New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Halfway home, 16 remain unbeaten
We’ve reached the midpoint of the 2021 high school football season.
With New Canaan’s 17-14 victory over Norwalk on Sunday, there are now 16 remaining unbeaten teams in the CIAC.
Breaking it down by playoff division, there are three in Class LL: Hall
(5-0), Darien (5-0) and New Canaan (5-0), all of whom are ranked in the GameTimeCT Top 10 poll. Darien is No. 1, New Canaan No. 3 and Hall No. 5.
There are four remaining unbeaten teams in Class L: St. Joseph (5-0), Cheney Tech (5-0), Thames River (5-0) and Quinebaug Valley (5-0). Only St. Joseph (No. 2) is ranked in the GameTimeCT Top 10.
There are three remaining in Class M: 4-0 Granby/ Canton, 4-0 Killingly and 5-0 Coginchaug/Hale Ray/ East Hampton. Only Killingly (T9) is ranked in the GameTimeCT Top 10.
And, finally, there are six remaining unbeaten teams in Class S: 4-0 Seymour, 5-0 Bloomfield, 5-0 New Fairfield, 5-0 Ansonia, 4-0 Cromwell/Portland and 5-0 Ledyard. None of these teams are ranked in the GameTimeCT Top 10.
With a 28-7 loss to North Haven, Hamden was the only unbeaten team to lose last week. The Dragons also became the second consecutive unbeaten team to lose to a winless team (North Haven came in 0-4), following Glastonbury, which knocked off Newington 28-20 the week before.
There will be at least one less unbeaten team after this week when Seymour (4-0) travels to face Ansonia (4-0) on Thursday.
HOG HEAVEN
Heading into Saturday’s GameTimeCT Game of the Week, No. 2-ranked St. Joseph had scored 45% of its points in the first quarter.
Against Greenwich, St. Joseph was shut out in the opening quarter for the first time this year, but still ran its state-best win streak to 28 games with a 24-20 victory.
St. Joseph hasn’t lost since Sept. 22, 2018, a 2-7 loss to Darien.
But St. Joseph’s recent success goes even deeper than that. Since losing the Class M championship game to Hillhouse in 2016, the Hogs have won 42 of 44 games, including state championships in Class S, M and L.
The Hogs’ only other loss during that time was — yes — to Darien, 42-10, on Sept. 23, 2017.
Darien is 5-0 and currently ranked No. 1 in the GameTimeCT Top 10 poll.
St. Joseph, ranked No. 2 and getting first-place votes in the GameTimeCT Top 10, faces 4-1 Ridgefield at Tiger Hollow on Friday night in the final game before their anticipated showdown at home vs. Darien on Saturday, Oct. 30.
WHERE’S
THE D-ARIEN?
No. 1 Darien also found itself in a dogfight, but against unranked Wilton, in an eventual 56-36 slugfest Saturday at Darien.
There were three ties and the Blue Wave trailed Wilton twice, at 14-7 and later 36-35 on Jake Sommer’s electric 69-yard catch-andrun with 10:35 remaining. Matt Minicus’ 57-yard touchdown catch from Miles Drake with 9:55 left put Darien ahead for good.
The 36 points scored by Wilton marked the first time Darien had surrendered more than 27 points in a game since it survived freshman quarterback
Drew Pyne and New Canaan, 37-34 in OT of their 2016 Thanksgiving Day game, won on Finlay Collins’ interception.
And it was the most points allowed since a 42-35 win over Greenwich that same year. Darien hasn’t surrendered more than 36 points since a 39-26 loss to Trumbull in 2012.
The win upped Darien’s win streak vs. Wilton to 12 games. The closest the Warriors have come was a 35-34 loss in 2011.
While Darien plays at Ludlowe this week, Wilton’s next opponent is No. 3-ranked New Canaan, which it hasn’t beaten since 1995 (27-6).
HALL OF A START
It’s been seven years since Hall last made an appearance in the Class LL playoffs.
