2018 CIAC Football Playoffs | Page 4 | The Boneyard

2018 CIAC Football Playoffs

Mr. Conehead said:
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.
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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.
 
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History Geek said:
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.
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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.

huskymedic said:
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.
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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.
 
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kris1 said:
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.
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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
 
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huskymedic said:
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).
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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.
 
The 2018 CIAC Football Playoff Scoreboard [updated Dec. 4] (w/ polls)

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JMick said:
Every single game is going to be a blowout
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I agree, but I think at least two games have some entertainment value.

Class LL -- Maybe NC hangs with Greenwich for a bit due to familiarity, Father vs. Son, etc., but Greenwich isn't going to let Pyne sit back there and pick them apart. Their defense is too good. Gavin Muir isn't the D1 recruit Pyne is, but he has been the best QB in the FCIAC this year, if not the state. This is one of two games worth the $10 admission just to see if NC can find a way to slow Greenwich down.

Class L -- Hand is easily the second best team (and defense) in the state. Pheonix Billings will be too much for Maloney to handle. On offense, Maloney doesn't score a lot of points against good teams, that's not a good thing against an aggressive, opportunistic Hand defense. Hand coasts and roots hard for Greenwich to stumble.

Class M -- To me, SJ and Berlin would be the second game worth the admission. I expect Berlin to play SJ tough early. Berlin has a bit of toughness to them and they easily handled the Bloomfield athletes in the regular season. However, Bloomfield is not SJ. SJ is well coached, battle tested, has a better QB, a more dynamic offense, a home run threat RB, and are not the undisciplined team Bloomfield is. SJ has faced much better teams then Berlin in their FCIAC slate. So, I expect SJ to pull away in this one. They have too many weapons for Berlin to deal with.

Class S -- H-K hasn't faced a team with the athletes and speed that Bloomfield has in the Pequot. Add in a turf field and this one has "blowout" written all over it. Bloomfield is bigger, faster, and stronger. They're prone to mistakes, but that won't hurt them in this match up. Bloomfield won't need Daron Bryden to throw much. They should ride Ky'juon Butler to the title. He will be a handful for the H-K defense. He's a good combo of power and speed on offense and a terror from his LB position on defense. He's fun to watch.
 
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kris1 said:
I agree, but I think at least two games have some entertainment value.

Class LL -- Maybe NC hangs with Greenwich for a bit due to familiarity, Father vs. Son, etc., but Greenwich isn't going to let Pyne sit back there and pick them apart. Their defense is too good. Gavin Muir isn't the D1 recruit Pyne is, but he has been the best QB in the FCIAC this year, if not the state. This is one of two games worth the $10 admission just to see if NC can find a way to slow Greenwich down.

Class L -- Hand is easily the second best team (and defense) in the state. Pheonix Billings will be too much for Maloney to handle. On offense, Maloney doesn't score a lot of points against good teams, that's not a good thing against an aggressive, opportunistic Hand defense. Hand coasts and roots hard for Greenwich to stumble.

Class M -- To me, SJ and Berlin would be the second game worth the admission. I expect Berlin to play SJ tough early. Berlin has a bit of toughness to them and they easily handled the Bloomfield athletes in the regular season. However, Bloomfield is not SJ. SJ is well coached, battle tested, has a better QB, a more dynamic offense, a home run threat RB, and are not the undisciplined team Bloomfield is. SJ has faced much better teams then Berlin in their FCIAC slate. So, I expect SJ to pull away in this one. They have too many weapons for Berlin to deal with.

Class S -- H-K hasn't faced a team with the athletes and speed that Bloomfield has in the Pequot. Add in a turf field and this one has "blowout" written all over it. Bloomfield is bigger, faster, and stronger. They're prone to mistakes, but that won't hurt them in this match up. Bloomfield won't need Daron Bryden to throw much. They should ride Ky'juon Butler to the title. He will be a handful for the H-K defense. He's a good combo of power and speed on offense and a terror from his LB position on defense. He's fun to watch.
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I agree, Berlin has the best chance out of all the underdogs but I don't think they can go 4 quarters with St. Joes. I almost feel bad for Maloney. They're going to get destroyed. I'm hoping LL and M are not at the same time.
 
