Levi Jackson Team slated to be honored on Thursday

The New Haven Gridiron Club is accepting reservations for its annual awards night on Thursday at the Cascade Banquet Facility, 480 Sherman Avenue, Hamden.

The event will honor the Levi Jackson Team of high school standouts, chosen by coaches from Southern Connecticut Conference schools in New Haven and adjoining towns. Also feted will be leading college players from the University of New Haven, Southern Connecticut State University and Yale.

Reservations are $40 each and may be secured by mailing checks, made out to New Haven Gridiron Club,to the club at P.O. Box 32, New Haven 06501. A note should accompany each check to indicate who will use the seats. No seats will be sold at the door.

The Jackson Team honors the memory of Levi A. Jackson, a four-sport high school athlete at Hillhouse in the mid-1940s who went on to become Yale’s first African-American football captain. After graduating in 1950 he joined the Ford Motor Co., where he became head of the urban affairs program and a key member of the task force formed to rebuild Detroit after its 1967 riots. He died in 2000.

Part of the evening’s recognition of scholastic players will focus on the Floyd Little Scholarship, named for and endowed in part by Little, a Register All-State halfback at Hillhouse in 1960. The choice for this year’s award is North Haven multipurpose back Albert Hooks.

The awards dinner will begin at 7 p.m., with a social hour at 6. The 25 members of the Jackson Team, by school (positions abbreviated), are:

Amity — Mike Young, RB, senior; Joe DiGello, DL, junior; Nico Semmonella, LB, junior.

Wilbur Cross — Kyle Dorsey, OL, senior; Chino Grant, DB, junior.

East Haven — Mario Natale, OL, senior; Jake Marquardt, TE, senior; Evan Damian, K, senior; Ryan Cordova, LB, senior; Mike Caruso, DB, junior.

Hamden — Christopher Pigatt, WR, junior; Gabriel Okeke, DL, senior.

Hillhouse — Ezakah Artis, OL, senior; Devon Smith, DB, senior.

North Haven — Devan Brockamer, RB; Vin DePalma, DL, senior; Nick Dodge, LB, senior; Albert Hooks, DB, senior.

Notre Dame-West Haven — Johan Klein-Robbenhaar, OL, senior; Zach Hochman, WR, senior; Dominick Avallone, LB, senior.

West Haven — Joe Manning, OL, senior; Gavin Moore, OL, senior; Jordan Barrios, QB, junior; Demmerick Blackford, DB, senior.

WEST HAVEN HOF

The West Haven Hall of Fame Committee has announced its newest inductees to be honored, Saturday, December 15 at Cielo, West Haven Italian-American Club.

Included in the Class of 2018 are Vin Nitido, Rick McInnis, Dave Anquillare, Alison Karosas, Tracy Bagnoli Guyette, George DeMaio, and the hockey line of Dave Depew, Steve Balaban, and Frank Longobardi.

Nitido (1951 graduate) played football and was also a three-year member of the swim and track teams. McInnis (1969) was a safety on the 1968 undefeated football team which finished ranked first in New England and fifth in the United States. McInnis hhas also been a basketball official for 37 years.

Anquillare (1989) joins his father John and brother Mike in the Hall, all former standout baseball players. Karosas is a former fouryear volleyball, basketball and track star. Bagnoli Guyette (1987) starred on the volleyball, basketball and softball teams. Bagnoli Guyette was a three-year starter on the softball team, and captain of the volleyball team her junior and senior campaigns.

DeMaio (1966) played basketball and baseball and was named the West Haven High School Athlete of the Year in 1966. He is a longtime area broadcaster at 960 WELI for high school sporting events. Depew, Balaban, and Longobardi formed one of the most feared lines on the ice in the 1970s, set a school line record of 80 goals, and a school record in wins with 18.

Tickets are $45 and can be purchased by emailing West Haven athletic director Jon Capone at Jonathan.capone@whschools.org. 1 p.m.

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New Canaan (14-3): lost to Masuk 28-14 in the 2017 Class L semifinals. Fairfield Prep (1-1): beat West Haven 29-0 in the 2013 Class LL semifinals.

1 New Canaan: Jr. QB Drew Pyne, Sr. WR Quintin O’Connell, Sr. WR Wyatt Wilson, Jr. DB Drew Guida. Fairfield Prep: Jr. QB John Paul Iaropoli, Sr, RB Doug Harrison, Sr. WR Finn Duran, WR/LB Jr. Charles Wilcox, Sr. RB/DB TJ Walton.

1 Meeting for the first and only time since 1985: a 21-7 win for New Canaan: two of the premiere programs in Fairfield County meet once again: this time for a shot at the Class LL title. Is this the New Canaan team that everyone thought they would see this season? Drew Pyne is the hottest quarterback in the state right now. Both teams are coming in, off of shootout wins. New Canaan and Shelton traded punches in a high-scoring second half and so did Fairfield Prep with Southington. New Canaan is vying for its first state title appearance since 2016 in Class L and Prep is looking to return to the finals for the first time since 2013.

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1 1 Windsor (4-4): Lost to Hand 31-6 in 2017 Class L; Hand (8-1): Def. Windsor 31-6 in 2017 Class L.

1 Windsor: Sr. OL/DL Dohnje Cassanova (6-0, 220); Sr. WR/DB Gabriel Bryan; Soph. QB Courtenay Jackson; Jr. LB Kobe Foster, Sr. RB Chante Adger. Hand: Jr. QB Phoenix Billings; Sr. OL/DL Jack Flanagan (6-2, 235); Sr. WR/DB Ian Butler; Jr. OL/ DL Ben Corniello (6-2, 235); Sr. OL/DL Macken McDonald (6-2, 265); Sr. S Julian Banerji.

