Thought this was interesting on my return to Palmer Field. From 6 years ago when Amari Spievey (now of the Lions) stars for the Falcons against Shelton:
In freezing temperatures, and with other games much closer by, I made the decision to head to Middletown Saturday night to watch Xavier take on seventh-ranked Shelton.
There were some underlying reasons why I made the trip: I thought the Falcons had a good chance to pull off an upset, I knew the field conditions wood probably be poor (they were, ice was all over the field), and the Gaels needed the game to stay in the Class LL playoff hunt (more on that later).
But there was only one real reason why I wasted an hour driving and put an extra 70 miles on my vehicle, and his name is Amari Spievey.
I’d heard about him, read about him, but had never seen Spievey -- Xavier’s standout running back -- live, I had not covered a Xavier game in three years. Many people consider Spievey the best player in the SCC, and that’s someone writing a column like this just has to see live at least once, whatever the price a Honda Civic has to pay.
But as so often happens in life, when you go looking for one thing, you often find another. And what I found last Saturday night had little to do with Spievey. Sure, he ran for 99 yards and a touchdown, and got the game-clinching interception as Xavier upset Shelton, 27-20, but it was a tremendous team effort that got the job done for the Falcons.
On his first carry of the night, Spievey fumbled and was injured, forced to sit out a series. Shelton immediately scored, but junior Shea Dwyer came off the bench to post a 51-yard touchdown run against a Gaels’ defense that hadn’t given up a point in the previous nine quarters. On the next series, Spievey returned and Dwyer never got another carry. Such is the life of a backup, but Dwyer’s TD gave Xavier momentum it would carry throughout the contest.
Tight end Matt Maguire, a senior captain, had three receptions for 64 yards and a 2-point conversion, and had perhaps the catch of the year, a diving grab that he caught inches from the ground on a 3rd-and-7 play from the Shelton 15-yard line. The Falcons scored on the next play, and although they trailed at the half, 20-19, they believed they could get the job done.
“We challenged them at halftime,” Xavier coach Sean Marinan said. “We know they are a very good team, the defending Class L champions, and we needed to pick it up a notch on defense.”
Xavier was dealt a tough blow midway through the third quarter when senior quarterback Mike Crescimano was carried off the field on a stretcher because of a left shoulder injury.
As backup Corey Moses was trying to get his legs under him, the phone calls to the Palmer Field press box began.
They were from Crescimano’s father, Don, who is also an assistant coach with Xavier. He was calling from the local emergency room because, even in a hospital room, Mike wanted to know how his team was doing.
“Shelton 20, Xavier 19,” he was told. Ten minutes later, he was told the same thing. Another ten minutes, same story.
But midway through the fourth quarter, Moses had his legs. He ran for 12 yards, hit Spievey for a 14-yard gain, and completed a pass to himself (it was tipped) for four yards. Then, he took a three-step drop and lofted a pass down the right sideline. It was underthrown, but when the Shelton defender slipped, Ryan Cody came back, grabbed it, and waltzed into the end zone in front of the student section.
“Xavier 27, Shelton 20. Five minutes left.”, Crescimano was told. The phone calls started coming more frequently.
The Gaels got inside the Falcons’ 30-yard line twice after the go-ahead score, but when Semil Desai’s pass was intercepted at the Xavier 20 with 45 seconds remaining, the phone rang almost immediately.
“Xavier 27, Shelton 20. Final.”
As Xavier and the student section celebrated on the field, there was probably a mini-celebration in the emergency room. It was, in all aspects, truly a team win.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
SCC football - Week 1: Xavier raises the black flag atop the SCC
"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
The quote above is mentioned in Friday Night Lights - no, not the movie, nor the network drama, but the fantastic original book by Buzz Bissinger that came out some two decades ago.
(By the way, if you haven't read that book and you're reading this column, do so. Now. This can wait a few hours.)
The quote hung in Odessa Permian's locker room before their game against rival Odessa, but it must have been somewhere in Xavier's lead up to its showdown with top-ranked and defending Class L champion Notre Dame last week.
You see, as much as we want to talk about things like athleticism and strategy, there's a reason why football became America's pastime and Linda McMahon has enough money to run for the Senate, and it's violence.
Coaches and players will talk about being physical, but will rarely use the word violence because it's got a negative connotation, but it's all semantics at that point. And I'm not here to condemn violence, some of my favorite athletic memories growing up were of Mike Tyson pummeling someone. In fact, as a Giants fan, perhaps my personal best memory is Leonard Marshall knocking Joe Montana out of the 1990 NFC title game with a vicious blindside hit.
Every football player lives for a hit like that, a clean (as opposed to some of the cheapshots like the one on Wes Welker on Sunday, which should not be applauded or condoned in any way, shape, or form) blow that makes the crowd gasp. What better way to intimidate your opponent and fire up your own team?
Of course, no one wants to see people get hurt, certainly serious injuries, but you really can't get your violence without a few people feeling some pain along the way.
"We pride ourselves on being physical," Xavier coach Sean Marinan said. "We make no bones about that, that's the way a defense has to operate, especially against a team like Notre Dame."
So on the second play from scrimmage last Friday - after a long Tirrell Young kickoff return gave Notre Dame and its huge crowd early momentum - Sean Goldrich hit Phil Bentley with a flare pass down the right sideline. Bentley is listed at 168 pounds, with the operative term there being "listed". To his credit, Bentley could gave gone out of bounds, but cut up the sideline, where the play - and Notre Dame's momentum - met a violent end as safety Gerry Basadonna crushed Bentley at full speed, a collision the human body is not made to deal with too often.
With Bentley temporarily out of the game (he did later come back and score a touchdown), four plays later Austin Ahern whacked Goldrich for a 14-yard loss and a message was sent that playing against Xavier's defense is not going to be a heck of a lot of fun. And it's going to be painful.
Notre Dame coach Tom Marcucci would swear after the game that his team stood up to Xavier and was every bit as physical. And the scoreboard indicated that, if not for a bizarre fumble late in the game, the Green Knights might have won and still been the state's top team.
It's also true that violence is not the answer to all football's problems. Xavier's lack of a reliable passing game and the fact that they had trouble snapping the ball nearly derailed a much-deserved victory and probable No. 1 state ranking.
But the fact remains that Xavier came out to physically intimidate Notre Dame and you'd have to say they succeeded. Goldrich never looked comfortable, finishing 5-of-17 for 69 yards and three interceptions (and the only 2 completions in the second half were dump-offs). Young, minus the opening kickoff, wasn't really a factor. ND was held to just 180 yards of total offense.
"We want to make it our mission to come out and come after people," Xavier's Graham Stewart said. "We like to be physical, and we knew we had to be physical tonight (last Friday). That's what we do at Xavier."
Stewart, headed to Boston College, and Ahern - also one of the state's top college prospects - made a nuisance of themselves, but they were joined by Marinan's son (also Sean, and who had the biggest play in the game, stripping David Rose in the fourth quarter) and Eric Mischke in the backfield for much of the evening. After Xavier finally grabbed the lead, you never got the feeling Notre Dame was coming back.
And you also get the feeling that the Xavier defense will make plenty of people in the SCC (and, probably, beyond) extremely uncomfortable.
It won't be an accident.
LIGHTNING, LIGHTNING GO AWAY: Evidently, the football gods didn't like opening games being played on Thursdays, as all the SCC games slated for last Thursday were either never started and not completed because of heavy rain and lightning.
It set up an odd situation for the Cheshire-Hamden and North Haven-Hillhouse contests, where coaches had nearly 24 hours to design halftime gameplans. Of those four squads, apparently the Rams' staff did the best job, when play was stopped on Thursday, Cheshire and Hamden were scoreless early in the third quarter, but Cheshire ran away with a 27-0 victory in the end.
The Rams continued the two-quarterback rotation (Michael Ecke and Max Slade this year) that worked so well for them on their way to a state championship. But it was their defense that was the story, holding Jordan Teague and company scoreless.
Cheshire will have to deal with Hillhouse this week, and the Academics were able to hold off North Haven, 12-0 (a rematch of the SCC basketball title game, by the way), after having the lead by that same score Thursday when the game was stopped at halftime. Freshman Harold Cooper and senior Chris Turner had the touchdowns, and the Academics look like they might be headed back toward the top of Division II (and are the highest D-II team in the power rankings).
PENALTY KICKS: Foran and Branford played a thriller Saturday night, with the Lions eventually prevailing 28-27 in overtime after it looked like they had lost the game in regulation. The Hornets stormed to the Foran 1-yard line with time running out, but picked up a penalty and eventually had a field goal blocked.
In overtime, both teams immediately scored, and Branford originally seemed to be going for 2 points and the win, but eventually decided against it, went for the tie (and a second overtime) and missed the extra point.
Unofficially, 95 percent of overtime in the current high school format come down to a missed extra point one way or the other, so it seems like the wise thing to do is move the start back to the 25-yard line like college. At least it won't be so easy to score.
Foran's opener last season also came down to kicking. After tying Lyman Hall 20-20, Joe Capalbo missed an extra point that probably would have won the game, but redeemed himself by drilling a field goal on the game's last play to win 23-20.
Ironically, later in the year, Capalbo wasn't so lucky against Branford last season. After the Lions had cut the Hornets' lead to 21-20 in the second overtime last season, his kick was blocked to end the game (meaning it was in the 95 percent decided by the kicking game).
And put in the same situation again, it's probably safe to say that you'll see the Hornets go for the jugular when they have the chance.
EXTRA POINTS: If you thought some unique matchups in this week's crossover games, you weren't hullicanating. Three of the games feature teams that have never met (Foran-Xavier, Jonathan Law-Wilbur Cross, and Hillhouse-Cheshire). Guilford-West Haven haven't met since 1997, when the SCC was nothing but a babbling toddler. Sheehan and Shelton - division rivals in most sports - will meet for the first time since 2003. According to SCC commissioner Al Carbone (who also supplied those facts), The league’s Scheduling Committee and Athletic Directors last winter voted to eliminate the scheduling rule that avoided Division I West/Division II East and Divison I East/Division II West matchups during crossover weeks. Doesn't mean the games will be any better, but they'll be different at least, I guess ... East Haven was indeed able to field a team (and had decent numbers) and put up a fight against Guilford before falling 27-6. It will still be a struggle for the Easties, but I think they should be able to beat Platt Tech and might, just might be able to shock someone else before the season is done ... The other winless team from a year ago - Fairfield Prep - also put in a solid performance, albeit in a losing effort, falling 28-14 to Hand. Prep misses out on the crossover fun, but gets to take on Griswold this week. That's a long Friday trip on I-95 for Griswold ... For the second straight year, Wilbur Cross went on the road against a traditional power and hung a big number in an easy win, this time beating Shelton 32-21. Their schedule is much easier in the next two games than it was after last year's upset win over Xavier, with Jonathan Law and Fairfield Prep coming up before they get into the heart of their Division I schedule. Last season, they finished 5-5 ... Did I say 5-5? Just like my record last week in the picks. Yikes.
