Tigers roar to top of GameTime poll

Hand blew through the Class L football tournament last fall, outscoring three opponents 15921, practically a coronation tour. A whole lot of key cogs of that team return, and the Tigers are a nearunanimous No. 1 in the GameTimeCT preseason poll.

But the Tigers have some company in their division. No. 2 St. Joseph, last year’s Class M champion, was moved up to Class L. No. 3 New Canaan, a perennial contender, moved down from Class LL.

Those three teams were separated clearly from the rest of the pack in the poll, with another tier of three Class LL teams behind them and defending Class S champion Bloomfield seventh, well clear in both directions.

It starts with the Tigers, though, a deep team with talented athletes like quarterback Phoenix Billings, lineman Ben Corniello and running back Colin McCabe. The Tigers received 22 firstplace votes from the 25 media members polled; St. Joseph got the other three.

One of only two undefeated teams in the CIAC last season, Hand carries a 24game winning streak into Friday’s season opener at the Surf Club against Notre DameWest Haven.

The other 2018 unbeaten and last season’s No. 1, Class LL champion Greenwich is ranked fourth in the preseason. The Cardinals, with a lot of players (and some coaches) stepping up into bigger roles, were in a tight bunch with No. 5 Darien and No. 6 Shelton.

They are three of the six Class LL teams in the top 11, including No. 8 Newtown and No. 9 Southington, plus Fairfield Prep, tops in points among those also receiving votes.

There were plenty who received votes, too. The top six teams each received votes from every voter, but things got scattered from there. In all, 33 of the state’s 141 teams received at least one vote. (Seven received, in fact, one vote.) Of last season’s 32 playoff teams, 24 got a vote to start this season.

Windsor, a semifinalist in Class L last year, rounded out the Top 10.

The top Class M team in the poll is Platt, a preseason 13th. The Panthers were Class L semifinalists last year but moved down.

Dave Phillps / For Hearst Connecticut Media QB Phoenix Billings and the defending Class L champion Daniel Hand Tigers are the No. 1 team in the first GameTimeCT Top 10 poll of the season.