986. Adam Alenckis ran 13 times for 264 yards and four touchdowns for Watertown, which rolled up 668 yards of offense. Starling Santos scored on a 68-yard kickoff return and a 30-yard run for the Red Raiders, and Dyaln Myrie ran for touchdowns of 33 and 14 yards.
Westerly (R.I.) 34, Stonington 13
Junie Rios ran 13 times for 74 yards and two touchdowns as the Bulldogs overcame an injury to leading-rusher Tristan Turano to win the 156th game in the nation’s oldest Thanksgrabbing Day rivarly.
Ryan Holloway added 20 carries for 83 yards and a score for Westerly, which had lost five in a row to the Bears.
Nate Miller ran 23 times for 85 yards and a touchdown for Stonington and Marco Tedeschi threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Jared Rudzinsky.
Stonington leads the series, 74-67-17, which began in 1911.
The Governors overcame a first-quarter injury to quarterback Sal Barnebei and a 22-point deficit for a hell of a win.
Jasiah Barnes went berserk in the fourth quarter for Wilbur Cross (7-3). He ran seven times for 174 yards. He finished with 17 carries for 195 yards and three touchdowns.
Quintus Reid ran for a 19-yard touchdown for the Academics (6-4). He also threw touchdowns to Neal Eley (41 yards) and Terron Mallory (23 yards).
The Warriors used their sexy option offense to run 43 times for 281 yards and four touchdowns
Harvey Alexander ran 18 times for 69 yards and two touchdowns for Wilton (6-4). Brian Calabrese also threw two touchdowns.
• • • •
For those of you who were following along this week, we listed the projected scores from Ned Freeman’s computer model at CalPreps.com.
Freeman’s model has been a pretty good bellwether for the state rankings. It has, at times, been ahead of the curve when compared to voters in both polls. The model also picks games starting in October.
Freeman wrote at his site that blindly picking the team with the better record (or the home team when both teams have the same record) is 66.8 percent.
“Anything up around 75-80-percent is pretty good,” Freeman wrote, “but it's important to understand that it's easy to pick 70 percent in regular-season high school football due to the large number of mismatched games.”
Ned's model went 30-12 on Thanksgrabbing. It has been accurate 81.6-percent of the time (350-79).
• • • •
New London’s Juan Roman has been one of the cooler humans we’ve dealt with the past few years. He was also one of the best quotes.
Roman resigned as head coach after Thursday’s win over NFA to spend more time with his family. His departure is bittersweet for both New London, the local football community, and everyone who interacted with him from TEAM DAY~!
We wanted to end this here blog post with a quote Roman had about dealing with adversity folowing New London’s gutty win over NFA. The dude could start a successful career as a motivational speaker.
“You need to keep scrapping, keep working,” Roman said. “You know what — it didn’t feel real good when you don’t have a whole lot of money in your bank account and the kids need formula and diapers. And, hopefully, again, it seems so silly when you say it, but hopefully a game like this allows these young men to realize, ‘you know what, I’ve been in tough times before. I kept my nose to the grindstone and I did what I had to do.
“For them to be able to see just hold steady, stay the course, and win with seconds on the clock, that happens in life.”
Be good, Juan.
• • • •
Thanks for reading. More later.
Adios....
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