Check us out on Twitter, www.twitter.com/currenscc. If you have any story ideas or scores you want to get across, let me know.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
James Ward, Wilbur Cross - Ward ran the opening kickoff for a touchdown and rushed for 142 yards and three more TDs on just nine carries as Wilbur Cross rolled to a 32-21 win over Shelton., the second straight year the Governors have won on the road in Division I in the opening week. Ward also added an interception to round out his day of being everywhere on the field.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Hillhouse at Cheshire, Friday, 7 p.m. - Both teams made statements in games that were played over two days in the opening week, and both teams posted a shutout, which means points might be at a premium at the Maclary Complex. The Maclary Complex is brand new to Hillhouse, these teams have never played each other in their history, which adds to the intrigue of this contest. Both teams also still have some question marks which will probably be answered in this one.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3
Number of interceptions thrown by Notre Dame quarterback Sean Goldrich in the opener, after throwing only a single one in all of the 2009 season. Xavier remains the only team to pick Goldrich off in the last two seasons, the Falcons recorded the interception last year against him as well.
POWER RANKINGS
1) Xavier (1-0; Last Week 2) – Don' t think it will be too much fun for Foran this Friday at Palmer Field.
2) Notre Dame (0-1; LW 1) – Knights have a lot of work to do on the lines, but should be fine in the end.
3) Cheshire (1-0; LW 3) – Again, the two-headed QB system pays dividends, but defense the story.
4) Wilbur Cross (1-0; LW 5) – Let's hope the Governors learned lesson after first game last season.
5) Hillhouse (1-0; LW 4) - Might be a little high, but we'll know exactly where to place Acs after Friday.
6) Shelton (0-1; LW 4) – Georgalas will return, but it might be a struggle against best SCC has to offer.
7) Hand (1-0; LW 6) – Not exactly an inspiring performance, but it goes in the win column for later use.
8) West Haven (1-0; LW 8) – Blue Devils had to wait until Sunday, but got season off on right foot.
9) Hamden (0-1; LW 7) – Offense was nonexistent against Cheshire, and they'll have to figure that out.
10) Lyman Hall (1-0; LW 3) - Highest Trojans have been in a while here, and they might be able to climb.
11) Foran (1-0; LW 5) - The Lions and Schumitz will most certainly battle you, especially at their place.
12) Branford (0-1; LW 1) - Tough loss to open campaign. Hornets surely hope doesn't cost them playoffs.
13) North Haven (0-1; LW 2) - Schwab was forced to leave opener. Indians could use him on field this week.
14) Sheehan (1-0; LW 6) - Gannon threw for 4 TDs, good start for a young quarterback in this league.
15) Amity (0-1; LW 9) – Tremendous defensive effort, but Spartans end up with nothing to show for it.
16) Fairfield Prep (0-1; LW 10) - Some things to build on, especially with Griswold coming to town Friday.
17) Jonathan Law (0-1; LW 7) - Didn't really see Lawmen giving up 37 points, but I didn't see a lot of things.
18) Guilford (1-0; LW 8) - Got a win, but Indians know things will only get a whole lot tougher from there.
19) East Haven (0-1; LW 9) - Played hard, played tough. What else can you ask for out of a team?
The quote above is mentioned in Friday Night Lights - no, not the movie, nor the network drama, but the fantastic original book by Buzz Bissinger that came out some two decades ago.
(By the way, if you haven't read that book and you're reading this column, do so. Now. This can wait a few hours.)
The quote hung in Odessa Permian's locker room before their game against rival Odessa, but it must have been somewhere in Xavier's lead up to its showdown with top-ranked and defending Class L champion Notre Dame last week.
You see, as much as we want to talk about things like athleticism and strategy, there's a reason why football became America's pastime and Linda McMahon has enough money to run for the Senate, and it's violence.
Coaches and players will talk about being physical, but will rarely use the word violence because it's got a negative connotation, but it's all semantics at that point. And I'm not here to condemn violence, some of my favorite athletic memories growing up were of Mike Tyson pummeling someone. In fact, as a Giants fan, perhaps my personal best memory is Leonard Marshall knocking Joe Montana out of the 1990 NFC title game with a vicious blindside hit.
Every football player lives for a hit like that, a clean (as opposed to some of the cheapshots like the one on Wes Welker on Sunday, which should not be applauded or condoned in any way, shape, or form) blow that makes the crowd gasp. What better way to intimidate your opponent and fire up your own team?
Of course, no one wants to see people get hurt, certainly serious injuries, but you really can't get your violence without a few people feeling some pain along the way.
"We pride ourselves on being physical," Xavier coach Sean Marinan said. "We make no bones about that, that's the way a defense has to operate, especially against a team like Notre Dame."
So on the second play from scrimmage last Friday - after a long Tirrell Young kickoff return gave Notre Dame and its huge crowd early momentum - Sean Goldrich hit Phil Bentley with a flare pass down the right sideline. Bentley is listed at 168 pounds, with the operative term there being "listed". To his credit, Bentley could gave gone out of bounds, but cut up the sideline, where the play - and Notre Dame's momentum - met a violent end as safety Gerry Basadonna crushed Bentley at full speed, a collision the human body is not made to deal with too often.
With Bentley temporarily out of the game (he did later come back and score a touchdown), four plays later Austin Ahern whacked Goldrich for a 14-yard loss and a message was sent that playing against Xavier's defense is not going to be a heck of a lot of fun. And it's going to be painful.
Notre Dame coach Tom Marcucci would swear after the game that his team stood up to Xavier and was every bit as physical. And the scoreboard indicated that, if not for a bizarre fumble late in the game, the Green Knights might have won and still been the state's top team.
It's also true that violence is not the answer to all football's problems. Xavier's lack of a reliable passing game and the fact that they had trouble snapping the ball nearly derailed a much-deserved victory and probable No. 1 state ranking.
But the fact remains that Xavier came out to physically intimidate Notre Dame and you'd have to say they succeeded. Goldrich never looked comfortable, finishing 5-of-17 for 69 yards and three interceptions (and the only 2 completions in the second half were dump-offs). Young, minus the opening kickoff, wasn't really a factor. ND was held to just 180 yards of total offense.
"We want to make it our mission to come out and come after people," Xavier's Graham Stewart said. "We like to be physical, and we knew we had to be physical tonight (last Friday). That's what we do at Xavier."
Stewart, headed to Boston College, and Ahern - also one of the state's top college prospects - made a nuisance of themselves, but they were joined by Marinan's son (also Sean, and who had the biggest play in the game, stripping David Rose in the fourth quarter) and Eric Mischke in the backfield for much of the evening. After Xavier finally grabbed the lead, you never got the feeling Notre Dame was coming back.
And you also get the feeling that the Xavier defense will make plenty of people in the SCC (and, probably, beyond) extremely uncomfortable.
It won't be an accident.
LIGHTNING, LIGHTNING GO AWAY: Evidently, the football gods didn't like opening games being played on Thursdays, as all the SCC games slated for last Thursday were either never started and not completed because of heavy rain and lightning.
It set up an odd situation for the Cheshire-Hamden and North Haven-Hillhouse contests, where coaches had nearly 24 hours to design halftime gameplans. Of those four squads, apparently the Rams' staff did the best job, when play was stopped on Thursday, Cheshire and Hamden were scoreless early in the third quarter, but Cheshire ran away with a 27-0 victory in the end.
The Rams continued the two-quarterback rotation (Michael Ecke and Max Slade this year) that worked so well for them on their way to a state championship. But it was their defense that was the story, holding Jordan Teague and company scoreless.
Cheshire will have to deal with Hillhouse this week, and the Academics were able to hold off North Haven, 12-0 (a rematch of the SCC basketball title game, by the way), after having the lead by that same score Thursday when the game was stopped at halftime. Freshman Harold Cooper and senior Chris Turner had the touchdowns, and the Academics look like they might be headed back toward the top of Division II (and are the highest D-II team in the power rankings).
PENALTY KICKS: Foran and Branford played a thriller Saturday night, with the Lions eventually prevailing 28-27 in overtime after it looked like they had lost the game in regulation. The Hornets stormed to the Foran 1-yard line with time running out, but picked up a penalty and eventually had a field goal blocked.
In overtime, both teams immediately scored, and Branford originally seemed to be going for 2 points and the win, but eventually decided against it, went for the tie (and a second overtime) and missed the extra point.
Unofficially, 95 percent of overtime in the current high school format come down to a missed extra point one way or the other, so it seems like the wise thing to do is move the start back to the 25-yard line like college. At least it won't be so easy to score.
Foran's opener last season also came down to kicking. After tying Lyman Hall 20-20, Joe Capalbo missed an extra point that probably would have won the game, but redeemed himself by drilling a field goal on the game's last play to win 23-20.
Ironically, later in the year, Capalbo wasn't so lucky against Branford last season. After the Lions had cut the Hornets' lead to 21-20 in the second overtime last season, his kick was blocked to end the game (meaning it was in the 95 percent decided by the kicking game).
And put in the same situation again, it's probably safe to say that you'll see the Hornets go for the jugular when they have the chance.
EXTRA POINTS: If you thought some unique matchups in this week's crossover games, you weren't hullicanating. Three of the games feature teams that have never met (Foran-Xavier, Jonathan Law-Wilbur Cross, and Hillhouse-Cheshire). Guilford-West Haven haven't met since 1997, when the SCC was nothing but a babbling toddler. Sheehan and Shelton - division rivals in most sports - will meet for the first time since 2003. According to SCC commissioner Al Carbone (who also supplied those facts), The league’s Scheduling Committee and Athletic Directors last winter voted to eliminate the scheduling rule that avoided Division I West/Division II East and Divison I East/Division II West matchups during crossover weeks. Doesn't mean the games will be any better, but they'll be different at least, I guess ... East Haven was indeed able to field a team (and had decent numbers) and put up a fight against Guilford before falling 27-6. It will still be a struggle for the Easties, but I think they should be able to beat Platt Tech and might, just might be able to shock someone else before the season is done ... The other winless team from a year ago - Fairfield Prep - also put in a solid performance, albeit in a losing effort, falling 28-14 to Hand. Prep misses out on the crossover fun, but gets to take on Griswold this week. That's a long Friday trip on I-95 for Griswold ... For the second straight year, Wilbur Cross went on the road against a traditional power and hung a big number in an easy win, this time beating Shelton 32-21. Their schedule is much easier in the next two games than it was after last year's upset win over Xavier, with Jonathan Law and Fairfield Prep coming up before they get into the heart of their Division I schedule. Last season, they finished 5-5 ... Did I say 5-5? Just like my record last week in the picks. Yikes.
