The Lonesome Polecat: Ansonia gonna' Ansonia, NFA's receivers, Week 1 review, Top 10 polls, etc.
The Ansonia Chargers were less than 15 minutes into their 2019 season last Thursday and had already intercepted four passes, a few off of deflections, and the last for a 9-yard touchdown return by Darell McKnight.
If Ansonia is regularly doing tip drills at practice, well, then they paid off instantly.
“We do one-on-ones every day at practice,” Chargers senior fullback-linebacker Tyler Cafaro said about all the interceptions. “So, I mean….”
Cafaro paused for a moment, then added, “I was actually surprised to be honest.”
The opening week of the high school season is generally filled with surprises, wild finishes, and downright lunacy.
There are constants, though, such as Ansonia mowing down another opponent. It had a 37-point halftime lead and won 49-12.
Not bad for a team with 14 new starters, including three in the defensive backfield.
“They’re pretty good on the tip drills,” Chargers head coach Tom Brockett quipped about his d-backs.
“We’ve definitely got some holes that we’ve still got to figure out. I thought at times we were really sloppy tonight, but we did some things well.”
The defense certainly had its moments, forcing turnovers on WCA’s first five offensive drives. The first team gave up just one touchdown with the second coming against the reserves with 2 minutes, 28 seconds left in the game, which was played with running clock the entire second half.
Seniors Craig Moore, Noah Wagnblas and Tyler Cafaro all had interceptions.
“I thought they played hard,” Brockett said about the defense. “I thought we were sloppy early on. We were jumping offsides, probably about four times, which is poor coaching. That’s a lack of discipline. We’re not going to win games doing that. I thought we didn’t tackle great at times, but we did turn them over. Turnovers are a great way to win a game.”
The offensive line was hit hard by graduation as there are four new starters.
A strong offensive line has always been one of the biggest points of pride for Brockett, now in his 14th year as head coach. It has been key to Ansonia’s power running game and opened holes for some of the most successful backs in history such as Arkeel Newsome (10,672 career rushing yards, most in state history), Alex Thomas (8,279 career rushing yards, second all-time), and Montrell and Markell Dobbs.
The Chargers have used their running game and defense to play in 11 CIAC finals over 13 seasons and win six of them under Brockett. He has the greatest career winning percentage among those who coached a minimum of 40 games, according to the Connecticut High School Football Record Book (.930, 148-11).
The 2019 Ansonia offensive line is made up of senior co-captains Garrett Cafaro (tight end) and Luis Santiago (right guard) and classmates Cyril Jack (right tackle), Isiah Hicks (center) and Nashawn Washington (left tackle), junior Nick DiPalma (left guard), and freshman Alex Romanowski (center).
“When you have unproven guys doing things for the first time, your inexperience shows up,” Brockett said. “I was really disappointed the way we protected the quarterback. Other than that, you see Garrett Cafaro is going to make plays. Tyler Cafaro (a co-captain) is going to make plays. (Quarterback) Sheldon (Schuler) is going to make plays. And then (senior co-captain) Shykeem Harmon can hit the home run on any play. So we could present a lot of problems offensively. We’ve just got to be able to pass protect better than that.
“I thought the run blocking was pretty good, though.”
Schuler, a junior, allowed Ansonia to throw more a little more last season than they normally have under Brockett. He threw for 151 yards and three touchdowns in the first half of the WCA win.
Garrett Cafaro (42 yards), Noah Wagnblas (25) and Harmon (29) caught Schuler’s touchdown passes.
Harmon also ran for 69 yards and a touchdown. Injuries forced him to be the new starting tailback last season and he ran for 2,100 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Tyler Cafaro (5 yards) and Jayden Esqilin (3) also ran for touchdowns against WCA.
• • • •
One thing every opponent knows about Norwich Free Academy this season — it has receivers with good size and/or can fly.
Even when the Wildcats trailed Xavier by 11 points with under nine minutes left on Saturday, one should’ve still known the game wasn’t over because their passing game could break off a touchdown.
NFA finally hit on a long pass play and scored three unanswered touchdowns to stun the Falcons, 37-27.
Senior Austin Richards completed 21 of 33 passes for 243 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in his first start at quarterback. He was slated to start last year but needed elbow surgery last summer and missed the entire season.
