Who will be No. 1? A wild year means whacky possibilities
No team in the 61-year history of the New Haven Register/Game TimeCT high school football poll ever has finished No. 1 with more than one loss.
Although Maloney coach Kevin Frederick strenuously disagrees, that six-decade streak may end in the next few days.
Not only could two-loss Greenwich finish atop the poll, three-loss Fairfield Prep could.
In some ways, it would be a fitting conclusion to what Trumbull’s Marce Petroccio said, “might be the craziest season I’ve ever seen in my 31 years as head coach.”
In other ways, it would be viewed as a matter of disrespect to the winner of Saturday’s Class L title game between Maloney and New Canaan. The Class L champion will have one loss.
Of course, if Ansonia beats Bloomfield in Class S and Berlin beats Notre Dame-West Haven in Class M, both would finish 13-0. They’ll have their arguments, too. Class M 2017 champion Killingly remains the only team ever to finish as the one undefeated team in the state and not be No. 1. Killingly was fifth.
Frankly, the chances of Ansonia, No. 8 for nine consecutive weeks in the GameTimeCT poll, finishing No. 1 is slim and none.
Unranked Berlin’s chances are none.
The schedules aren’t comparable to the big schools and neither are the number of bodies in pads.
Yet if the history of the current 24 media voters is our guide, a few will vote Ansonia No. 1. Ansonia already has one of the 13 coaches’ top votes.
There also is a long-held tradition to push undefeated championship teams several spots ahead of where they previously were ranked. This will alter the final point totals and potentially decide which of the four favorites finish No. 1.
The final poll figures to be as wild as the season. And I’m loving it.
When we last left the polls before the start of the CIAC playoffs, once-beaten Southington was No. 1 and once-beaten St. Joseph was No. 2 with the media in the GameTimeCT Top 10 poll. St. Joseph was No. 1 and Southington was No. 2 in The Day of New London’s coaches’ poll. Each had five of the coaches’ first-place votes.
Southington, the No. 1 Class LL seed, promptly lost to No. 8 Trumbull, 34-25, in the quarterfinals.
St. Joseph, the No. 1 Class L seed lost to No. 8 seed Cheshire, 24-14, in the quarterfinals.
Everything went askew. Again.
Four schools have been No. 1 over 13 weeks in GameTimeCT poll. Southington has been atop eight of those weeks, Greenwich three, Maloney and West Haven one. A whopping six schools have been No. 1 in 10 weeks of the coaches’ poll.
The aforementioned four plus Shelton and St. Joseph.
A dominant team is nowhere to be found.
Maybe the new six-division format is two divisions too many. Maybe it isn’t.
Maybe the regular season scheduling, even with 100 interconference Alliance games and a reinvigorated bonus point system, still is flawed. Maybe it will never be perfect.
Maybe in the coming years there will be too many rematches in the playoffs, but this year there only was Ansonia-Woodland.
No one can deny that 2022, which ends Saturday
with three title games at Rentschler Field and three at Central Connecticut, hasn't gifted high school football fans with a slew of epic games, wild finishes and delicious upsets. Five of the Top 10 teams went down in the playoff quarterfinals alone.
“I just got your text about who should be No. 1,” said Petroccio, who votes in The Day poll. “I immediately got a headache. It's not going to be easy. I'll probably sit down, write it all down, rewrite it and rewrite it again. The good news is it is exciting for Connecticut football. Drama-filled.”
Frederick is one guy who doesn't think it's complicated. If his team beats New Canaan …
“I don't know who else would be considered to be the No. 1 team,” Frederick said. “That's a slam dunk, no-brainer.
“What else do we have to do to be No. 1? If Greenwich wins and we win, they lost to Southington and we beat Southington. Case closed.”
Greenwich coach Anthony Morello was a little more diplomatic.
“You guys do a great job doing what you do,” Morello said. “If you look at the entire bodies of work, I'm sure you guys will determine No. 1. I couldn't be prouder of our guys. If we are victorious, I'm sure you guys will see the track records compared to anybody else's and make that call.”