Check us out on Twitter, www.twitter.com/currenscc. If you have any story ideas or scores you want to get across, let me know.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
James Ward, Wilbur Cross - Ward ran the opening kickoff for a touchdown and rushed for 142 yards and three more TDs on just nine carries as Wilbur Cross rolled to a 32-21 win over Shelton., the second straight year the Governors have won on the road in Division I in the opening week. Ward also added an interception to round out his day of being everywhere on the field.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Hillhouse at Cheshire, Friday, 7 p.m. - Both teams made statements in games that were played over two days in the opening week, and both teams posted a shutout, which means points might be at a premium at the Maclary Complex. The Maclary Complex is brand new to Hillhouse, these teams have never played each other in their history, which adds to the intrigue of this contest. Both teams also still have some question marks which will probably be answered in this one.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3
Number of interceptions thrown by Notre Dame quarterback Sean Goldrich in the opener, after throwing only a single one in all of the 2009 season. Xavier remains the only team to pick Goldrich off in the last two seasons, the Falcons recorded the interception last year against him as well.
POWER RANKINGS
1) Xavier (1-0; Last Week 2) – Don' t think it will be too much fun for Foran this Friday at Palmer Field.
2) Notre Dame (0-1; LW 1) – Knights have a lot of work to do on the lines, but should be fine in the end.
3) Cheshire (1-0; LW 3) – Again, the two-headed QB system pays dividends, but defense the story.
4) Wilbur Cross (1-0; LW 5) – Let's hope the Governors learned lesson after first game last season.
5) Hillhouse (1-0; LW 4) - Might be a little high, but we'll know exactly where to place Acs after Friday.
6) Shelton (0-1; LW 4) – Georgalas will return, but it might be a struggle against best SCC has to offer.
7) Hand (1-0; LW 6) – Not exactly an inspiring performance, but it goes in the win column for later use.
8) West Haven (1-0; LW 8) – Blue Devils had to wait until Sunday, but got season off on right foot.
9) Hamden (0-1; LW 7) – Offense was nonexistent against Cheshire, and they'll have to figure that out.
10) Lyman Hall (1-0; LW 3) - Highest Trojans have been in a while here, and they might be able to climb.
11) Foran (1-0; LW 5) - The Lions and Schumitz will most certainly battle you, especially at their place.
12) Branford (0-1; LW 1) - Tough loss to open campaign. Hornets surely hope doesn't cost them playoffs.
13) North Haven (0-1; LW 2) - Schwab was forced to leave opener. Indians could use him on field this week.
14) Sheehan (1-0; LW 6) - Gannon threw for 4 TDs, good start for a young quarterback in this league.
15) Amity (0-1; LW 9) – Tremendous defensive effort, but Spartans end up with nothing to show for it.
16) Fairfield Prep (0-1; LW 10) - Some things to build on, especially with Griswold coming to town Friday.
17) Jonathan Law (0-1; LW 7) - Didn't really see Lawmen giving up 37 points, but I didn't see a lot of things.
18) Guilford (1-0; LW 8) - Got a win, but Indians know things will only get a whole lot tougher from there.
19) East Haven (0-1; LW 9) - Played hard, played tough. What else can you ask for out of a team?
Sunday, September 12, 2010
SCC football - Division I preview: ND's world and everybody else is just visiting
"To whom much is given, much is required." - John F. Kennedy
People forget that prior to last fall, the Notre Dame football team was coming off three consecutive losing seasons, and many people (including someone whose picture lies somewhere on this page) didn't really believe that last season was going to be the one that the Green Knights returned to glory.
Of course, 20/20 hindsight shows outstanding lines on both sides of the ball, speed to burn, and an outstanding leader and winner in Conor Keniry.
Notre Dame hopes that there won't be any hindsight needed in December. They will begin the season this week No. 1 in the Courant poll, the Register poll, the WELI poll, and - presumably - the Gallup polls.
Rumors of their preseason beatdowns of other traditional powers have spread like wildfire through the football underground.
But, unlike last season, the hype comes with a giant target on their back, one that Notre Dame will have to embrace if they want to avoid the snipers.
"We don't talk too much about last season," Notre Dame coach Tom Marcucci said. "It's a new story, a new group. We graduated eight starters on offense, seven on defense. We have some skill players back and we have some talent, but it is a different team."
No one will be feeling the heat more than senior quarterback Sean Goldrich, because he's the most heralded player returning from last year's Class L title squad, throwing for 20 touchdowns with just 1 interception last season and completing nearly 69 percent of his passes.
However, his role will almost surely be increased this season. Goldrich never threw more than 15 passes in a game last season, and although the Knights should still run plenty, there will be times where the game may rest on Goldrich's strong right arm.
"I just want to win games, that's what's most important to me," Goldrich said. "I know interceptions will happen from time to time, so I'm not worried about it. Coach (Marcucci) has told me we're probably going to throw a little bit more, which is obviously exciting as a quarterback, but as long as we're winning, I'm fine."
You want an example of how things have changed for Goldrich? At a recent visit to Notre Dame, I was told I couldn't talk to him. After explaining that it was set up through Coach Marcucci, the message came back, "Well, he can't talk to college coaches during school."
For whatever reason, major colleges have been slow to warm to Goldrich. He had looked at Iowa, but they grabbed another QB. The same appears to have happened at Villanova.
What makes it doubly strange is trying to find someone with something negative to say about Goldrich, either on or off the field, is darn near impossible.
"In my opinion, he is a Division I quarterback," Marcucci said. "He has a big-time arm and he's faster than people give him credit for. He's a good runner. And he's a fantastic kid. He does everything the coaches ask, and it's always the team first."
You can tell the college thing stings Goldrich a little, but while he's not exactly a tragic figure, he has had his share of adversity growing up in West Haven.
When he was in seventh grade, his mother, Tara, died suddenly, and therefore never saw him play a down in high school.
"It dawned upon me a couple of times last season," Goldrich said. "It was a little emotional in the playoffs that she couldn't see the success that we had. In the end, although I wish she could be here, it's nice to know that there's someone up there looking out for me, and she'll always be a big part of who I am."
You want weapons? Goldrich (who somehow didn't even make first team Division I last season, as he was beaten out by Xavier's Alex Pace, Hamden's Jason Lassiter, and Cheshire's Greg Palmer) has weapons. Phil Bentley and Tirrell Young-Williams, who each had big plays in big games last season, were 1-2 in the 100-meter dash in Class MM track last spring. Running back David Rose was not spectacular, but consistent and should be stronger with a year of experience under his belt.
Sometimes it's not the most fun position to be in, anything but a repeat as state champion will likely be a disappointment.
However, it certainly beats having a losing record.
"We have a lot of things we can still do to get better," Marcucci said. "This won't be easy."
STEWART LEADS FALCONS: As of Sunday, there was only one name on the MaxPreps roster for Xavier: Graham Stewart.
The linebacker spurned UConn (yeah) and Syracuse (boo) to play at Boston College, ending a fairly contentious recruiting period and allowing him to concentrate on football.
Stewart and fellow linebacker Austin Ahern are among the top 10 recruits coming out of Connecticut this season, which alone means the Falcons should be a handful (Just YouTube Stewart and you'll see some pretty good hits against Division I opposition).
Xavier also won their final nine regular season games last season, including a win over Notre Dame, before giving Staples all it could handle in the Class LL semifinals.
But it was a strange season for the Falcons defense, which posted three shutouts and nearly had two others, but was run off the field by Wilbur Cross (37-19, their only regular season loss), and gave up 20 or more points five times, including to Staples.
Will they have enough to unseat Notre Dame atop the SCC? We won't have long to find out, will we?
EXTRA POINTS: Tony Martone returns to Hamden, and he might have his work cut out for him with a brutal schedule and losing 24 players to graduation. He does have running back Jordan Teague (who, strangely, didn't play any running back in the final scrimmage against Greenwich) and he should have enough athletes to be competitive. But how competitive? ... Yea, I was the one that put Cheshire 8th in Division I to start last season. All they did was win the Class LL state championship. Oops. I'm semi-inclined to look at the fact that they look likely to use two quarterbacks again (Michael John Ecke and Max Slade) to prove that the might have some problems, but it's worked for them in the past, and they should have enough talent to be in position for a possible playoff berth ... Shelton will be without Mike Georgalas for its opener against Wilbur Cross after he was ejected from last Thanksgiving's game against Derby (the CIAC never forgets). They will also miss Ryan Deangelis for the season with an ACL tear, so the Gaels may take some time to get going, and that may be enough to cost them a postseason run ... Wilbur Cross has Dontay Long (QB) and James Ward (RB), but it's hard to tell what else this early. Last season, they started with an 18-point win at Palmer Field, but later in the season lost by 24 points at home to West Haven. They finished 5-5, and you expect you might see more of the same this season ... Hand has some players returning, but it's hard to see them having the athleticism to keep up with the Notre Dames and Xaviers of the world ... West Haven is another mystery, they haven't looked particularly good in the preseason, but they never do, do they? ... Fairfield Prep and Amity, both with new coaches (Tom Shea and Bert Mozealous, respectively), appear to be swimming upstream in Division I, at least for this season ... Couldn't fit this into Inside the Numbers, but the least amount of points Notre Dame scored last season: 28.
Check us out on Twitter, www.twitter.com/currenscc. If you have any story ideas or scores you want to get across, let me know.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
GAME OF THE WEEK
Xavier at Notre Dame, Friday, 7 p.m. - By all preseason accounts, this should be the game of the season as well in front of what figured to be a giant crowd in West Haven. Is Notre Dame's offense that good? Is Graham Stewart that good? Is the SCC that good? All questions we've been waiting months to answer will finally begin to be come this week, thankfully.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
32
Number of playoff teams in the CIAC football playoffs this season, up from 24 last season. Seeing that I was one of the ones that was pushing for a change, obviously I like it, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out. I surmise there will still be some teams that feel they should get in and don't, but that's the way it goes.
D-I POWER RANKINGS
1) Notre Dame (11-1; Opener: vs. Xavier) – Knights don't have to leave West Haven until October 22. Nice scheduling.
