2018 CIAC Football Playoffs

[DarthGrumpy]

Yes it is cyclical, but again my point is it's cyclical because of coaching, parents involvement, youth football development, etc.

I agree. Twenty years ago, the youth program, which is parent driven, was a key factor. Ansonia has always had a great youth development program (this is hard for a kid from another Valley town to say), which has enabled them to be consistently field a very good HS team every year. When I was in high school, my town's middle school level football program (forgot what the actual title is) was dominating. Just after I graduated, the High School team began to bring home state titles. Today, that is still important. What I am saying, is off-season and after-school activies that I mentioned, which can cost a lot of money, are a key factor now.

 

[huskyrob1]

I agree. Twenty years ago, the youth program, which is parent driven, was a key factor. Ansonia has always had a great youth development program (this is hard for a kid from another Valley town to say), which has enabled them to be consistently field a very good HS team every year. When I was in high school, my town's middle school level football program (forgot what the actual title is) was dominating. Just after I graduated, the High School team began to bring home state titles. Today, that is still important. What I am saying, is off-season and after-school activies that I mentioned, which can cost a lot of money, are a key factor now.

Then we should see Joel Barlow, Weston, Amity, and Wilton winning state titles, but none of them have in ages. They all suck in football. The common denominator with them is not that they are wealthy towns, but that they do not have good coaching, or coaches who hang around for a few years.

 

[JMick]

Then we should see Joel Barlow, Weston, Amity, and Wilton winning state titles, but none of them have in ages. They all suck in football. The common denominator with them is not that they are wealthy towns, but that they do not have good coaching, or coaches who hang around for a few years.

A strong youth program and numbers are the two most important things. I'd put coaching third. When you have success at the HS level it makes football the biggest game in town. Parents put their kids in football. It's then up to the youth program to make it fun enough to keep kids playing, and nothing is more fun than winning. You also need synergy. Those kids that win at Brookfield? Over the last 15-20 years many of them were coached by former and current brookfield high school coaches, players, or coaches that are friends with the high school staff. Someone retires from the HS staff? Then the high school takes another up and coming youth coach for their freshman or JV teams. Rinse and repeat.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Then we should see Joel Barlow, Weston, Amity, and Wilton winning state titles, but none of them have in ages. They all suck in football. The common denominator with them is not that they are wealthy towns, but that they do not have good coaching, or coaches who hang around for a few years.

I am agreeing with you. Money is one key factor. So is good coaching, which is the biggest factor, and a youth development program.

Amity has been competitive in football from time to time (they actually lost the 1978 LL title to Ansonia, Ansonia was LL?); but, they lack a solid youth program, which, from what I have heard, is hampered from having 3 separate towns with different philosophies. Now, their baseball program bottom to top is solid with 6 LL titles since 2000.

Barlow has always been a small, exclusive pair of towns with no football history to them. Nevertheless, they have won 17 state titles since 2000 from classes S to L in Tennis, Soccer, Lacrosse, and Cross Country. Every school is different.

Wilton is a basically a lager vesion of Barlow with only a single town invovled, though Wilton did lose 4 football finals in the 1970's and 1980's in classes M and L. But, they have won 14 Girls' Soccer titles in program history and 71 State Titles across all sports since 2000. So, they have something that works for them.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

A strong youth program and numbers are the two most important things. I'd put coaching third. When you have success at the HS level it makes football the biggest game in town. Parents put their kids in football. It's then up to the youth program to make it fun enough to keep kids playing, and nothing is more fun than winning. You also need synergy. Those kids that win at Brookfield? Over the last 15-20 years many of them were coached by former and current brookfield high school coaches, players, or coaches that are friends with the high school staff. Someone retires from the HS staff? Then the high school takes another up and coming youth coach for their freshman or JV teams. Rinse and repeat.

Agree. I live in a smallish town in North Jersey (12K population) that has a solid youth football program which is well supported by parents and boosters and its teams regularly beats the two neighboring towns and others. By 8th grade, many of those kids are also going to a speciic gym on a daily basis that costs $250 a month (the other gym that I go to in town costs $60). My town feeds into a regional high school district (covers about 40K people) that allows kids from the all participating towns to pick between two high schools. One has gone through 5 coaches since 2007, hasn't been good since the 1980's and went 3-7 in 2018, which was an improvement from 2017. That is the high school physically located in my town. The other is a perennial state power and went undefeated this year with a state (sectional) title. Guess where all of the top football players from my town go to (the elite football kids don't go to either, they go to the big Catholic powers in North Jersey such as DePaul, Don Bosco, Bergen Catholic, etc.)? Thus, as stated, its a range of factors.

