Howdy,

Lawdy, do we miss football. Everyone here at Polecat HQ is jonesing like depraved freaks, counting down the days until our Canadian friends kick off their 2013 CFL season. That'll get us through until our country's 100-yard football begins.

(Note to American football — adopt the rouge!)

A few coaching vacancies have been filled since we last bothered to blog, but there's more to talk about involving our beloved Pequot Football League.

Jimmy "Mouth of the Shore" Zanor of the Shore Line Times had everyone here at Defcon 2 this morning after reading a tweet he posted Thursday night.

Zanor, an outstanding chap, tweeted, "Some Pequot Conference football teams ready to join the SCC in 2015."

SCC commish Al Carbone emailed this morn that there haven't been any discussions.

MORE Pequot news — Ellington/Somers tweeted this fall's schedule, featuring a new divisional alignment:

North: Coventry/Windham Tech/Bolton (Class L), Cromwell (S), Ellington/Somers (M), Enfield (M), Sports and Medical Sciences Academy/University (S), Stafford/East Windsor (S) and Windsor Locks/Suffield/East Granby (L).

South: Coginchaug (S), Haddam-Killingworth (S), Hyde (S), Morgan (S), North Branford (S), Old Saybrook/Westbrook (S), and Valley Regional/Old Lyme (S).

West: Avon (L), Canton (S), Gilbert/Northwestern Regional (M), Granby (S), Housatonic Regional/Wamogo (S), Lewis Mills (M), and Nonnewaug (S).

We dare say that Avon and Gilbert/Northwestern Regional made out well in this shift for a few reasons. The West has one less consistent contender than the other two divisions. Granby and Lewis Mills are both young programs. Nonnewaug has won three games over its last five seasons.

The North has Cromwell, E/S and C/W/T, which have all made states in either of the last two seasons. Cromwell has also played in three state finals and won once.

The South looks like the toughest division. The Sassacus had been the tougher of the Pequot's two divisions, and most of those teams are in the new South.

Hyde, North Branford and VR/OL all took turns winning the Sassacus over the previous five seasons. Coginchaug and Haddam-Killingworth gave that trio trouble from time-to-time, too.

The return of divisional crossovers will (almost) balance everything out, though. Avon and G/NW will both play Cromwell, E/S, North Branford and VR/OL.

North Branford should have the toughest schedule next season if past success is any indicator. It has to deal with its South foes, in addition to crossovers against Avon, C/W/T, E/S, Cromwell and G/NW.

Pretty sure that H/W has the longest road trip — it opens the season at Old Saybrook/Westbrook. That's a one hour and 46 minute trip by car. A bus ride might take over two hours. Too bad that wormholes haven't been found in our realm as they'd help the Mountaineers cut down on travel.

We'd love to post a copy of the schedule, but we can't figure out how with this stupid gizmo. In the meantime, you can check it out at Ellington's twitter feed while we call technical support

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Now, onto the coaching portion of our show.

There were 16 vacancies when we last posted. That number has dwindled a smidge.

Bridgeport Central bumped assistant Brian Gordon up to the top spot, as first reported by Sean Bowley of Hearst Inc.

Gordon had been Central's defensive coordinator. We hope he follows the lead of former head coach Dave Cadelina and runs DOOM whenever possible.

Avon hired Jim Caouette, as first tweeted by Kyle Brennan of the NVL Blog, Waterbury Republican-American, and Griff's Chicken Shack. Gerry deSimas of the Collinsville Press wrote up a little something about Caouette, too.

Ellington/Somers tweeted Thursday that it elevated assistant Sean Byrne to head coach.

THIRTEEN teams still need a head coach — Abbott Tech, Branford, Bunnell, East Haven, Fairfield Ludlowe, Fitch, Old Saybrook/Westbrook, Rockville, St. Bernard/Norwich Tech, Stamford, Torrington, Wilby, and Woodstock Academy.

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Aw, shoot — we almost forgot to mention that the Naugatuck Valley League accepted Oxford with open arms last week, as first reported by Waterbury Joe of the Rep-Am. Kyle also yammered about it.

The Wolverines will move from the South-West Conference to the NVL in 2014. Their addition will cause a problem for the NVL as it will have 15 schools, thus screwing up scheduling.

The NVL will have three five-team divisions that have yet to be named:

Division 1: Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, St. Paul, and Seymour.

Division 2: Crosby, Holy Cross, Kennedy, Sacred Heart, and Wilby (it's all Waterbury, all the time).

Division 3: Naugatuck, Torrington, Watertown, Wolcott, and Woodland.

The league previously had the Brass and Cooper. We advise the league to name the third division "Zinc".

(Check your science books, kids).

Psst, NVL. You want to fix the scheduling issue? Call up the Bridgeport BOE and tell them you had a change of heart. Let Bassick, Central and Harding in and you'll have 18 schools.

A Bridgeport exodus wouldn't leave the FCIAC in a scheduling bind either as it would have a nice, even-numbered 16-school league.

Consider the boys' basketball league you'd have, too, NVL. It's already one of the best. Adding the Bridgeport trio would give you the state's most insane league with an RPI better than the Big 12.

Yeah, we know. It'll never happen. Perchance to dream.

That's all for now.

Vaya con dios….