The Wildcats trailed by 11 when senior Andrew Cote caught a pass downfield from Richards, found a crease, and jetted for a 42-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 27-23 with 8 minutes remaining.
Cote finished with 10 catches for 190 yards and three scores. He missed the final five games of last season after breaking his ankle.
“He’s a fast guy,” Richards said about Cote. “I can throw a ball to him downfield and I know he’s going to make a play with it.”
NFA also took advantage of the talents of senior Damien Bleau and sophomore Maxson Pierre-Louis on wide receiver screens. Pierre-Louis had six catches for 35 yards, and Bleau added six catches for 30 yards.
“(Senior receiver) Nolan (Molkenthin), he’s a big dude,” Richards said. “I can throw any ball to him, throw it up, and he can catch it.
“An outside guy, Maxson, he’s really tall, so if I throw it up, he’ll most likely come down with it.
“The other outside receiver, Damien, he’s quick with his feet. Any pass I throw to him, I know he’s going to get positive yards out of it.”
Richards also ran nine times for 74 yards, including a go-ahead 29-yard touchdown with 2 minutes, 28 seconds left.
NFA was expected have one of the region’s top running games as it had four linemen back as well as running back Sean Preston, who emerged as a threat during his sophomore year.
Preston is no longer with the team.
Asked what happened with Preston, Wildcats head coach Jason Bakoulis smiled and said, “We’ve got (junior) Xavier Fonvil (at running back), and he’ll be healthy and will be good to go.”
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Yes, we managed to squeeze in a Polecat inbetween coverage of America's Team, the Connecticut Sun, and their WNBA championship drive. Why? Because we love YOU much-much. And masochism. Tankers and tankers full of masochism.
• • • •
And now, a look back at some of the noteworthy and daffy from Week 1:
THURSDAY
The Redcoats ground out the win, but we’re going to put that all aside for a moment because there was a whole lot of ‘ugh’ involved in (and surrounding) the game.
Tolland track coach Corey Pusey suffered a massive stroke last weekend and died on Sept. 10. He was just 40. He coached the team for 16 years, and some of his throwers play football.
Tolland football coach Scott Cady was diagnosed in May with stage four peritoneal mesothelioma, a cancer that grows on the “thin membrane surrounding the abdomen,” according to Mesothelioma.com. It’s extremely rare with 500 diagnosis each year and generally lethal. The average patient survives a year.
Berlin honored former player Nick Zuk before the game, who died of cancer in 2016.
Redcoats all-state running back-linebacker Zach Hrubiec broke his fibula during the second quarter of the Tolland game and is done for the season.
Again, just a whole lot of ‘ugh.’
As for the game, Berlin’s Adam Liberda’s interception set up his 22-yard touchdown run to ice the game with 2:31 remaining.
The Redcoats’ Trevor Miano blocked Tolland’s extra point when it cut its deficit to 7-6 in the third quarter. Teammate Elijah Crowley blocked an Eagles’ field goal attempt to start the fourth quarter.
FRIDAY
Get used to these kinds of beatings by the WARHAWKS.
Shakur Hill returned the opening kickoff for a 98-yard touchdown and also scored on an 8-yard run. Anthony Simpson, a receiver, ran seven times for 77 yards and two scores. Brandon Bish also scored on a 5-yard run and 45-yard fumble return. And William Moore returned an interception for a 20-yard touchdown.
Cromwell/Portland 3, Haddam-Killingworth 0
Crom/Port has been a perennial Pequot power (ALLITERATION), but it graduated much of season’s Class S quarterfinalist. It has just seven seniors.
H-K was one of the popular Pequot Football Conference favorites this year as it returned a core of last year’s Class S runner-up.
The Panthers may be young and inexperienced, but they can still defend. Matthew Pepe kicked a 25-yard field goal for the only points. Crom/Port also blocked a field goal.
So, like, who is the Pequot favorite now?
Darien 42, Fairfield Ludlowe 0
The Blue Wave defense allowed just 112 yards.
Yep. Same old Blue Wave.
First-year starter Peter Graham completed 13 of 21 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown and Sam Wilson had five tackles and two interceptions.
Ellington 28, Coventry/Windham Tech/Bolton/Lyman Memorial 27
Zachary Killoran threw a go-ahead 10-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Mangiafico with 6:28 left for the Pequot win. Killoran threw for 94 yards and three scores for the Knights. Nathan Schneider added 32 carries for 118 yards and a TD.