1 It’s a rematch of last year’s Class L semifinal: same scenario, same time, same place: overwhelmingly won by Hand, 31-6, at the Surf Club. That was arguably a lesser Hand team than this one and, by most accounts, a better Windsor team than this one. Hand, led by a majority of last year’s team that went on to hammer Masuk in the Class L championship game, has been utterly untouchable this season. They’ve outscored opponents 50-8, while averaging twenty-four (24) points in the second quarter alone. The end comes quick for Hand opponents as well as its own starters, who hit the bench by halftime with a full-game’s statistics under their belts. The Tigers, led by junior QB Phoenix Billings and junior back Colin McCabe (yes, they’re mostly all juniors), averages 365 yards a game. Its defense, led by its talented front line, averages 3 sacks and 11 tackles for a loss per game and has 21 takeaways. In short, it’s a machine. Windsor, on the other hand, has had overcome all kinds of obstacles: injuries, personnel changes, losses, and so on. Yet somehow, coach Rob Fleeting has guided this group to yet another semifinal. Sophomore Courtenay Jackson, who has taken over at quarterback, threw for 218 yards and two scores in the quarterfinal win over North Haven. Chante Adger piled up 130 yards and a score in the victory over North Haven. Gabriel Bryan is a gamebreaker at receiver. The Windsor defense, solid all year, has allowed 33 points in the four games since its last loss, 21-20 to Wethersfield. It’s going to need an otherworldly effort to stop this freight train.

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Bloomfield (8-2): def. Seymour 47-21 in 2015 Class S. Ansonia (16-6): def. Stafford/Somers/East Windsor 52-19 in 2017 Class S.

Bloomfield: Sr. RB/LB Ky’Juon Butler, Jr. DL/OL Kyle Barlow (6-1, 190), Jr. OL/DL Kyle Davis (6-4, 215), Soph. QB Daron Bryden, Fresh. WR Jayvon Massey. Ansonia: Jr. RB Shykeem Harmon; Soph. QB Sheldon Schuler (6-2, 220); Jr. WR/LB Tyler Cafaro; Sr. OL/LB Terjuan Burney; Sr. OL/DL Martin Antoine; Sr. OL/LB Tyler Navarro.

It’s speed and power vs. power and speed as two of the state’s most storied small schools clash in a championshipcaliber semifinal game. Ansonia owns 20 championships, a state record. But Bloomfield owns eight championships, good for fifth-most. While the teams have met six times in the playoffs over the years, this is the first time they’ll meet in the semifinals. The rest were all state championships, with each program winning three against the other, the last time when Bloomfield defeated Ansonia for the 2015 Class S title. But what about 2018? This was expected from Bloomfield, which returned a majority of stars, including back Ky’Juon Butler, who personifies Bloomfield’s strike fast/strike hard mentality. He’s run for over 2,000 yards and scored 21 TDs this season, including a 153-yard, 3 TD night vs. Woodland in the quarterfinals. The Hawks also have quick strike capabilities behind soph. QB Daron Bryden, who’s thrown for 1,981 yards and 31 TDs. Ansonia counters with its old-school mentality, with its punishing ground game behind Shykeem Harmon and an exceptional offensive line, mixed in with play action strikes from 6-2 soph. quarterback Sheldon Schuler. So it comes down to which defense can put the breaks on the others’ offense. The game is being played on the mulch at Jarvis Stadium, which figures to play a role. Ansonia hasn’t lost there since 2010, a home win streak of 53 games, including playoffs. Ansonia hans’t lost a playoff game at Jarvis since a 7-6 loss to Griswold in the 2000 S semifinals.

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Haddam-Killingworth 10-1; Stafford/Somers/East Windsor 11-0

H-K: First appearance. Stafford (0-1): Lost to Ansonia 52-19 in 2017 Class S semifinals.

Sr. QB/LB Tobey Callender; Sr. RB/WR/FS Dalton Modehn; Sr. RB/LB Zach Kauffman; T/DE Aiden Maher (6-5, 235); Jr. DL/OL Trey Callender; SSEW: Sr. OL/LB Johnathan Kopek; Sr. RB/DB Julien Rivas; Sr. QB/DB Colton Engel; Sr. WR/DB Jeff Kology; Sr. LB Cody Gebo; Sr. OL/LB Tyler Gilbert.

Two dream seasons collide in yet another de facto Pequot championship game. Stafford/Somers/East Windsor, which was 0-11 just four years ago, is now 11-0 for the first time in program history and has reached the semifinal for the second-consecutive time after demolishing Pequot Sassacus champ Cromwell/Portland, 41-6, in the quarterfinals. Haddam-Killingworth, which shared the Sassacus champ has won 10 games and is coming off its first playoff win in school history, 52-0 over Bullard-Havens. Both squads feature punishing run games. H-K bludgeons teams with the double wing with 1,000-yard rushers Tobey Callender at QB, Dalton Modehn at back and Zach Kauffman chipping in in key situations. Colton Engel directs Stafford’s lethal spread attack, accounting for 1,580 yards of total offense (1,118 rushing, 462 passing) and Julien Rivas rushing for 1,301 yards and 19 TDs. Both teams feature strong defenses, too. Stafford’s is led by LBs Johnathan Kopek (15 TFL) and Cody Gebo (10 sacks), H-K’s by Tobey and Trey Callender (at DE). Stafford is vying for its first state championship game. H-K is looking to reach its second final and first since 1994’s Class S championship.

— Sean Patrick Bowley and Pete Paguaga