Poll has it’s first 1 vs. 2 battle

Top-ranked St. Joseph hosts No. 2 Darien on Saturday in meeting of reigning state champs

There are three high school football teams receiving first-place votes in The Day's Top 10 state coaches' poll.

There should only be two teams getting first-place votes next week, and one of them will be hoarding most of those votes.

Top-ranked St. Joseph will host No. 2 Darien on Saturday with No. 1 ranking at stake. Kickoff is 1:30 p.m.

The Cadets (2-0), last season's CIAC Class S champion, received seven first-place votes this week. They earned the No. 1 ranking in last week's season debut of The Day coaches' poll after thrashing New Canaan on Sept. 8, 28-0.

New Canaan was ranked first in the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register Top 10 media preseason poll.

Darien (2-0) received three firstplace votes. It's the three-time defending Class LL champion and ended the past three seasons as the top-ranked team in The Day coaches' poll.

Third-ranked Greenwich (2-0) received the other three first-place votes.

There was just one change of note in this week's poll as Newtown (2-0) displaced Southington (2-0) at No. 10.

Newtown routed Cheshire last Friday, 47-7, one week after the Rams dogged Shelton. The fifthranked Gaels needed a turnover to set up the go-ahead touchdown with 1 minute, 3 seconds left in the game, then iced it with an interception for a 17-10 win.

The Nighthawks' dominating win over Cheshire caused some voters to adjust their ballots with Newtown edging the Blue Knights in points, 146-133, to take over at No. 10.

Southington beat winless Simsbury last Friday, 21-7.

No local teams received any votes. Ninth-ranked Killingly (20) is the lone Eastern Connecticut Conference team in the poll. It plays at New London (1-1) on Friday night.