2) Xavier (9-2; at Notre Dame) – Have to survive ND and Cheshire (both away) in the season's first three weeks.
3) Cheshire (11-1; at Hamden) – Usually, they lose to Hamden, then go on big win streak. Tough to do that this year.
4) Shelton (7-3; vs. Wilbur Cross) – Won last six games last season, will know much more after Friday's opener.
5) Wilbur Cross (5-5; at Shelton) – Ward will take them as far as he can, but he's going to need some help somewhere.
6) Hand (5-5; at Fairfield Prep) – Less cool storylines for opener, same amount of rush-hour traffic on I-95.
7) Hamden (7-3; vs. Cheshire) – Dragons don't play Wilbur Cross this season. Seems kind of wrong, doesn't it?
8) West Haven (5-5; at Amity) – Fairly kind opening to schedule may give the Westies much-needed confidence.
9) Amity (3-7; vs. West Haven) – Mght be a little bit of a rough start to the new regime, but they'll battle in D-I.
10) Fairfield Prep (0-10; vs. Hand) - Well, it really can't get much worse, can it?
People forget that prior to last fall, the Notre Dame football team was coming off three consecutive losing seasons, and many people (including someone whose picture lies somewhere on this page) didn't really believe that last season was going to be the one that the Green Knights returned to glory.
Of course, 20/20 hindsight shows outstanding lines on both sides of the ball, speed to burn, and an outstanding leader and winner in Conor Keniry.
Notre Dame hopes that there won't be any hindsight needed in December. They will begin the season this week No. 1 in the Courant poll, the Register poll, the WELI poll, and - presumably - the Gallup polls.
Rumors of their preseason beatdowns of other traditional powers have spread like wildfire through the football underground.
But, unlike last season, the hype comes with a giant target on their back, one that Notre Dame will have to embrace if they want to avoid the snipers.
"We don't talk too much about last season," Notre Dame coach Tom Marcucci said. "It's a new story, a new group. We graduated eight starters on offense, seven on defense. We have some skill players back and we have some talent, but it is a different team."
No one will be feeling the heat more than senior quarterback Sean Goldrich, because he's the most heralded player returning from last year's Class L title squad, throwing for 20 touchdowns with just 1 interception last season and completing nearly 69 percent of his passes.
However, his role will almost surely be increased this season. Goldrich never threw more than 15 passes in a game last season, and although the Knights should still run plenty, there will be times where the game may rest on Goldrich's strong right arm.
"I just want to win games, that's what's most important to me," Goldrich said. "I know interceptions will happen from time to time, so I'm not worried about it. Coach (Marcucci) has told me we're probably going to throw a little bit more, which is obviously exciting as a quarterback, but as long as we're winning, I'm fine."
You want an example of how things have changed for Goldrich? At a recent visit to Notre Dame, I was told I couldn't talk to him. After explaining that it was set up through Coach Marcucci, the message came back, "Well, he can't talk to college coaches during school."
For whatever reason, major colleges have been slow to warm to Goldrich. He had looked at Iowa, but they grabbed another QB. The same appears to have happened at Villanova.
What makes it doubly strange is trying to find someone with something negative to say about Goldrich, either on or off the field, is darn near impossible.
"In my opinion, he is a Division I quarterback," Marcucci said. "He has a big-time arm and he's faster than people give him credit for. He's a good runner. And he's a fantastic kid. He does everything the coaches ask, and it's always the team first."
You can tell the college thing stings Goldrich a little, but while he's not exactly a tragic figure, he has had his share of adversity growing up in West Haven.
When he was in seventh grade, his mother, Tara, died suddenly, and therefore never saw him play a down in high school.
"It dawned upon me a couple of times last season," Goldrich said. "It was a little emotional in the playoffs that she couldn't see the success that we had. In the end, although I wish she could be here, it's nice to know that there's someone up there looking out for me, and she'll always be a big part of who I am."
You want weapons? Goldrich (who somehow didn't even make first team Division I last season, as he was beaten out by Xavier's Alex Pace, Hamden's Jason Lassiter, and Cheshire's Greg Palmer) has weapons. Phil Bentley and Tirrell Young-Williams, who each had big plays in big games last season, were 1-2 in the 100-meter dash in Class MM track last spring. Running back David Rose was not spectacular, but consistent and should be stronger with a year of experience under his belt.
Sometimes it's not the most fun position to be in, anything but a repeat as state champion will likely be a disappointment.
However, it certainly beats having a losing record.
"We have a lot of things we can still do to get better," Marcucci said. "This won't be easy."
STEWART LEADS FALCONS: As of Sunday, there was only one name on the MaxPreps roster for Xavier: Graham Stewart.
The linebacker spurned UConn (yeah) and Syracuse (boo) to play at Boston College, ending a fairly contentious recruiting period and allowing him to concentrate on football.
Stewart and fellow linebacker Austin Ahern are among the top 10 recruits coming out of Connecticut this season, which alone means the Falcons should be a handful (Just YouTube Stewart and you'll see some pretty good hits against Division I opposition).
Xavier also won their final nine regular season games last season, including a win over Notre Dame, before giving Staples all it could handle in the Class LL semifinals.
But it was a strange season for the Falcons defense, which posted three shutouts and nearly had two others, but was run off the field by Wilbur Cross (37-19, their only regular season loss), and gave up 20 or more points five times, including to Staples.
Will they have enough to unseat Notre Dame atop the SCC? We won't have long to find out, will we?
EXTRA POINTS: Tony Martone returns to Hamden, and he might have his work cut out for him with a brutal schedule and losing 24 players to graduation. He does have running back Jordan Teague (who, strangely, didn't play any running back in the final scrimmage against Greenwich) and he should have enough athletes to be competitive. But how competitive? ... Yea, I was the one that put Cheshire 8th in Division I to start last season. All they did was win the Class LL state championship. Oops. I'm semi-inclined to look at the fact that they look likely to use two quarterbacks again (Michael John Ecke and Max Slade) to prove that the might have some problems, but it's worked for them in the past, and they should have enough talent to be in position for a possible playoff berth ... Shelton will be without Mike Georgalas for its opener against Wilbur Cross after he was ejected from last Thanksgiving's game against Derby (the CIAC never forgets). They will also miss Ryan Deangelis for the season with an ACL tear, so the Gaels may take some time to get going, and that may be enough to cost them a postseason run ... Wilbur Cross has Dontay Long (QB) and James Ward (RB), but it's hard to tell what else this early. Last season, they started with an 18-point win at Palmer Field, but later in the season lost by 24 points at home to West Haven. They finished 5-5, and you expect you might see more of the same this season ... Hand has some players returning, but it's hard to see them having the athleticism to keep up with the Notre Dames and Xaviers of the world ... West Haven is another mystery, they haven't looked particularly good in the preseason, but they never do, do they? ... Fairfield Prep and Amity, both with new coaches (Tom Shea and Bert Mozealous, respectively), appear to be swimming upstream in Division I, at least for this season ... Couldn't fit this into Inside the Numbers, but the least amount of points Notre Dame scored last season: 28.
Check us out on Twitter, www.twitter.com/currenscc. If you have any story ideas or scores you want to get across, let me know.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
GAME OF THE WEEK
Xavier at Notre Dame, Friday, 7 p.m. - By all preseason accounts, this should be the game of the season as well in front of what figured to be a giant crowd in West Haven. Is Notre Dame's offense that good? Is Graham Stewart that good? Is the SCC that good? All questions we've been waiting months to answer will finally begin to be come this week, thankfully.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
32
Number of playoff teams in the CIAC football playoffs this season, up from 24 last season. Seeing that I was one of the ones that was pushing for a change, obviously I like it, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out. I surmise there will still be some teams that feel they should get in and don't, but that's the way it goes.
D-I POWER RANKINGS
1) Notre Dame (11-1; Opener: vs. Xavier) – Knights don't have to leave West Haven until October 22. Nice scheduling.
2) Xavier (9-2; at Notre Dame) – Have to survive ND and Cheshire (both away) in the season's first three weeks.
3) Cheshire (11-1; at Hamden) – Usually, they lose to Hamden, then go on big win streak. Tough to do that this year.
4) Shelton (7-3; vs. Wilbur Cross) – Won last six games last season, will know much more after Friday's opener.
5) Wilbur Cross (5-5; at Shelton) – Ward will take them as far as he can, but he's going to need some help somewhere.
6) Hand (5-5; at Fairfield Prep) – Less cool storylines for opener, same amount of rush-hour traffic on I-95.
7) Hamden (7-3; vs. Cheshire) – Dragons don't play Wilbur Cross this season. Seems kind of wrong, doesn't it?
8) West Haven (5-5; at Amity) – Fairly kind opening to schedule may give the Westies much-needed confidence.
9) Amity (3-7; vs. West Haven) – Mght be a little bit of a rough start to the new regime, but they'll battle in D-I.
10) Fairfield Prep (0-10; vs. Hand) - Well, it really can't get much worse, can it?
Sunday, September 5, 2010
SCC football - Division II preview: Lions staying tough despite size
In retrospect, Jeff Bevino's initiation into the Southern Connecticut Conference may have been a clear violation of the CIAC hazing policies.
Bevino - coming from a winning program at Notre Dame of Fairfield - and his 2006 Foran team was beaten, battered, and ultimately left winless behind a young quarterback named Jake White.
Perhaps the ultimate humiliation came on Thanksgiving of that year, when Law - only two years removed from an 0-10 season of its own that saw them outscored 462-53 (yes, those were the pre-Cochran Rule days, people) that included a 43-0 loss to Foran - crushed the Lions 47-0.
"My first year, sometimes we had 18 healthy players, it was difficult," Bevino said. "It wasn't fun to get beat up like we did."
The next year, Bevino grabbed a couple of wins over Derby and East Haven to go 2-8, and in 2008, had what many people considered a dream season, finishing 7-4 behind a now veteran White and speedster Tyler Hames, who transferred in from Arizona the year prior.
But last season, White and Hames had both graduated and it looked like it might be back to Square One for the Lions in the brutal SCC. Nope.
Led by a previously unknown quarterback, Tucker Schumitz, and some gutsy play, Foran finished 6-4 and beat Law on Thanksgiving for the second straight year.
"We were really two points away from being 8-2 and looking at the playoffs," Bevino said. "The kids have settled in to our program, and hopefully we're building something here. I'm very happy where we are."
Schumitz may simultaneously have been the breakout star and the most underrated player in the SCC last season, both throwing (1,458) and running (1,161) for more than 1,000 yards from his quarterback position. The good news for Foran is that Schumitz returns for his senior season, but the bad news is that he won't sneak up on anyone this time around.
