Restoring pride, on and off the field
Rodriguez has Torrington headed back in right direction
Although Tuesday night certainly was worthy of celebration, Gaitan Rodriguez knows victories — not even historical ones — are always on the scoreboard.
The illuminated lights, the ones that read “Torrington 37, Granby-Canton 29,” would tell only part of the story.
Yes, this was the first postseason triumph in program history and advanced the Raiders to the CIAC Class M semifinals against Rockville on Sunday.
And, yes, because of a positive COVID test, only 24
Torrington players had arrived in Granby on the bus. Among the missing were three defensive linemen, a tight end and star linebacker/running back Exodus Rosado. Yet there would be no exodus from the playoffs.
“This is essentially the third time we’ve been in this situation this year,” Rodriguez said. “Unfortunately, with the protocols, if you’re not vaccinated you have to quarantine.
“We had some guys step up that during the course of the year that may have not gotten as much playing time. They played a lot. They did a nice job.”
Sophomore Mason Stannard broke up a fourthdown pass by Will Migliaccio in the closing seconds. Torrington hung on to play
another day, Sunday when Rodriguez is hopeful he will have all his players back.
Only five days into workouts, with the team preparing to go full pads, the first quarantine hit. Preseason preparations were rushed. Going into the season, a team is supposed to have two scrimmages under its belt. After a full year off with COVID, the Raiders had one modified scrimmage.
Rodriguez wanted to make sure he didn’t come off as complaining. He knows teams have been hit by COVID in various ways. Some of those situations have been made public. Some have not. He only wanted to give the facts.
“You go through a season, you grow as a team,” Rodriguez said. “We’re really big on what we call the Brotherhood. This was just a culmination of that. The game is psychological. Guys knew they were needed and they rose to the occasion and really helped us out.”
This is where we begin to understand the fuller victory of Tuesday night and the impact Gaitan Rodriguez has made since taking over in Torrington eight years ago.
“One of the greatest things that Gaetan works on with young men is that the one unit is bigger than the individual,” Torrington principal Robin Ledversis said. “That individual accomplishments are not as important as the team working together for a bigger goal.
“The values he instills in the students you can see. The kids are humble. They are passionate about their sport, but they’re also focused on academics and being great kids. Gaetan has played a huge role in that.”
A rape case in Steubenville, Ohio, involving high school football players, Instagram and callous social media comments, already had sparked national debate in 2012 and early 2013 when the national headlines turned to Torrington.
Joan Toribo and Edgar Gonzalez, 18-year-old Torrington football players at the time, were convicted in the sexual assault of two 13-year-old girls. Gonzalez was sentenced to six years in prison, Toribo to nine months.
There also had been a sexual assault case involving Torrington athletes in 2011. What further made the 2013 situation so disgusting was the cyberbullying of the victims. There were social media comments calling them snitches and much worse, accusing them of ruining the lives of the players.
Rodriguez was hired after the sexual assaults, yet before the cases had been adjudicated. In other words, he walked into the middle of a tough situation.
“I grew up in Torrington, I went to Torrington High, I played for Torrington football,” said Rodriguez. “For me, it really hit home. I didn’t like the negative
press of what was occurring. The bad news.
“When the opportunity presented itself and the job opened, I felt like I was ready to take that responsibility on. Torrington was where I came from. The program I went through. The program that did a lot for me and shaped me.”
Rodriguez, an all-NVL player, had been an assistant for the Raiders from 1999 to 2004. He went on to coach at Sheehan in Wallingford and became John Ferrazzi’s offensive coordinator. He also had been a social worker in the Waterbury school system.
When it came time to interview for the Torrington job, Rodriguez was equipped with more than 30 pages on his vision for Torrington, his philosophies on coaching, on football, on mentoring.
“I wanted to establish my version of what I felt a football program should look like,” Rodriguez said. “But it was more a matter of feeling honored I could be the guy to lead Torrington football.
“What happened before I was there was unfortunate. I did not go in there with the mindset of cleaning up anything. I went in there with the mindset of what I wanted, what my vision should be like.”
I went back to read what Rodriguez said immediately before his first game in September 2013 in the Torrington Register Citizen and GameTimeCT. He talked about bleeding Raider red and how much he loved the community and the school and his desire to put his own signature on the program. He talked about how he had brought speakers in to address the team about tradition, character, respecting yourself and respecting others. He talked about emphasizing their academics, being willing to demand it, and forging well-rounded kids.
In 2013 Torrington those words couldn’t simply be platitudes.
And they weren’t. Rebuilding a program’s reputation takes time. Teachers, coaches and kids who had nothing to do with the wrong doing can be swept up under a large dark cloud. All they can do is show as much sensitivity as possible and do the right things.
There will be tests along the way. There always are.
No place, even the ones with sterling reputations, is perfect. It is how those tests are handled that will tell us what we need to know.
In mid-November 2019, Torrington needed a win against St. Paul to remain in the hunt for a Class M playoff berth.
There would be no game. After “unsportsmanlike conduct occurred amongst players,” according to the school superintendent’s office, Torrington decided to forfeit. Four players were suspended.
Rodriguez confirmed he is the one who initiated the forfeit.
“Yeah, I was,” he said. “There are things that I feel are not acceptable in a football program. The reason I coach is to mold young men into becoming protective citizens.
“Sometimes you have to test-pause, reflect and take a moment to teach. I did not like things that were occurring at that moment. I had to correct them right there.”
Even with a 34-26 Thanksgiving win over Watertown, the Raiders’ playoff hopes were gone. Rodriguez said he prefers to keep the exact nature of the transgression private.
“I have to tell you the kids that were there responded well,” Rodriguez said. “There are some kids on the team right now who were there when it occurred. I’d like to think the lesson was learned and we moved forward.”
Rodriguez made a principled stand. Not every coach would have made it and knocked his own team from playoff contention. You want to believe there will be a reward for such fortitude. You want to believe good karma, at some point, will even the score.
“Yeah,” he said softly, “yeah.”
Rodriguez is a social worker at Torrington High. Attending Springfield College and UConn, where he got his master’s, he had wanted to be physical education teacher and coach football. Putting himself through college, he worked as a direct-care worker. He had a knack for building relationships. It was Rodriguez’s wife who introduced him to the idea of school social work.
“I love what I do,” Rodriguez said. “There are a lot of fantastic kids in the school. Some, from time to time, have some hardships. They need support, to listen to them, lend some help.
“I was so happy for our players and the school community the other night. This is a team that genuinely loves one another. We have to teach these young men to do the right thing. You do the right thing and good things will happen.”
Something good did happen. And after the first playoff victory in program history, Gaitan Rodriguez said he heard from a bunch of alumni and former Raider teammates.
Every single one of them was proud of Torrington.