Howdy,

Okay, it may seem stupid to recommend any games when No. 1 Xavier plays host to No. 3 Hand today. It's the (Southern Connecticut Conference) game folks wanted last year but didn't get. The press has done gone lost their minds writing about all week.

No one here at Polecat HQ is going to waste their time telling you why the game is a big freaking deal. You already know. Duh.

Football isn't all about the Falcons and Tigers, though. It's all inclusive. And there are other worthy games to attend if you don't want to take part in Route 66's reenactment of "The Road Warrior."

(No, not these Road Warriors.)

Here are swell games not involving Middletown and Madison:

Windham (3-1, 1-0 ECC Medium) at Montville (3-1, 1-0), today, 6:30 p.m.: Two teams with explosive game-breakers playing on a turf field. What more do you need?

Hall-West Hartford (3-1) at Middletown (4-0), today, 7 p.m.: The Blue Dragons have stomped all comers by a combined score of 176-6. Now their schedule starts to get fun. Hall has rebounded nicely from an opening-week loss to Manchester. Middletown also plays host to No. 5 Windsor next week, and has games remaining against Farmington (4-0), Hartford Public (3-0) and Xavier.

Fairfield Prep (3-1) at Cheshire (3-1), today, 7 p.m.: One of the SCC's "other games" this weekend, and it's nearly as important as the big one. Cheshire is ranked 11th in Class LL, Prep 13th. The winner moves up. The loser doesn't play in December.

Hillhouse (3-1) at North Haven (3-1), today, 7 p.m.: And here's the SCC's "other" big game. If a strong running game makes your heart swell with joy, and you curse Eddie Cochems' for the forward pass, then this game is for you. Hillhouse uses the option. The Indians utilize an unbalanced single wing. The game may get over in under two hours as there'll be few incompletions to stop the clock. Oh, yeah — the winner is crowned the king of the SCC's second division and doesn't get their playoff dreams quashed.

Vaya con dios…