"He's a heck of an athlete," Bevino said. "He's been throwing the ball very well in practice, but we're hesitant to run him too much in scrimmages because obviously we don't want anything to happen to him."
Bevino trusts Schumitz enough in Foran's spread offense to basically put the game in his hands. At the snap, it's up to Schumitz to make the correct read to either keep the ball or hand it off to a teammate, something that might be tough for some old-school coaches.
"The thing I like about Tucker most is that he's a real student of the game," Bevino said. "He's a really smart kid, he always knows where everyone is on the other team, he has a good feel for what they are trying to do. I trust him enough to pull the ball any time he wants to, it's called a 'choice play'. He doesn't make a wrong choice very often."
Foran has a few holes to fill left by graduation on its lines, but Schumitz - who also uses his reading of the game as a defensive player for the Lions - will look to junior Andrew Sileo (406 yards rushing), and senior Stanley Olsson (26 receptions) to catch some of his passes.
The schedule is much more daunting this year for Bevino and the Lions, opening with a brutal three game stretch of Branford, Xavier, and Hillhouse, but it's probably safe to say that the days of worrying about winless seasons are behind them.
"We'll play the hand we're dealt with the schedule," Bevino said. "But our kids are game. We'll come out and play hard every game, and I'm confident we'll be in most of the games we play this season. I think it will be a fun season."
What a difference four years can make.
31 AND COUNTING: You wouldn't have thought things could get too much worse at East Haven, but with a losing streak of 31 games entering the 2010 season comes word that numbers are so low that the Yellowjackets may have trouble fielding a varsity team.
Athletic Director Mike Marone was quick to try to quell those rumors, but admitted things have been tough this preseason for second-year coach Greg Volpe (who at one point this off-season was told he was fired only to find out later that it wasn't true), and that as few as 17 healthy varsity players were available at a couple of practices last week.
One thing going for East Haven is that the students did not return until Tuesday, so they were hoping to pick up a few kids who might not otherwise be interested in playing, as well as some players that are currently injured. For those that read this column regularly, you'll remember that exactly one year ago in this point, East Haven and their new coach Volpe were featured, complete with this quote:
"I didn't know how deep it went here (at East Haven)," Volpe said. "It's just a culture more than anything. It's a big challenge, but we're going to try to meet it."
Unfortunately, that still sums it up.
And despite what you feel about East Haven, or if you like your team to have an easy win, it really is quite sad the situation the program is in, and we hope things turn around. (It was also a sad summer for the EHHS program as one fo their biggest recent stars, James Glee, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Hartford at the age of 29.)
I'm sure we'll be on this story for most of the 2010 season. One possible bright spot, the Easties were able to get rid of Trinity Catholic as their out-of-conference game and added Platt Tech. East Haven will play the first game in the SCC next Wednesday night against Guilford.
EXTRA POINTS: The Division II race may be too close to call, which may not necessarily benefit the teams that are pushing toward the playoffs. It's important to remember that although the playoff teams in each class have gone from 4 to 8, the number of classes have dropped from 6 to 4. So you math majors can tell us that the number of playoff teams, while increased, has only gone from 24 to 32. It's still hard to see a team with three losses qualifying for the postseason on a regular basis ... You'll see we have Branford tops in the Power Rankings, and that's largely due to the arm of Kyle Nolan, who took over for an injured Andrew Luzzi at quarterback and did very well, throwing for 706 yards and leading the Hornets to four straight wins to close the campaign ... North Haven, who was 7-3 behind sophomore quarterback Joe Schwab, also can't be counted out of the race, and if you want a sleeper, it might be Lyman Hall. The Trojans were much better than their 4-6 record of last season would indicate, and return Joe Desandre (1191 yards rushing as a sophomore in '09) and quarterback John Desandre. And we haven't even gotten to Hillhouse or Foran yet ... You've probably heard about Connecticut's new concussion rule, which - although most reasonable coaches went by anyway - is a good step, but among the other new rules in effect this season: no more than four captains out for the coin toss. How's that for random? Check us out on Twitter, www.twitter.com/currenscc. If you have any story ideas or scores you want to get across, let me know.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
GAME OF THE WEEK
Hillhouse at North Haven, Sept. 16, 7 p.m. - Tough to get a read on Hillhouse this season, but we'll certainly know more about the Academics after this opener. Last season, Hillhouse appeared to beat North Haven, but a time out was called before an apparent missed field goal. The second time around, the Indians made the field goal for a 20-18 victory. The Acs finished 5-5, but had a loss to Ansonia and two Division I losses (Shelton, Wilbur Cross) mixed in. Both of these teams have aspirations for the postseason under the new system, but things will get much tougher for the loser.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
9
Still the number of teams left in the SCC for Division II football, which while still a perfect square, is still not dividable by 2. Anyone from North Branford to Masuk to Morgan to Hyde has been rumored to be the 20th team in the SCC for football. An unlikely candidate to step up late: Platt Tech, which has already filled the schedule hole of three of the Division II teams, and would like to get its athletic program to a place where it can compete in the lower half of the SCC rather than drive all over the state for games.
D-II POWER RANKINGS
1) Branford (Opener: at Foran) – Big numbers for program, and Tracy now with a year under his belt in charge.
2) North Haven (vs. Hillhouse) – Slowly but surely making progress as one of the top teams in Division II ranks.
3) Lyman Hall (vs. Platt Tech) – Been a while since Trojans have moved this high, but should cruise in first week at least.
4) Hillhouse (at North Haven) – Been a while since Acs have been this low, but win over Indians would be good start.
5) Foran (vs. Branford) – Early schedule will be tough, but if nothing else, Lions should been very fun to watch.
6) Sheehan (vs. Jonathan Law) – Life without Biestak, who also led Sheehan in rushing, begins for Titans this week.
7) Jonathan Law (at Sheehan) – Reports out of Milford say Lawmen are huge, but going to have to find way to score.
8) Guilford (at East Haven) – Well, if the Indians don't win their opener, at least we'll have a good story, won't we?
9) East Haven (vs. Guilford) – Yellowjackets might have circled Platt Tech on their schedules already.
Bevino - coming from a winning program at Notre Dame of Fairfield - and his 2006 Foran team was beaten, battered, and ultimately left winless behind a young quarterback named Jake White.
Perhaps the ultimate humiliation came on Thanksgiving of that year, when Law - only two years removed from an 0-10 season of its own that saw them outscored 462-53 (yes, those were the pre-Cochran Rule days, people) that included a 43-0 loss to Foran - crushed the Lions 47-0.
"My first year, sometimes we had 18 healthy players, it was difficult," Bevino said. "It wasn't fun to get beat up like we did."
The next year, Bevino grabbed a couple of wins over Derby and East Haven to go 2-8, and in 2008, had what many people considered a dream season, finishing 7-4 behind a now veteran White and speedster Tyler Hames, who transferred in from Arizona the year prior.
But last season, White and Hames had both graduated and it looked like it might be back to Square One for the Lions in the brutal SCC. Nope.
Led by a previously unknown quarterback, Tucker Schumitz, and some gutsy play, Foran finished 6-4 and beat Law on Thanksgiving for the second straight year.
"We were really two points away from being 8-2 and looking at the playoffs," Bevino said. "The kids have settled in to our program, and hopefully we're building something here. I'm very happy where we are."
Schumitz may simultaneously have been the breakout star and the most underrated player in the SCC last season, both throwing (1,458) and running (1,161) for more than 1,000 yards from his quarterback position. The good news for Foran is that Schumitz returns for his senior season, but the bad news is that he won't sneak up on anyone this time around.
"He's a heck of an athlete," Bevino said. "He's been throwing the ball very well in practice, but we're hesitant to run him too much in scrimmages because obviously we don't want anything to happen to him."
Bevino trusts Schumitz enough in Foran's spread offense to basically put the game in his hands. At the snap, it's up to Schumitz to make the correct read to either keep the ball or hand it off to a teammate, something that might be tough for some old-school coaches.
"The thing I like about Tucker most is that he's a real student of the game," Bevino said. "He's a really smart kid, he always knows where everyone is on the other team, he has a good feel for what they are trying to do. I trust him enough to pull the ball any time he wants to, it's called a 'choice play'. He doesn't make a wrong choice very often."
Foran has a few holes to fill left by graduation on its lines, but Schumitz - who also uses his reading of the game as a defensive player for the Lions - will look to junior Andrew Sileo (406 yards rushing), and senior Stanley Olsson (26 receptions) to catch some of his passes.
The schedule is much more daunting this year for Bevino and the Lions, opening with a brutal three game stretch of Branford, Xavier, and Hillhouse, but it's probably safe to say that the days of worrying about winless seasons are behind them.
"We'll play the hand we're dealt with the schedule," Bevino said. "But our kids are game. We'll come out and play hard every game, and I'm confident we'll be in most of the games we play this season. I think it will be a fun season."
What a difference four years can make.
31 AND COUNTING: You wouldn't have thought things could get too much worse at East Haven, but with a losing streak of 31 games entering the 2010 season comes word that numbers are so low that the Yellowjackets may have trouble fielding a varsity team.
Athletic Director Mike Marone was quick to try to quell those rumors, but admitted things have been tough this preseason for second-year coach Greg Volpe (who at one point this off-season was told he was fired only to find out later that it wasn't true), and that as few as 17 healthy varsity players were available at a couple of practices last week.
One thing going for East Haven is that the students did not return until Tuesday, so they were hoping to pick up a few kids who might not otherwise be interested in playing, as well as some players that are currently injured. For those that read this column regularly, you'll remember that exactly one year ago in this point, East Haven and their new coach Volpe were featured, complete with this quote:
"I didn't know how deep it went here (at East Haven)," Volpe said. "It's just a culture more than anything. It's a big challenge, but we're going to try to meet it."
Unfortunately, that still sums it up.
And despite what you feel about East Haven, or if you like your team to have an easy win, it really is quite sad the situation the program is in, and we hope things turn around. (It was also a sad summer for the EHHS program as one fo their biggest recent stars, James Glee, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Hartford at the age of 29.)
I'm sure we'll be on this story for most of the 2010 season. One possible bright spot, the Easties were able to get rid of Trinity Catholic as their out-of-conference game and added Platt Tech. East Haven will play the first game in the SCC next Wednesday night against Guilford.