On a related note, in Central Jersey, which has less of a football history, even schools with numbers and resources are going down hills as the injury issue, especially concussions, is scaring away a lot of parents. In 2018, West Windsor Plainsboro North with 1,400 kids had to merge their program with West Windsor Plainsboro South with 1,600 kids because neither could field a full football team on their own. North does have several ultimate Frisbee championships to its name, though.

 

[huskymedic]

Amity has been competitive in football from time to time (they actually lost the 1978 LL title to Ansonia, Ansonia was LL?); but, they lack a solid youth program, which, from what I have heard, is hampered from having 3 separate towns with different philosophies. Now, their baseball program bottom to top is solid with 6 LL titles since 2000.

Amity also continues to lose +/- dozen/dozen and a half Orange/Woodbridge/Bethany football kids annually to Notre Dame WH, Hopkins and Hamden Hall.

 

[uconnell]

Then we should see Joel Barlow, Weston, Amity, and Wilton winning state titles, but none of them have in ages. They all suck in football. The common denominator with them is not that they are wealthy towns, but that they do not have good coaching, or coaches who hang around for a few years.

Wilton has not done much of anything in football once Coach Fujitani left. Same thing happened when their Ct Championship LaCrosse Coach Whitten retired. Never replaced them with decent coaches.

 

[kris1]

Amity also continues to lose +/- dozen/dozen and a half Orange/Woodbridge/Bethany football kids annually to Notre Dame WH, Hopkins and Hamden Hall.

....and St Joe’s

 

[History Geek]

...Amity has been competitive in football from time to time (they actually lost the 1978 LL title to Ansonia, Ansonia was LL?); but, they lack a solid youth program, which, from what I have heard, is hampered from having 3 separate towns with different philosophies. Now, their baseball program bottom to top is solid with 6 LL titles since 2000.

Amity also continues to lose +/- dozen/dozen and a half Orange/Woodbridge/Bethany football kids annually to Notre Dame WH, Hopkins and Hamden Hall.

A dozen/dozen and a half is a little strong but the point is still valid. Its tough to be competitive in the SCC when you are only dressing only 30-40 kids for varsity games. That is horrible for a LL school. They hired Craig Bruno this year and they went 5-5, the first non-losing season since 2007. The hope is that things will turn around and winning will bring kids out to play, both at the high school level and the youth level. Its not like there aren't a lot of athletes in the building.

And for the record, Amity BEAT a Sandy Osiecki-led Ansonia 35-20 for the 1978 LL championship. They forced Ansonia to play in LL that year because they were beating up on Class S. Ansonia agreed because they were tired of getting slighted by the pollsters at the end of the year. Amity broke Ansonia's then state record 36 game winning streak.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

And for the record, Amity BEAT a Sandy Osiecki-led Ansonia 35-20 for the 1978 LL championship. They forced Ansonia to play in LL that year because they were beating up on Class S. Ansonia agreed because they were tired of getting slighted by the pollsters at the end of the year. Amity broke Ansonia's then state record 36 game winning streak.

My appologies, must have red the webpage too fast. Amity did win that game. With a lot of family from Derby, thanks to Amity for that.

 

[huskymedic]

A dozen/dozen and a half is a little strong but the point is still valid.

Point taken... it was a quick look @ rosters from this year and I was at about a dozen. I admittedly didn't check St. Joe's and the one from Cheshire Academy I flipped through didn't list hometowns so I went high.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Point taken... it was a quick look @ rosters from this year and I was at about a dozen. I admittedly didn't check St. Joe's and the one from Cheshire Academy I flipped through didn't list hometowns so I went high.

Cheshrie Academy is a boarding school like Choate, Avon Old Farms, etc, and pulls in kids from all over the northeast with only a few locals going there. Those Preps do a number on local hockey programs, though. St. Joe's pulls in kids from the lower Valley, and both the Bridgeport and New Haven areas.