After the regular season, GameTimeCT waits for the championships to be completed. If there had been a poll this week after the semifinals, Sean Patrick Bowley of GameTimeCT said he would have voted for Greenwich No. 1. Pete Paguaga, also of GameTimeCT, said he would have voted for Fairfield Prep.
“I think Greenwich is playing the best overall,” Bowley said. “But if Maloney beats New Canaan and Fairfield Prep beats Greenwich, I think a lot of voters will go with Maloney. It's the path of least resistance. As long as I've been involved with the poll, it's strictly looking at the record and maybe some transitive properties. Did this team beat that team?”
Fairfield Prep, which started the season 1-3 with losses to Belen (Fla.) Prep, New Canaan and Hamden, was No. 10 in the last GameTimeCT poll. The Jesuits were No. 3 in the preseason poll and dropped to zero votes in Weeks 5 and 6.
Nowhere to be found among 29 schools. Slowly, surely, they clawed their way back.
“The three losses are hard to swallow,” Paguaga said. “But right now no team is playing better in the state than Fairfield Prep. They will have been undefeated in SCC Tier I, which could have three teams (North Haven in MM and Notre Dame in M) win state titles. Prep beat Staples, which beat Greenwich. And they beat Trumbull which beat (No. 1) Southington.
“And If Greenwich wins, I'm voting them No. 1.”
Petroccio said he had Southington No. 1 in the last poll. Brian Mazzone, coach at Stafford/Somers/East Windsor, said he had St. Joseph.
“I think the LL winner is my No. 1 team in the state,” Mazzone said. “I have been very high on Fairfield Prep all year no matter what their record has been.
“I also feel like when you win a state championship you've got to be in the Top 10. No matter what class.”
Greenwich lost two games, but each by one point. Southington erased a 21-0 deficit to win, 29-28, on a late two-point conversation. Staples beat Greenwich, 39-38, on a touchdown with a minute left on Thanksgiving. Greenwich beat St. Joe's by 10, Trumbull by 13 and Darien by eight in the regular season before rolling over Hamden, 47-7, and Glastonbury, 42-0, in the playoffs.
After Frederick called Meriden the “mecca of Connecticut” the early November night of No. 2 Maloney's dramatic double-overtime over No. 1 Southington — the only No. 1 vs No. 2 matchup of 2022 — Maloney lost the next game to Glastonbury.
“Beating Southington was a great feather in Maloney's cap,” Paguaga said. “But after seeing Greenwich totally dominate Glastonbury in the playoffs, that Maloney loss to Glastonbury left a bad taste in my mouth. I think those two Greenwich losses are better on paper than the one Maloney loss to Glastonbury.”
“Glastonbury was tough, but I didn't think they were a Top 10 team,” Mazzone said.
Glastonbury, which beat Maloney and West Haven, had a bad loss to Hall. Frederick pointed out quarterback Jack Anglim was out with an injury.
New Canaan lost to St. Joe's 27-14, yet beat Fairfield Prep 14-7. New Canaan vs. Greenwich, a game that would have answered some questions, wasn't on the 2022 FCIAC schedule.
Usually ballyhooed, New Canaan has been flying under the radar this season. Defensively stout, its offense isn't particularly exciting. “Offensively challenged” is the term Bowley used.
In the wildest season, maybe New Canaan will bore us to No. 1.
“They have that program prestige,” Paguaga said. “Lou Marinelli has won so many state championships. It's very possible.”
If the Southington and St. Joe's losses happened during the regular season, Maloney, at No. 3, certainly would have figured to have moved into No. 1 in the GameTimeCT poll.
And I'd argue if you erased Maloney's name, put Darien in its place and presented Maloney's resume, Maloney would be No. 1 with a victory over New Canaan. But this is the final poll.
And in what Bowley called the whackiest season, the final poll figures to be equally whacky.
Can't wait to second guess.