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kris1 said:
They should ride Ky'juon Butler to the title. He will be a handful for the H-K defense. He's a good combo of power and speed on offense and a terror from his LB position on defense. He's fun to watch.
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Do we know who’s recruiting Butler?
 
Purple Stein said:
Do we know who’s recruiting Butler?
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Not a lot out there from a national recruiting site perspective that i can see but he and Wholley have connected on social media so there appears to be some awareness.
 
Purple Stein said:
Do we know who’s recruiting Butler?
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huskymedic said:
Not a lot out there from a national recruiting site perspective that i can see but he and Wholley have connected on social media so there appears to be some awareness.
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He's probably not a D1 recruit, unless it's the right situation. He's powerfully built at 5'8, 198. He runs well but he's not a burner. He's undersized for a college LB, and doesn't have the length to be a DB. I just like the way he plays on both sides of the ball. He's got a great motor and a heck of a stiff-arm. If UConn was interested, it's probably not as a scholarship player. They probably see him as a 3rd down back. :rolleyes: He'll be a nice pick up for a D2 school. He seems like a great kid too. I wonder if he's a Supreme Athlete kid???
 
kris1 said:
He's probably not a D1 recruit, unless it's the right situation. He's powerfully built at 5'8, 198. He runs well but he's not a burner. He's undersized for a college LB, and doesn't have the length to be a DB. I just like the way he plays on both sides of the ball. He's got a great motor and a heck of a stiff-arm. If UConn was interested, it's probably not as a scholarship player. They probably see him as a 3rd down back. :rolleyes: He'll be a nice pick up for a D2 school. He seems like a great kid too. I wonder if he's a Supreme Athlete kid???
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I think he's good enough to play FCS football for an average team. I thought I heard CCSU was looking at him.
 
JMick said:
I think he's good enough to play FCS football for an average team. I thought I heard CCSU was looking at him.
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That would be an ideal spot for him to land. Coach Rossamondo does a great job recruit those types of kids and it's paid off for that program.
 
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Exit 4 said:
Who schedules these games at 10 am; Randy Edsall?
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JMick said:
It would have been so stupid to play that game in Shelton. Should be a very good crowd.
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It was suppose to be two games in Shelton (10 & 2) and two in New Britain (10 & 2). West Haven is unavailable due to site construction eliminating tons of parking. Of course everyone wants it closer to their fan base.

The whole thing is a circus - should be 4 games - one location (CCSU for example).
 
huskymedic said:
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Makes sense, as Stamford is right in between Greenwich and New Canaan. The one game that won't even be close to being neutral is the M game between Berlin and St. Joe's it Shelton. Finn, which is too small for a title game, is all of a 5 minute drive to St. Joe's and quiet a few Shelton families send their kids to St. Joe's. Veteran's stadium in New Britain is also a little off for a game between Hand and Maloney as its a lot closer for Meriden fans to see their team demolished. If available, I would have put those two games at either Hamden HS or SCSU as both are decent size.

Has the CASCIAC considered going back to 1 site for the title games, like the Rent or Yale Bowl? Back in the 1990's, the title games we all at either West Haven HS or SCSU. I know the Fairfield Country teams do not like having the games at CCSU because they are too far away for their fans (in Connecticut terms). Outside of Connecticut, its common to do so as Massachusetts plays theirs at Gillette, New York at the Carrier Dome and New Jersey at Met Life.
 
huskymedic said:
It was suppose to be two games in Shelton (10 & 2) and two in New Britain (10 & 2). West Haven is unavailable due to site construction eliminating tons of parking. Of course everyone wants it closer to their fan base.

The whole thing is a circus - should be 4 games - one location (CCSU for example).
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I did not like it when they were all at one site. Way too early and late for games in what ends up being the middle of December sometimes. I don't get why they don't play at Municipal in Waterbury anymore. There was never an issue with parking, plenty of stands, great field. Relatively central location, easy access right off the highway.
 
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