EXTRA POINTS: The Division II race may be too close to call, which may not necessarily benefit the teams that are pushing toward the playoffs. It's important to remember that although the playoff teams in each class have gone from 4 to 8, the number of classes have dropped from 6 to 4. So you math majors can tell us that the number of playoff teams, while increased, has only gone from 24 to 32. It's still hard to see a team with three losses qualifying for the postseason on a regular basis ... You'll see we have Branford tops in the Power Rankings, and that's largely due to the arm of Kyle Nolan, who took over for an injured Andrew Luzzi at quarterback and did very well, throwing for 706 yards and leading the Hornets to four straight wins to close the campaign ... North Haven, who was 7-3 behind sophomore quarterback Joe Schwab, also can't be counted out of the race, and if you want a sleeper, it might be Lyman Hall. The Trojans were much better than their 4-6 record of last season would indicate, and return Joe Desandre (1191 yards rushing as a sophomore in '09) and quarterback John Desandre. And we haven't even gotten to Hillhouse or Foran yet ... You've probably heard about Connecticut's new concussion rule, which - although most reasonable coaches went by anyway - is a good step, but among the other new rules in effect this season: no more than four captains out for the coin toss. How's that for random? Check us out on Twitter, www.twitter.com/currenscc. If you have any story ideas or scores you want to get across, let me know.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
GAME OF THE WEEK
Hillhouse at North Haven, Sept. 16, 7 p.m. - Tough to get a read on Hillhouse this season, but we'll certainly know more about the Academics after this opener. Last season, Hillhouse appeared to beat North Haven, but a time out was called before an apparent missed field goal. The second time around, the Indians made the field goal for a 20-18 victory. The Acs finished 5-5, but had a loss to Ansonia and two Division I losses (Shelton, Wilbur Cross) mixed in. Both of these teams have aspirations for the postseason under the new system, but things will get much tougher for the loser.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
9
Still the number of teams left in the SCC for Division II football, which while still a perfect square, is still not dividable by 2. Anyone from North Branford to Masuk to Morgan to Hyde has been rumored to be the 20th team in the SCC for football. An unlikely candidate to step up late: Platt Tech, which has already filled the schedule hole of three of the Division II teams, and would like to get its athletic program to a place where it can compete in the lower half of the SCC rather than drive all over the state for games.
D-II POWER RANKINGS
1) Branford (Opener: at Foran) – Big numbers for program, and Tracy now with a year under his belt in charge.
2) North Haven (vs. Hillhouse) – Slowly but surely making progress as one of the top teams in Division II ranks.
3) Lyman Hall (vs. Platt Tech) – Been a while since Trojans have moved this high, but should cruise in first week at least.
4) Hillhouse (at North Haven) – Been a while since Acs have been this low, but win over Indians would be good start.
5) Foran (vs. Branford) – Early schedule will be tough, but if nothing else, Lions should been very fun to watch.
6) Sheehan (vs. Jonathan Law) – Life without Biestak, who also led Sheehan in rushing, begins for Titans this week.
7) Jonathan Law (at Sheehan) – Reports out of Milford say Lawmen are huge, but going to have to find way to score.
8) Guilford (at East Haven) – Well, if the Indians don't win their opener, at least we'll have a good story, won't we?
9) East Haven (vs. Guilford) – Yellowjackets might have circled Platt Tech on their schedules already.
Monday, May 31, 2010
SCC baseball : Tournament review - Shelton not going anywhere
The torch might not have been passed last Saturday afternoon when Shelton beat Amity for the SCC title, but you may be able to say it was shared.
The last time an undefeated Amity team was stopped in the SCC final - three years ago - Guilford rode that momentum (and the right arm of Will Jolin) all the way to a Class L championship.
In 2008, the Indians had a remarkable regular season run before - as the top-seed - falling to Amity in the SCC semifinals, and then getting beaten by division rival Jonathan Law in the state semifinals. The last two seasons, Guilford has not been able to keep the momentum, failing to make the state tournament in both campaigns.
The signs point to the fact that Shelton may be a bigger long-term threat to Amity's supremacy atop the SCC baseball world. You were warned, by me and by others, that Shelton was coming. Under Scott Gura last season, the Gaels marched all the way to the Class LL semifinals before falling to West Haven.
But the step from believing to achieving can be a lot trickier than it seems. After all, Shelton is in the same division (Housatonic) as Amity, and the last time the Spartans didn't win the division title, most of the current Gaels hadn't even started their T-ball careers yet.
While Shelton did knock off Amity once last season, it never could completely figure its pitching out, en route to a 17-8 final record, very solid for most, but you felt like the Gaels were close to something big, which they obviously showed in the state tournament.
"Last year, we set the bar pretty high," Gura said before the 2010 season. "We wanted to make Shelton baseball a program that would be near the top of the SCC every year, but that's easier said than done. But last year was a great first step, but we want to be more consistent from year to year."
If they could only figure out a way to get past the reigning kings, Amity.
In their two regular season meetings this season, Shelton couldn't even manage a run off Amity, losing by scores of 2-0 and 5-0, respectively. And true to their championship form, the Spartans weren't going down without a fight on Saturday.
Leading 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, three straight walks allowed Amity to tie the game, and it looked like more heartbreak for Shelton. But not this time. Dan St. George, as gutty as they come, induced a groundout to send the game to extra innings.
Somewhat surprisingly with the state tournament looming, Amity went to Lou Concato in relief for extra innings. But in his second inning of work, Tom Carroll and Jim Pjura touched the normally untouchable Concato for back-to-back doubles, and the Gaels - barely as the Spartans rallied for a run in the bottom of the ninth - made it stand up.
Finally, Shelton had beaten Amity in a big game, and they were kings of the SCC for the first time in a decade.
"We've had a tough time winning tournament games," St. George said. "This year, coming in and beating three very good teams is a real statement for our program and I hope it continues in the state tournament."
In a single-elimination baseball tournament, obviously anything can happen. And Shelton's next loss (if there is one, the Register's Chris Hunn has predicted an Amity-Shelton Class LL final next week, and wouldn't that be a sight?) will be the final high school game for St. George and some others, including Eric Christensen, who will likely by Shelton's all-time hit leader sometime this week.
But this should not be the end, or even the beginning of the end, for Shelton baseball. Amity has done what they have done over the last decade with pitching, allowing them to win games even when their bats have an off day. And for the Gaels to make the next step long-term, that's where they will have to do it.
By the way, the reason why we started this story with sharing the SCC torch? While Amity will lose its share of players, they surely won't go very far. In fact, remember when they were undefeated and lost to Guilford in 2007? You know what they did next? Win the state championship, their second consecutive Class LL crown, of course. And there aren't many people doubting them in this year's state tourney, either.
"To beat a team like that, that's an historic win for us," Gura said. "Especially in extra innings. That's a classic. People are going to be talking about this win in Shelton for the next 20 years."
Or until they meet again.
The last time an undefeated Amity team was stopped in the SCC final - three years ago - Guilford rode that momentum (and the right arm of Will Jolin) all the way to a Class L championship.
In 2008, the Indians had a remarkable regular season run before - as the top-seed - falling to Amity in the SCC semifinals, and then getting beaten by division rival Jonathan Law in the state semifinals. The last two seasons, Guilford has not been able to keep the momentum, failing to make the state tournament in both campaigns.
The signs point to the fact that Shelton may be a bigger long-term threat to Amity's supremacy atop the SCC baseball world. You were warned, by me and by others, that Shelton was coming. Under Scott Gura last season, the Gaels marched all the way to the Class LL semifinals before falling to West Haven.
But the step from believing to achieving can be a lot trickier than it seems. After all, Shelton is in the same division (Housatonic) as Amity, and the last time the Spartans didn't win the division title, most of the current Gaels hadn't even started their T-ball careers yet.
While Shelton did knock off Amity once last season, it never could completely figure its pitching out, en route to a 17-8 final record, very solid for most, but you felt like the Gaels were close to something big, which they obviously showed in the state tournament.
"Last year, we set the bar pretty high," Gura said before the 2010 season. "We wanted to make Shelton baseball a program that would be near the top of the SCC every year, but that's easier said than done. But last year was a great first step, but we want to be more consistent from year to year."
If they could only figure out a way to get past the reigning kings, Amity.
In their two regular season meetings this season, Shelton couldn't even manage a run off Amity, losing by scores of 2-0 and 5-0, respectively. And true to their championship form, the Spartans weren't going down without a fight on Saturday.
Leading 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, three straight walks allowed Amity to tie the game, and it looked like more heartbreak for Shelton. But not this time. Dan St. George, as gutty as they come, induced a groundout to send the game to extra innings.
Somewhat surprisingly with the state tournament looming, Amity went to Lou Concato in relief for extra innings. But in his second inning of work, Tom Carroll and Jim Pjura touched the normally untouchable Concato for back-to-back doubles, and the Gaels - barely as the Spartans rallied for a run in the bottom of the ninth - made it stand up.
Finally, Shelton had beaten Amity in a big game, and they were kings of the SCC for the first time in a decade.
"We've had a tough time winning tournament games," St. George said. "This year, coming in and beating three very good teams is a real statement for our program and I hope it continues in the state tournament."
In a single-elimination baseball tournament, obviously anything can happen. And Shelton's next loss (if there is one, the Register's Chris Hunn has predicted an Amity-Shelton Class LL final next week, and wouldn't that be a sight?) will be the final high school game for St. George and some others, including Eric Christensen, who will likely by Shelton's all-time hit leader sometime this week.
But this should not be the end, or even the beginning of the end, for Shelton baseball. Amity has done what they have done over the last decade with pitching, allowing them to win games even when their bats have an off day. And for the Gaels to make the next step long-term, that's where they will have to do it.
By the way, the reason why we started this story with sharing the SCC torch? While Amity will lose its share of players, they surely won't go very far. In fact, remember when they were undefeated and lost to Guilford in 2007? You know what they did next? Win the state championship, their second consecutive Class LL crown, of course. And there aren't many people doubting them in this year's state tourney, either.
"To beat a team like that, that's an historic win for us," Gura said. "Especially in extra innings. That's a classic. People are going to be talking about this win in Shelton for the next 20 years."
Or until they meet again.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
SCC baseball - Week 6: Amity keeps on rolling
Who will be there? Well, there's still some work to be done, but the picture is becoming clearer, and the one thing we do know is we have a favorite, and a motivated favorite.
Amity, despite being pushed hard by Notre Dame over the weekend, remains unbeaten at 17-0, and - believe it or not - hasn't won the SCC title since 2006, an eternity for them (Guilford, Notre Dame, and Jonathan Law have won the last three titles. Interesting tidbit: Notre Dame won the 1997 title and has won the title four times. If you take out Amity as well, no one else has one the SCC crown more than once: Xavier, Branford, Shelton, North Haven, West Haven, Guilford, and Law have all won the title once each.)