The Patriots’ Kaleb Carlson ran for an 80-yard touchdown over a minute later to cut his team’s deficit to a point, but the point after failed.
Tallon Stager ran for 76 yards and two touchdowns, including the game’s final points on an 18-yard run in the fourth quarter. Cody Stager completed 9 of 13 passes for 205 yards and ran for 68 yards and two touchdowns for Enfield and Wyatt Raymond had 193 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Malik Bennet (43, 80 yards) and Darrion Williams (5, 16) both ran for two Hornets’ touchdowns. They led 27-14 in the second quarter.
Fairfield Prep 14, North Haven 7
Max McGillicuddy (five catches, 83 yards) had key third-down catches on Prep’s two touchdown drives in an old-school (1995) SCC slobberknocker.
Sean Nelson (2 yards) and Kyle Vaccarella (5) ran for the Jesuits’ touchdowns.
Corey Hooks ran 27 times for 145 yards for North Haven. Max Augustine added a 9-yard touchdown run
Granby/Canton 27, Stafford/East Windsor/Somers 26 (OT)
More Pequot nuttiness.
Jackson Rome for 19 times for 161 yards and four touchdowns, including the game-winner in overtime to give the new co-op (the Bear Warriors?) the win.
Rome’s final touchdown was for 10 yards. Mahlik Brown-Smith and Sam Schock each added an interception.
Mark McGlaughlin ran for a 1-yard touchdown to give S/EW/S the overtime lead, but the extra point failed.
Logan Briggs had seven catches for 151 yards and scored on two 3 yard runs for the Bulldogs. Tyler Ouellette also completed 15 of 19 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown.
So many new Cardinals. Same old result.
New QB James Rinello completed 13 of 18 passes for 177 yards with three TDs and an interception for the defending Class LL champs. A.J. Barber had four catches for 61 yards and two TDs, while linebacker Vincent Ceci added 10 tackles and 1 ½ sacks.
Another game in which the less-heralded team prevailed.
Branford returned nine on offense and five on defense. That (and last season’s 6-4 finish) had some folks both around the SCC talking the Hornets up as a Tier III and Class M contender. They even received votes in the preseason GameTime/New Haven Register poll.
The Indians’ Charles Walcott (and his offensive line) weren’t having any of that and rallied from a 19-7, fourth-quarter road deficit and gave first-year head coach Anthony Salvati a win in his debut.
Walcott ran 21 times for 208 yards and three touchdowns. His 59-yard run cut Guilford’s deficit to 19-14 with 10:23 left.
The Indians went for it on fourth-and-2 from its own 11 on their next possession and converted. Wolcott later ran for a 72-yard touchdown for the win.
Kam Holmes had 16 carries for 129 yards and two scores for Branford.
Hand 49, Notre Dame-West Haven 14
The two-time Class L champions got right back to doing what they did last season — mushing opponents.
Austin Doyle returned a blocked punt 12 yards a mere 1:32 into the game for the Tigers, who scored the game’s first 28 points.
Colin McCabe had 20 carries for 324 yards and two touchdowns and caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Phoenix Billings (three TD passes, 1 TD run).
Killingly 21, Cumberland (R.I.) 14
Team RPO (RUN PEOPLE OVER) crossed state lines and battled for the win.
Jackson Lopes ran 30 times for 130 yards and two touchdowns for the Team With No Nickname. Jacob Nurse threw a 21-yard touchdown to Kameron Crowe and Jonathan Creswell had 10 tackles.
Basketball is supposed to be a game of runs, not football, but this sucker was most manic.
Law went ahead 30-0 in the second quarter.
The Trojans responded with a 22-0 run to end the first half.
The Lawmen scored 20 unanswered points in the third.
Lyman closed with an 18-0 run.
Law’s Mike Becker completed 11 of 14 passes for 231 yards with four touchdowns and a pick — in the first half — while teammate Rayshon Jacobs had four catches for 99 yards and three scores (in the first half).
Curtis Murphy scored on runs of 9 and 13 yards for the Lawmen and Sakye Mercado scored on a 50-yard interception return.