 

[huskymedic]

Cheshrie Academy is a boarding school like Choate, Avon Old Farms, etc, and pulls in kids from all over the northeast with only a few locals going there. Those Preps do a number on local hockey programs, though. St. Joe's pulls in kids from the lower Valley, and both the Bridgeport and New Haven areas.

Quite familiar w/ Cheshire Academy demographics - its a few miles from home. They have reinvented themselves from decades ago. If you have talent/aspirations (especially football) they will have you (CJ Holmes - Hamden, Tarek Black - Hamden, Verdi Brothers - Southington, Sebastian Brothers - West Haven, CJ Lewis- Hamden, Burby-Berlin, Travis Ecke - Cheshire, Roberge - Newtown, recent examples off the top of my head).

 

[JMick]

Quite familiar w/ Cheshire Academy demographics. They have reinvented themselves from decades ago. If you have talent/aspirations (especially football) they will have you (CJ Holmes - Hamden, Tarek Black - Hamden, Verdi Brothers - Southington, Sebastian Brothers - West Haven, CJ Lewis- Hamden, Burby-Berlin, Travis Ecke - Cheshire, Roberge - Newtown, just for a recent few off the top of my head).

Roberge was Masuk (Monroe) but same deal. A lot of these schools are taking local talent now

 

[huskymedic]

Roberge was Masuk (Monroe) but same deal. A lot of these schools are taking local talent now

Eh... Monroe/Newtown - knew it was over that way

 

[huskymedic]

 

[JMick]

The SCC really sucked this year besides Hand. Glad to see Sheehan put in their place. Their HC has zero class

 

[huskyrob1]

I am agreeing with you. Money is one key factor. So is good coaching, which is the biggest factor, and a youth development program.

Amity has been competitive in football from time to time (they actually lost the 1978 LL title to Ansonia, Ansonia was LL?); but, they lack a solid youth program, which, from what I have heard, is hampered from having 3 separate towns with different philosophies. Now, their baseball program bottom to top is solid with 6 LL titles since 2000.

Barlow has always been a small, exclusive pair of towns with no football history to them. Nevertheless, they have won 17 state titles since 2000 from classes S to L in Tennis, Soccer, Lacrosse, and Cross Country. Every school is different.

Wilton is a basically a lager vesion of Barlow with only a single town invovled, though Wilton did lose 4 football finals in the 1970's and 1980's in classes M and L. But, they have won 14 Girls' Soccer titles in program history and 71 State Titles across all sports since 2000. So, they have something that works for them.

I remember that Amity team, Rich Lena and Margolis the slot back. They were too tough for Class S Ansonia. However, THAT WAS 40 YEARS AGO!!! After Coach Johnson retired Amity went back to sucking again. Same thing with Wilton, Dave Papenfuss was one of the best players the FCIAC ever produced, but after Tom Fujitani retired the football program fell off a cliff, kids didn't go out for the team, it was a mess. Both are rich towns, but it's coaching that wins championships not money. Barlow has had a couple of good teams over the years but very very few and far between. Kids in Easton and Redding either don't want to go out for the football team or they go to Prep, ST Joe's, or Notre Dame. Didn't they just hire a new football coach. The new football coach at Ludlowe has had great success at convincing kids to go out for the team, compared to prior years, and it has made a difference in the scoreboard for the first time since the old orange and black tigers, Ludlowe's glory years in the 40's to the 70's.

 

[huskymedic]

Sean Patrick Bowley @SPBowley 12 seconds ago
Berlin 34, Sheehan 22 - fin. Redcoats advance to M final v St. Joseph. Their first appearance in final since 2014 #cthsfb

 

[kris1]

A dozen/dozen and a half is a little strong but the point is still valid. Its tough to be competitive in the SCC when you are only dressing only 30-40 kids for varsity games. That is horrible for a LL school. They hired Craig Bruno this year and they went 5-5, the first non-losing season since 2007. The hope is that things will turn around and winning will bring kids out to play, both at the high school level and the youth level. Its not like there aren't a lot of athletes in the building.

And for the record, Amity BEAT a Sandy Osiecki-led Ansonia 35-20 for the 1978 LL championship. They forced Ansonia to play in LL that year because they were beating up on Class S. Ansonia agreed because they were tired of getting slighted by the pollsters at the end of the year. Amity broke Ansonia's then state record 36 game winning streak.

