No 5 West Haven, No. 6 Shelton to meet in Top 10 showdown

WEST HAVEN — It has been 20 years since the West Haven football team took down Greenwich to win the Class LL championship at Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport. While there have been plenty of playoff appearances since that title game, none of those teams brought home the hardware.

Two decades later, West Haven, ranked fifth in the GameTimeCT Top 10 poll, boasts another title contender. Like that team 20 years ago, this West Haven team is full of grit.

“We keep reminding them they have not won anything yet,” West Haven coach Rich Boshea said of his 5-0 team. “Last year, we were 8-2 and lost to two playoff teams, so we keep reminding them they haven’t won anything, and they have not proven anything yet. Generally, you go to the playoffs one year and something good happens the next year like we did in ’01 and ’02. A lot of these kids have been here since their freshman year where they did not win anything. They still have that sting of freshman year.

“We have great leadership. We have four captains (Trevor Tompkins, Preston Denno, Hakim Dembele, and Deven Robinson) which we have never had before. That speaks to their leadership. They are all great captains. They led the team which was all committed to the weight room in the offseason. The team did a great job in the offseason.”

Before the Westies get too far ahead of themselves, they will need to navigate the final five games of the regular season, starting Friday night when they face sixth-ranked Shelton at Ken Strong Stadium.

Few programs have been as competitive with West Haven as the Gaels have over the last 20 years. Shelton has won 10 of 17 meetings dating back to the 2002 season, including the last two in 2019 and 2018. West Haven’s last victory over Shelton was in the 2017 Class LL quarterfinals.

It’s an important game since undefeated and ninth-ranked