Amity, Xavier, and Law appear to be on their way to division titles, and East Haven would be in if they beat North Haven Tuesday (more on that one in a second). Notre Dame should be in, as should Shelton. Cheshire is limping to the finish line, while Foran and Sheehan are in the mix. All are quality teams, and you'd have to say all are capable of winning it. But we'll have plenty of time to preview the SCC Tournament next week, for now, let me give some of my random thoughts as the regular season grinds to an abrupt halt.
* OK, back to the East Haven-North Haven clash that was slated for last Wednesday that will decide the Oronoque Division title (the Easties have a one-game lead, but North Haven won the first matchup, so would win the tiebreaker).
The game was rained out on its original date, and SCC rules state that it must be played on the next available day (no Sundays). But North Haven's game on Friday was moved up to Thursday because of their prom and East Haven had a game on Friday, so those two days are out.
(Interestingly, Bob Demayo was ejected in North Haven's 8-7 win over Branford last Monday, so he would have missed the East Haven game had it been played on its original date, but that's just the way the rain falls.)
Still with me? So you'd think the next day would be .... Saturday, right, on a nice 70-degree day. But the Indians were reluctant to play because of the prom situation, a valid concern, but - and we keep coming back to this, don't we? - is it a rule, or isn't it a rule?
If the rule is that the game has to be played on the "next available day" then the game should have been on Saturday. You can negotiate the time to be later in the day if you want, but a rule is a rule, isn't it? Ah, let's not get into that again, let's move on.
* Somehow, I missed to memo (literally) that the Amity-Shelton game was moved back to Amity High last Thursday and not in Orange. It appears that the Spartans will only play one game in Orange this season, Wednesday against West Haven.
Sal Coppola thought after beating up on Notre Dame last month, he would face a much stiffer test the second team, and he did, as Gary Flowers - aside from an Anthony Aprile home run - held Amity in check. But the Spartans prevailed, with Neil Dammando scoring the winning run on a wild pitch.
* It's not really their fault, but Notre Dame has played only three teams in the top half of the league this season (Amity, Shelton, Xavier - Branford and North Haven are close), and has a 1-4 record against them. They should get the chance to prove themselves in the SCC Tournament.
* Meanwhile, somewhat quietly, defending SCC champ Jonathan Law has won 12 of its last 13 games, their only loss being an extra-inning defeat to Shelton.
The key: what else? Pitching, of course. The Lawmen allowed five runs to Shelton, but otherwise have allowed more than three runs in their streak only once - in a lopsided 15-6 victory over Career. They've conceded only four runs in their last four games, but faces Cheshire, East Haven, and Amity to finish up the season.
* Not trying to pick on anyone (especially as a former Westie baseball player), but it's somewhat ironic to see West Haven sitting at 2-14 this season - currently 40th of 41 teams in Class LL - after capturing the state title last season.
It not only tells you how tough the SCC really is on a day-to-day basis (and how remarkable Amity is to be undefeated), but also how tough the high school baseball season can be. The Westies have an extra-inning loss and four other defeats of two runs or less this season.
* Cheshire could attest to the difficulty of the league, as tough losses to Sheehan and Fairfield Prep have put their SCC Tournament hopes in a little bit of jeopardy. The Rams sit at 11-6, but finished the season with three road games, at Jonathan Law, Xavier, and Hamden to finish the season. Eight losses may be too many with teams like Sheehan - whom they just lost to - lurking.
* Prep, which looking on the verge of collapse, has caught itself, and can make their case for an SCC Tournament berth with three wins against teams near the bottom of the league this week (West Haven, Lyman Hall, Wilbur Cross).
In the somewhat confusing SCC Tournament criteria, their loss to Bunnell doesn't count, which means they would finish at 11-7, and probably get them in some kind of tiebreaker scenario. Unfortunately, they don't hold too many cards on that front.
* Looking at the state tournament: Hillhouse, Wilbur Cross, West Haven, and Guilford are all out. Hand and Lyman Hall must win their final three games to get in, while everyone else will be in, creating the usual gaggle of SCC teams in Class LL and L.
* Finally, for those that have mentioned it, yes, I have noticed that Derby is 11-6 in its first year in the NVL. And that the last time the Red Raiders were in the tournament was 2001, and the last time they had 11 wins was 1998. But let's move on, people, shall we.
* Check Twitter (www.twitter.com/currenscc) and our blog (currenscc.blogspot.com) for SCC Tournament updates as the week unfolds. We'll also give you a preview of possible state tournament matchups.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Nick Vig, Fairfield Prep - Vig has helped to hold the Jesuits together this season. Last Friday, he came on in relief to pick up a big win for the Jesuits, holding the high-powered Rams to just one run over four innings. Vig has been on the mound for many of Prep's wins as they push for an SCC Tournament berth.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Jonathan Law at Amity, Friday, 3:45 p.m. - I think this marks the 106th straight week that the Spartans have been featured here. These teams could meet again in the SCC Tournament, but does Amity start feeling the undefeated pressure here?
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
1
Number of undefeated teams left in the state. To put that in a some kind of perspective, approximately 150 schools play varsity baseball in Connecticut. Last team to complete the regular season undefeated: Seymour (2008). Last team to win state title unbeaten: Don't know (but it was before 1998, Cheshire maybe?)
POWER RANKINGS
1) Amity (17-0; Last Week 1) – Have pretty much wrapped up this top spot this season, haven't they?
2) Jonathan Law (13-4; LW 6) – Must admit, their current run surprised even this "expert". Yes, in quotes.
3) Shelton (10-4; LW 2) – Another week, another tough loss, but no one wants to see them in LL, I'm sure.
4) Xavier (12-5; LW 3) – Still having some trouble with pitching after Coughlin, but a big threat nonetheless.
5) Notre Dame (13-4; LW 4) – Should be more motivated than most in the upcoming SCC Tournament.
6) East Haven (10-6; LW 8) – Can pitching (and weather) hold up to final four-game week? We'll see.
7) Foran (12-5; LW 7) – Didn't exactly beat the conference's best last week, but wins are wins.
8) Sheehan (10-7; LW 9) – Should, and probably must, win final three games to make SCC Tourney.
9) Cheshire (11-6; LW 5) – Rams hoping not to fall into that trapdoor that just opened up below them.
10) Fairfield Prep (9-8; LW 13) – Last time Prep was in SCCs: 2002. Also only time they've been there.
11) North Haven (9-7; LW 10) – Can steal an SCC Tournament berth if Indians can knock off Easties.
12) Branford (8-9; LW 11) – Hornets will be in the mix to repeat, stranger things have happened in states.
13) Hamden (8-9; LW 12) – Dragons can also breathe now, schedule is pretty daunting this week.
14) Hand (5-12; LW 14) – Doesn't look good, but Tigers' teams have pulled fantastic finishes before.
15) West Haven (2-14; LW 16) – Westies would like to finish up with a couple of wins for 2011 momentum.
16) Guilford (4-13; LW 17) – Tough season for Civitello after such a successful basketball campaign.
17) Career (3-13; LW 18) – Did get a win over Cross, but not enough for Panthers this season.
18) Lyman Hall (5-12; LW 15) – Need to win final three to get in, but not much life last week for Trojans.
19) Wilbur Cross (4-13; LW 19) – Pitching has been very good of late, but just can't find the offense.
20) Hillhouse (1-15; LW 20) – Faced Hyde on Wednesday in an interesting non-conference contest.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
SCC baseball - Week 5: East Haven chasing history
The East Haven baseball team would have liked to think about things most teams do at the beginning of a season such as qualifying for the state tournament, making the SCC Tournament, and maybe capturing a division title.
Instead, though, the Yellowjackets had to concern themselves with more pressing matters. Like getting an out.
In April cold weather, pitching is supposed to be king, but East Haven's pitching went AWOL just as the regular season opened. The Easties allowed 60 runs in their first five games, never allowing a single digit number (less than 10) in any of those contests.
Needless to say, they were 0-5 (although their offense nearly got them a couple of wins, even in those games), and - with division play looming - just hoping to find a way to stay afloat.
However, a funny thing happened to the sinking Yellowjackets on their way to the bottom.
They found their pitching (and the defense to go with it).
And what has followed has been one of the most amazing runs in East Haven baseball history - at least in the SCC era - as the Yellowjackets have rolled off eight of nine wins to already qualify for the state tournament with six games to go.
East Haven's timing also couldn't have been better as far as the division goes, their winning streak coincided with the beginning of the division schedule, meaning that wins over Wilbur Cross (Monday) and North Haven (Wednesday), the Easties would be outright divisional champs for the first time in the 16 year history of the SCC. And that also means they will make their first appearance in the SCC Tournament (the Easties did share the Hammonasset Division title in 2002 and went on to the Class L title game, but lost the tiebreaker to North Haven in the division).
"It's pretty easy to say, but it all comes down to pitching," East Haven coach Butch Johnson said. "Even when we were 0-5, we were hitting the ball pretty well. But we couldn't get anyone out."
The thing was, on the surface, there wasn't a real good reason for East Haven's troubles. Paul Spadacenta was one of the hottest pitchers in the conference to close 2009 (including a season-closing perfect game) while Mike Anastasio had some experience as well. But both were nicked up in the preseason, and obviously didn't start the season well.
However, the slow start appears to be well back in the rear-view mirror as - now healthy and confident - East Haven suddenly has a shot to make this a memorable season.
The lineup, despite the slow start of the team, has produced, led by junior Vin Guglietti, who made very few outs in the first half of the season, including four home runs. He has cooled slighty, but he's been picked up by the veterans, including Anastasio, Mike Perry (an all-division selection last season), Lou Pane, and Bob Consolatore.
The Easties have also gotten help from shortstop Pat O'Brien and Spadacenta at the plate.
"Paul has turned himself into a pretty tough out at the plate, too," Johnson said. "That definitely helps our lineup."
After pulling out its second win over defending state champion Branford, East Haven was nearly upset by scrappy Career Friday at East Shore Park, winning 4-3. Being in the role of the hunted can be much tougher than being the hunter.
"I was very worried about that game because of the letdown factor, and the fact that Career, even though their record doesn't show it, has played a lot of teams tough this year," Johnson said. "We still have to learn to play every game."
It's not out of the realm of possibility for East Haven to finish with a record of 13-7, which would be only the second time in a dozen years that the Yellowjackets would finish the regular season with a winning record.
Ironically, the other time was 2002, when East Haven finished with a 13-7 regular season mark before going all the way to the Class L finals.