Ansonia was never forced to play up. Ansonia petitioned the CIAC to play LL in 1978, after winning back-to-back S titles in ‘76 and ‘77. The CIAC agreed but some of the larger schools were not happy about it. The following year Ansonia played up again and beat Seymour in the 1979 Class M final. In 1980, Ansonia again petitioned to play in LL and lost to defending LL champ Newington, 24-12. Amid more complaints, from large schools that Ansonia was taking an opportunity away from worthy larger schools, the CIAC disallowed teams from opting up. Ansonia moved back down to Class S in 1981 and won 4 straight S titles.

Point taken... it was a quick look @ rosters from this year and I was at about a dozen. I admittedly didn't check St. Joe's and the one from Cheshire Academy I flipped through didn't list hometowns so I went high.

Your estimate of a dozen/dozen and a half is pretty accurate. There are at least 3 kids from the Amity school district playing at St Joe’s that I know of. One is my best friend’s son. He’s a varsity starter as a sophomore and an impact player. Funny thing is....he never played football prior to attending SJ. Tremendous athlete, also plays baseball. The other two kids are really good lacrosse players, who also play football. None of my buddy’s kids will go to Amity. His daughter went to SJ (softball). His oldest son went to NDWH (basketball) for year before opting to play at a prep school in MA. His youngest son will also attend SJ (basketball, baseball). None of the three currently at SJ were “recruited” to play, contrary to what some people think happens regularly at the school. They chose, along with their parents, to attend SJ. One of the boys spent a year at Hamden Hall and is a nationally ranked lacrosse player.

 

[huskyrob1]

Ansonia was never forced to play up. Ansonia petitioned the CIAC to play LL in 1978, after winning back-to-back S titles in ‘76 and ‘77. The CIAC agreed but some of the larger schools were not happy about it. The following year Ansonia played up again and beat Seymour in the 1979 Class M final. In 1980, Ansonia again petitioned to play in LL and lost to defending LL champ Newington, 24-12. Amid more complaints, from large schools that Ansonia was taking an opportunity away from worthy larger schools, the CIAC disallowed teams from opting up. Ansonia moved back down to Class S in 1981 and won 4 straight S titles.

Your estimate of a dozen/dozen and a half is pretty accurate. There are at least 3 kids from the Amity school district playing at St Joe’s that I know of. One is my best friend’s son. He’s a varsity starter as a sophomore and an impact player. Funny thing is....he never played football prior to attending SJ. Tremendous athlete, also plays baseball. The other two kids are really good lacrosse players, who also play football. None of my buddy’s kids will go to Amity. His daughter went to SJ (softball). His oldest son went to NDWH (basketball) for year before opting to play at a prep school in MA. His youngest son will also attend SJ (basketball, baseball). None of the three currently at SJ were “recruited” to play, contrary to what some people think happens regularly at the school. They chose, along with their parents, to attend SJ. One of the boys spent a year at Hamden Hall and is a nationally ranked lacrosse player.

About Ansonia, I remember it that way as well. They wanted to play with the big boys, and at the time the CIAC said OK. The game itself between Ansonia and Amity was one of the great games in state history.

A couple of articles on it....

NEW HAVEN 200: Amity football breaks Ansonia's winning streak, claims only state title


Sports helped Lena make his contacts

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Quite familiar w/ Cheshire Academy demographics - its a few miles from home. They have reinvented themselves from decades ago. If you have talent/aspirations (especially football) they will have you (CJ Holmes - Hamden, Tarek Black - Hamden, Verdi Brothers - Southington, Sebastian Brothers - West Haven, CJ Lewis- Hamden, Burby-Berlin, Travis Ecke - Cheshire, Roberge - Newtown, recent examples off the top of my head).

Back in my day, I don't think that the Cats even had a football team. Now, I do remember my high school scrimmaging them in basketball and it was eventful. My high school, if lucky, had a single, low-tier DI recruit on the team. The Academy had kids with offers from St. John's, Pitt, Hall, etc. Their point guard was taller than everyone on my high school's team outside of our center. It was like watching the Globetrotters take on the Generals.

 

[huskymedic]

The 2018 CIAC Football Playoff Scoreboard [updated Dec. 4] (w/ polls)

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]