Sean Patrick Pragano completed 19 of 26 passes for 345 yards with five touchdowns and an interception for the Trojans while SHAKESPEARE Rodriguez had 10 catches for 199 yards and four TDs. Luke O’Reardon added five catches for 90 yards and a score and 16 tackles.
Lewis Mills 46, Bulkeley/HMTCA/Weaver 0
Hey, hey — the Spartans had a record-breaking debut in the Central Connecticut Conference and snapped their 13-game losing streak in their first night game at home.
Lewis set school records for points (previous record was a 42-28 win over Morgan, Sept. 17, 2011) and largest margin of victory (previous record was a 35-6 rout of Stafford/East Windsor on Nov. 8, 2014(.
This is odd — Lewis scored its first 12 points on defense. Josh Martinotti scored on a 20-yard interception return, followed by back-to-back safeties (Nick Romano had the tackle on the second one).
Martinotti a scored on 2-yard run and threw a conversion pass to Tyler Colinda. Colby Nordstrom threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Sean Polinski and ran for a 2-yard touchdown.
Jeff Nugent, who attended Hamden Hall the past two years, transferred back to Masuk and ran for two touchdowns and scored a third on a screen pass. The Panthers busted out a new-fangled option look. WHEE.
The Indians’ Ryan Douchette ran for a game-winning 1-yard touchdown with 54 seconds left and Frank Cook ran in the conversion. Douchette ran for three touchdowns and threw for another.
Christian Hudson ran 17 times for 272 yards and five touchdowns for the Bears.
This was also the first football game we’ve ever heard of that was suspended due to bugs.
We're sure some of you who think that suspending a game due to mosquitoes is silly (“in our day, we played through swarms of locusts and we liked it!”). And, yes, the game should've started earlier. Even Bill Mignault, a master at running time off the clock with his beloved Wing-T offense, would've struggle to get a game over in two hours.
That written, Eastern Equine Encephalitis is no joke. It has hospitalized an East Lyme resident since August and killed a Killingly resident in 2013.
Here was the weekend’s biggest surprise, hands down.
Windsor has all owned the CCC’s Division II three of the past five years and a Class L contender. It’s also run up a 47-3 regular-season record, won the 2014 Class L-Small title, was the Class L runner-up in 2016, and made the L semis the last two years.
The Warriors were also ranked 10th in the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register poll because one can always bank on them.
Newington hasn’t had a winning record since 2012 (6-4). It’s gone 22-40 over the past six years.
Chris Pace took over the Indians in 2016 after rebuilding Wolcott. It went to the playoffs four times in six seasons under him, so Newington made a good hire.
The Indians were expected to be better this year because they returned seven on offense and defense last season. Let's see if that was as sign of better things to come for them.
The Nighthawks scored 27 points in the first quarter and kept on keeping on.
Miles Ricks needed just four carries to gain 85 yards and score three touchdowns. Jared Dunn added four tackles and 1 1/2 sacks.
Rockville 41, Windsor Locks/Suffield/East Granby 0
Rockville was a fun surprise last season. It hadn’t had a winning season since 2004. It hadn’t qualified for states since losing in the 1995 Class L final to Cheshire (and that was so long ago that Cheshire, at the time the state’s premiere program, was running a real-life triple option offense with a quarterback under center and everything).
But back on point.
Rockville finished 7-4 and qualified for states last year. It wants to get back there again this season and returned six on both sides of the ball.
One position the Rams needed to fill was QB after three-year starter Ben Ambro graduated.
Rockville may have found their guy in senior co-captain Jonathan O’Coin. The converted running back completed 6 of 11 passes for 239 yards and five touchdowns, including three in the first half to Alex Deane (7,37, and 59 yards). Deane, playing in his first varsity game, also had an interception. Nas Knighton added 12 tackles.
It was a brutal start for WL/S/EG. It had high hopes for the season as it returned all but four starters from last year’s 5-5 team. It was held to 133 total yards.
One of the few positions the Cadets needed to fill was quarterback. Jack Wallace has taken over and completed 7 of 9 passes for 232 yards and five touchdowns against the Senators. ... in the first half. Well, then.
Brady Hutchison had three catches for 130 yards and three touchdowns.
Shelton and the Blue Devils had another one of their black-and-bruised games in their long, SCC rivalry.
The Gaels, ranked sixth in the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register preseason poll, trailed 7-0 and 13-7.
