Jean-Pierre defends the hill at Valley Regional

DEEP RIVER — Over a dozen years, the surname Jean-Pierre has dotted the Valley Regional/Old Lyme roster and put an element of fear in Pequot Conference opponents.

Chris Jean-Pierre, a football and basketball star, was named New Haven Register Athlete of the Year in 2015. Ernest Jean-Pierre was a 2017 All-State performer.

If you reach back to Dicknorton Jean-Pierre, the family timeline stretches to the late 90s.

“With respect to the other ones who have come through, I personally think Di’Angelo is the best one out of all them,” coach Hill Gbunblee said. “He’s the perfect marriage of hard work, talent and that level of awareness to get the job done.”

Add an apostrophe to the hyphen and Di’Angelo JeanPierre has a chance to put an exclamation mark on the 2022 Valley season in a much-anticipated battle of unbeaten teams Friday night at Cromwell-Portland.

“Right now, this game is our championship,” JeanPierre said. “We definitely want to leave a big mark that Valley Regional is back. We don’t plan on being stopped.”

In the new six-class CIAC format, Class SS has emerged the most competitive. Barlow, Windham and Foran also remain unbeaten. There is a well-known mantra at Valley Regional. “Defend The Hill.” The school on the aforementioned hill last won a state championship in 2014 and qualified for six state playoff appearances under Tom King.

“This game is the culmination of a lot of hard work, a lot of frustration, a lot of opportunities to right the ship,” said Gbunblee, 4-6 in his first year as head coach in 2021. “You couldn’t ask for a bigger game. This is an opportunity for us to match up with the defending Class S state champs.

“They are incredibly well-coached, very disciplined, run their offense and defense very well. Our goal is to present them with enough of a game to put on a show for the people there.”

Dicknorton is Di’Angelo’s father. He played on a soccer state champion at Valley before turning to football his final two years. Chris and Ernest are Di’Angelo’s uncles. Except for the 2018 season, there has been a Jean-Pierre on the high school football team dating to 2011. This year will be the last. At least for a generation.

“Valley Football means a lot to me,” said Di’Angelo, a 5-7, 165-pound senior. “Third grade was when I really started coming to the games when Chris was a sophomore. I felt so little compared to everyone one. Giving the players and coaches high-fives.

“Being such a little kid on the Hill really, really made me want to be out there. Now the kids who are in my shoes from back then, see me as the big kid. Seeing us win this year it’s motivational.”

Already an All-State player at defensive back and receiver, Chris became the starting quarterback as a senior and led Valley Regional/Old Lyme to its first

state title.

“He inspired me to play quarterback in youth football from fifth to eighth grade,” Jean-Pierre said. “We won two championships with the Clinton Huskies.”

By his freshman year Di’Angelo already was an All-Pequot player at defensive back. He is best known as a receiver. Asked what the senior’s position is, Gbunblee says, “Everything.”

He has caught six touchdowns as a receiver. He has run for six touchdowns as a wildcat quarterback. He has a pick six as a defensive back. He has connected on 3 of 6 passes. He returns kicks and punts. And he is the backup holder. The 13 touchdowns are tied for 12th in the state.

“The goal is to get him rest,” Gbunblee said. “He is the best version of a high school football player that you can wish for. Hard working. Very knowledgeable. Confident. Competent. Great teammate. Coach on the field. His size notwithstanding, he should be on a lot of teams radar in terms of recruiting. He’s that talented. Everything he says he backs it up with his play.”

It was Di’Angelo’s late great-grandfather Lavictoire Jean-Pierre who first arrived from Haiti. His grandpa Fitzgerald, who they call Titoit, was a renowned soccer player there and joined him. Brooklyn first, then the Connecticut Valley. Dicknorton and Chris were born in Haiti.

Di’Angelo has been to Hispanola on a cruise, but it was to the Dominican Republic on the other side of the large island. He says he knows a little Creole. “Mostly the swear words,” he said, breaking into a laugh.

Some are translated to English by opponents who unsuccessfully try to tackle him on the field. New Haven, Central Connecticut, Assumption have shown some interest in D’Angelo.

Ernest went to Plymouth State but a knee injury ended his career. Chris, who went to UConn as a preferred walk-on, will long be remembered on the Hill for leading three scoring drives in the fourth quarter to pull out a 21-20 victory over Ansonia in the final seconds of the 2014 Class S state championship. He also started on Valley’s state champion basketball team as a sophomore.

“Chris is definitely bigger than me,” said Di’Angelo, who also plays basketball. “He’s quick but not fast. Ernest was very slippery, quick, but not too fast. I feel like I’m shorter stature, quick and fast and smart with my cuts. Kind of like Daniel Stecher, who’s also one of my relatives and graduated here in 2017 (before playing at Southern Connecticut). I play more like him when I run the ball. When I’m running pass routes, I emulate Ernest a lot more.”

The family comparisons are inevitable. The bottom line?

“I feel like I have every attribute they have, but better,” Di’Angelo said. “They know I’m definitely leaving the last big footprint for the Jean-Pierres.”

At home, Di’Angelo decided last year that becoming a Jets fan would be a way to grow a shared interest with his dad.

Except for a mix-up over the scheduling of the Capital Prep game, Chris and Ernest have been to all his games. They’ll be there Friday.

“They tell me to keep doing what I’m doing,” he said. “They both say I worked harder than them,

maybe combined. They know this is what I love to do, so they really support me.”

What the Jean-Pierre family loves to do is Defend The Hill.

“That beautiful Hill we have,” Di’Angelo said “It’s like a sandcastle. If a team comes in and steps all over on our sandcastle, it’s gone. That means we didn’t defend it. When we defend our Hill, it stays up nice and strong. When we win the Hill builds and as the season goes on it builds up and up.”

Jean-Pierre is a little less poetic but equally emotional about road games, especially the huge one Friday.

“I know some of the guys (on Cromwell-Portland), but not close, not close at all,” he said. “We can be cool after the game, but it’s not going to leave a scar on my heart when we win.”