But the Warriors took yet another step toward breaking that drought with a nail-biting 39-38 victory over Platt, secured only when the Warriors blocked a 44-yard field goal attempt with under a minute left.
Hall is 5-0 for the first time since 2010. The Warriors have done it with an offense that averages 36.8 points per game, third best in the CCC and best in CCC Tier I.
Leo Perreira, though he left the waning moments of the Platt game with an injury, has run for 731 yards and 14 touchdowns. Eli Salomons has thrown for 901 yards and 7 TDs.
The offense, so far, has been able to offset the team’s Achilles’ heel: a defense that’s allowed 30.4 points a game, secondworst in CCC Tier I and seventh-worst in the CCC.
Hall, which has already defeated Southington 27-19, plays Berlin and Glastonbury on the road before returning home for a big game vs. 4-1 Maloney, followed by 0-5 New Britain and 2-3 rival Conard.
Just one loss the rest of the way will be enough to earn its first postseason berth since 2014. There, the Warriors will look to win their first playoff game. They’re 0-7 all-time, including three state finals in the 1980s and all four quarterfinal appearances between 2010-14.
STREAK ON THE LINE?
As detailed last week in this spot, Ansonia (5-0) has won 100 consecutive games against Naugatuck Valley League opponents dating to a 38-20 loss to Naugatuck on Thanksgiving Day 2010.
The streak includes 95 consecutive regular-season league games, three (nowdefunct) league championship victories over Woodland (twice) and Holy Cross (once), and two state playoff games: 51-12 over Woodland in the 2013 Class S final and 51-16 over Seymour in the 2017 Class S quarterfinals.
Interestingly enough, of the 15 NVL opponents Ansonia has beaten during its streak, three of them lost by their closest margins this season.
Oxford, which is 0-7 vs. Ansonia during the streak, lost by 15 points in Week 2. Holy Cross, which is now 0-11 vs. Ansonia during the streak, lost by 21 in Week 3. And Waterbury Career Academy, 0-5 during the streak, lost by 19 in Week 5.
Ansonia (5-0) plays host to unbeaten Seymour on Thursday, 6 p.m. at Jarvis Stadium.
Though Ansonia is 10-0 against Seymour during its NVL streak, Seymour has come closest to toppling the Chargers: a 21-20 loss in 2013 won on Arkeel Newsome’s 19-yard touchdown run with 6:37 left and a late missed field goal attempt.
A win by Ansonia would put coach Tom Brockett ahead of Charles “Boots” Jarvis on the school’s alltime coaching win list. Brockett is 175-13 in 15 seasons. Jarvis was 175-77-12 in 29 seasons.
Ansonia’s all-time wins leader is, of course, Jack Hunt with an all-time record of 193-26.
ALLIANCE UPDATE
Week 6 only saw one CT HS Football Alliance game, ECC’s Griswold/Wheeler’s 42-8 victory over SCC’s Bassick.
The midseason Alliance records by conference: The SWC is 11-9 (.550); the FCIAC 14-12 (.538); the SCC 18-21; the CCC 6-7 (.462); and the ECC 4-6. Independent Capital Prep/Achievement First is 2-1 (.667).
There are 17 Alliance crossover games this week as the state returns to a full slate after back-to-back bye weeks.
Some of the more intriguing matchups are: Shelton (4-1) at Norwich Free Academy (3-2), Masuk (4-1) at Notre Dame-WH (3-2), Cheshire (3-2) at Newtown (3-2) and Fitch (3-2) at Fairfield Prep (4-1).
QUOTABLE
“It stinks not having a full arsenal of guys but the kids kept us going this week. They knew we were down guys and down a head coach and they said ‘What’s the difference? We’re going to come and fight.’ And that s what they did.” — No. 6-ranked Norwalk assistant coach Mike LaRusso following a 17-14 loss to No.3 New Canaan, a game which 15 Norwalk players and head coach Pat Miller were forced to miss due to COVID-19 protocols.