Michai Lynch broke free for a 77-yard touchdown run with Cristian Rosas’ extra point putting Shelton ahead to stay, 14-13, with 6:59 left in the third quarter.
Georgio Ghazal, all 5-foot-11, 230 pounds of him, scored on an 8-yard run in the fourth quarter.
(Note that Shelton’s five offensive linemen weigh a combined 1,397 pounds. And they’re also a combined 31 feet, 2 inches tall).
West Haven quarterback Andre Rentas, who transferred back to the school, injured his ankle in the third quarter and didn’t return.
The kickers were the story of this game as offense was very sparse.
Hall’s Noe Ruelas kicked a state-record FIFTY SIX-yard field goal to give his team a 3-0 lead.
Caden Lill tied it with a 27-yard field goal with 6.2 seconds left in regulation. Lill had tried out for the boys’ soccer team but was cut, but he found a job on the football team.
Brendan Gaffney scored the game-winning touchdown on a 2-yard run.
The Black Knights had an amazing win on an extremely emotional night.
The team was playing in the memory of former player Ky-Mani Antoine-Pollack and NiShawn Tolliver, who would’ve been a Stamford senior. The two were killed in a high-speed car crash on Aug. 26.
Isiah Johnson threw a 37-yard touchdown to Tyriq Deveaux to cut the Black Knights’ deficit to 13-12 with 6:27 left in regulation.
Stamford went for the lead. Johnson dove into the end zone for the go-head conversion.
“I’m at a loss for words, right now,” Black Knights head coach Jamar Greene told Scott Ericson of GameTimeCT. “I always believed in our guys and I felt we had a team that could surprise them. They might be bigger, they might be stronger but we stuck to our game plan and we went after them. We had a shot to kick for the tie or go for the win. How many opportunities are we going to have to win this type of game? Let’s go for two. This is very special.”
Weston 55, Brookfield 7
Class M may be the most wide-open division in years as none of the teams stand out. So keep an eye on Weston as it has the talent to make some noise in M.
Welcome back to the ECC, Centaurs.
Woodstock football had played as an independent the last three years while the rest of its athletic programs played in the ECC. Friday was its first league win since Sept. 27, 2014 (35-14 over St. Bernard).
Ethan Davis threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns for Woodstock, and Nick Bedard caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from Davis and had an interception.
The Colonels' Brayden Grim, a former running back, threw for 103 yards and three touchdowns and ran 13 times for 100 yards.
SATURDAY
New Canaan 32, New London 6
The Rams traveled east and outgained New London, 305-77.
New Canaan’s Christopher Canet returned the opening kickoff to the Whalers’ 7-yard line. It set up Drew Pyne’s 5-yard touchdown run 45 seconds into the game.
Pyne finished 13 of 24 passing for 206 yards with three touchdowns, and Jack Finnigan had 12 tackles.
• • • •
Behold, the season-debut of The Day Top 10 state coaches’ poll: 1. Hand (1-0, 12 first-place votes); 2. Greenwich (1-0, one first-place vote); 3. St. Joseph (1-0); 4. New Canaan (1-0); 5. Darien (1-0); 6. Southington (1-0); 7. Shelton (1-0); 8. Newtown (1-0); 9. Bloomfield (1-0), and, 10. Fairfield Prep (1-0).
• • • •
The GameTimeCT/New Haven Register/Hearst Inc. Monolith Top 10 media poll: 1. Hand (22 first-place votes); 2. St. Joseph (two first-place votes); 3. New Canaan; 4. Greenwich; 5. Darien; 6. Shelton; 7. Newtown; 8. Bloomfield; 9. Southington; and, 10. Fairfield Prep. So both polls have the same teams, including the same top five teams, but in a different order. A HIVE MIND exists between all voters.
• • • •
Dig the ballot Polecat HQ filed for the aforementioned media poll:
1. Hand
2. St. Joseph
3. Darien
4. New Canaan
5. Shelton
6. Newtown
7. Greenwich
8. Fairfield Prep: Hosts Newtown on Friday. Neat.
9. Southington: Plays at Darien on Friday.
10. Bloomfield
11. Newington: Don’t believe we’ve ever voted for it.
12. Platt
13. Ridgefield
14. Masuk
15. Ansonia
• • • •
Thanks for reading. More soon.
Adios....
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