For now, though, Johnson wants to keep his team focused on the job at hand, which is the next game on the schedule.
"We still need to stay focused and not get ahead of ourselves," Johnson said. "The kids aren't stupid. They see the standings. They know where we are. But we have to stay focused."
AROUND THE HORN: So you want to play night games in mid-May, do ya? A freeze warning for the state went up for Sunday night as I write this and night-time lows are slated to hover around 40 for a lot of the week. It won't be that cold at most of the night games in the SCC, but it won't be warm, either ... Amity continues to roll on, moving to 14-0. In fact, the Spartans are one of only two teams in Connecticut to remain unbeaten, with Ellington (Class M) being the other at the end of last week ... East Haven may be the hottest team (sans Amity) in the conference, but Xavier is a close second. After beating Notre Dame last week, the Falcons have made short week of the rest of the Quinnipiac Division, beating Hamden, West Haven, and Fairfield Prep in relatively easy fashion to take command of the division ... Hillhouse got its first win of the season, and an SCC win at that, stopping Wilbur Cross in mid-week. Always hate to see any team go winless in a season, although you hope in the end that doesn't cost the Governors a state tournament berth ... West Haven and Career don't have great records, but playing relatively difficult schedules, they have managed to give plenty of teams difficulty without getting a victory. Before the East Haven loss, the Panthers had nearly beaten North Haven earlier in the week, while West Haven had a lead after six innings against Sheehan before falling, and the day before were tied with Foran late, only to fall 2-1 ... Foran was beaten by Jonathan Law for the second time this season which obviously gives Law the inside track on the road to the Hammonasset Division title ... As for the SCC Tournament race, you can pencil in Amity, Xavier, and Jonathan Law. Notre Dame, Shelton, and Cheshire seem likely. East Haven will get one spot if it beats North Haven, so that leaves one more spot between probably Foran and Sheehan, with the Lions currently having the inside track.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Shaun Coughlin, Xavier - It's not a coincidence that the Falcons' resurgence has coincided with Coughlin's hot streak on the mound. He threw a 5-hitter as Xavier beat up on Fairfield Prep last Friday, pushing the Falcons to 10-4 on the campaign and on the verge of the Quinnipiac Division title.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Shelton at Amity (at Old Tavern Rd., Orange), Thursday, 7 p.m. - It will be a little chilly on Thursday night most likely (which may rule out the obligatory pre-game trip to Dip Top next door, but is this the day Amity finally falls? And how many times have I asked that question before?
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
13
Combined number of runs of the last seven losses by West Haven and Career, a number that is inflated plenty by a 6-2 loss to Xavier by West Haven last Wednesday. But other than that game, none of the losses are by more than two goals, tough to take when the combined records are 4-23.
POWER RANKINGS
1) Amity (14-0; Last Week 1) – Looking ahead, Shelton game Thursday could be only No. 2 of 4 meetings.
2) Shelton (10-4; LW 2) – Another week, another tough loss, but no one wants to see them in LL, I'm sure.
3) Xavier (10-4; LW 6) – The nightmare for rankings such as this, win a big one, lose a big one.
4) Notre Dame (12-2; LW 4) – Three wins, all at home. Schedule not really the toughest at second glance, is it?
5) Cheshire (10-4; LW 3) – Another Power Rankings nightmare, give up 23 runs than proceed to beat Shelton.
6) Jonathan Law (10-4; LW 8) – Pitching has carried them to the top of the division and to this lofty perch.
7) Foran (9-5; LW 5) – Couple steps forward, one step back. Would like to get into SCC Tournament.
8) East Haven (8-6; LW 10) – Won eight of nine, and should be in SCC Tournament for first time. Impressive.
9) Sheehan (8-6; LW 7) – Like Foran, not the greatest record, but not a team you want to see in the postseason.
10) North Haven (7-7; LW 9) – Indians would like to get one more win quickly to avoid tournament fears.
11) Branford (6-8; LW 11) – Speaking of the tournament, Hornets should make it, but should is not do sometimes.
12) Hamden (7-7; LW 12) – Gave ND quite the run, but lost to Lyman Hall in the game prior to that unfortunately.
13) Fairfield Prep (7-8; LW 13) – Got a big win over Hand, doesn't look like there's going to be a play-in this year.
14) Hand (4-10; LW 16) – Seemed to have the pitching sorted out, but can't score any runs all of a sudden.
15) Lyman Hall (5-9; LW 19) – Some life on their tournament hopes if they can pull off an upset or two late.
16) West Haven (2-12; LW 14) – Have to give Westies credit for battling, but just can't find a way to come out on top.
17) Guilford (4-10; LW 15) – Does look like the Indians are going to miss the tournament again this season.
18) Career (2-11; LW 17) – Unfortunate that we won't get to see them in Class S, could beat most of those teams.
19) Wilbur Cross (4-10; LW 18) – Tournament hopes fading away for the Governors as well in 2010.
20) Hillhouse (1-12; LW 20) – Despite the win, can't quite move them off bottom. But a tip of the cap for perseverance.
Instead, though, the Yellowjackets had to concern themselves with more pressing matters. Like getting an out.
In April cold weather, pitching is supposed to be king, but East Haven's pitching went AWOL just as the regular season opened. The Easties allowed 60 runs in their first five games, never allowing a single digit number (less than 10) in any of those contests.
Needless to say, they were 0-5 (although their offense nearly got them a couple of wins, even in those games), and - with division play looming - just hoping to find a way to stay afloat.
However, a funny thing happened to the sinking Yellowjackets on their way to the bottom.
They found their pitching (and the defense to go with it).
And what has followed has been one of the most amazing runs in East Haven baseball history - at least in the SCC era - as the Yellowjackets have rolled off eight of nine wins to already qualify for the state tournament with six games to go.
East Haven's timing also couldn't have been better as far as the division goes, their winning streak coincided with the beginning of the division schedule, meaning that wins over Wilbur Cross (Monday) and North Haven (Wednesday), the Easties would be outright divisional champs for the first time in the 16 year history of the SCC. And that also means they will make their first appearance in the SCC Tournament (the Easties did share the Hammonasset Division title in 2002 and went on to the Class L title game, but lost the tiebreaker to North Haven in the division).
"It's pretty easy to say, but it all comes down to pitching," East Haven coach Butch Johnson said. "Even when we were 0-5, we were hitting the ball pretty well. But we couldn't get anyone out."
The thing was, on the surface, there wasn't a real good reason for East Haven's troubles. Paul Spadacenta was one of the hottest pitchers in the conference to close 2009 (including a season-closing perfect game) while Mike Anastasio had some experience as well. But both were nicked up in the preseason, and obviously didn't start the season well.
However, the slow start appears to be well back in the rear-view mirror as - now healthy and confident - East Haven suddenly has a shot to make this a memorable season.
The lineup, despite the slow start of the team, has produced, led by junior Vin Guglietti, who made very few outs in the first half of the season, including four home runs. He has cooled slighty, but he's been picked up by the veterans, including Anastasio, Mike Perry (an all-division selection last season), Lou Pane, and Bob Consolatore.
The Easties have also gotten help from shortstop Pat O'Brien and Spadacenta at the plate.
"Paul has turned himself into a pretty tough out at the plate, too," Johnson said. "That definitely helps our lineup."
After pulling out its second win over defending state champion Branford, East Haven was nearly upset by scrappy Career Friday at East Shore Park, winning 4-3. Being in the role of the hunted can be much tougher than being the hunter.
"I was very worried about that game because of the letdown factor, and the fact that Career, even though their record doesn't show it, has played a lot of teams tough this year," Johnson said. "We still have to learn to play every game."
It's not out of the realm of possibility for East Haven to finish with a record of 13-7, which would be only the second time in a dozen years that the Yellowjackets would finish the regular season with a winning record.
Ironically, the other time was 2002, when East Haven finished with a 13-7 regular season mark before going all the way to the Class L finals.
For now, though, Johnson wants to keep his team focused on the job at hand, which is the next game on the schedule.
"We still need to stay focused and not get ahead of ourselves," Johnson said. "The kids aren't stupid. They see the standings. They know where we are. But we have to stay focused."
AROUND THE HORN: So you want to play night games in mid-May, do ya? A freeze warning for the state went up for Sunday night as I write this and night-time lows are slated to hover around 40 for a lot of the week. It won't be that cold at most of the night games in the SCC, but it won't be warm, either ... Amity continues to roll on, moving to 14-0. In fact, the Spartans are one of only two teams in Connecticut to remain unbeaten, with Ellington (Class M) being the other at the end of last week ... East Haven may be the hottest team (sans Amity) in the conference, but Xavier is a close second. After beating Notre Dame last week, the Falcons have made short week of the rest of the Quinnipiac Division, beating Hamden, West Haven, and Fairfield Prep in relatively easy fashion to take command of the division ... Hillhouse got its first win of the season, and an SCC win at that, stopping Wilbur Cross in mid-week. Always hate to see any team go winless in a season, although you hope in the end that doesn't cost the Governors a state tournament berth ... West Haven and Career don't have great records, but playing relatively difficult schedules, they have managed to give plenty of teams difficulty without getting a victory. Before the East Haven loss, the Panthers had nearly beaten North Haven earlier in the week, while West Haven had a lead after six innings against Sheehan before falling, and the day before were tied with Foran late, only to fall 2-1 ... Foran was beaten by Jonathan Law for the second time this season which obviously gives Law the inside track on the road to the Hammonasset Division title ... As for the SCC Tournament race, you can pencil in Amity, Xavier, and Jonathan Law. Notre Dame, Shelton, and Cheshire seem likely. East Haven will get one spot if it beats North Haven, so that leaves one more spot between probably Foran and Sheehan, with the Lions currently having the inside track.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Shaun Coughlin, Xavier - It's not a coincidence that the Falcons' resurgence has coincided with Coughlin's hot streak on the mound. He threw a 5-hitter as Xavier beat up on Fairfield Prep last Friday, pushing the Falcons to 10-4 on the campaign and on the verge of the Quinnipiac Division title.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Shelton at Amity (at Old Tavern Rd., Orange), Thursday, 7 p.m. - It will be a little chilly on Thursday night most likely (which may rule out the obligatory pre-game trip to Dip Top next door, but is this the day Amity finally falls? And how many times have I asked that question before?
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
13
Combined number of runs of the last seven losses by West Haven and Career, a number that is inflated plenty by a 6-2 loss to Xavier by West Haven last Wednesday. But other than that game, none of the losses are by more than two goals, tough to take when the combined records are 4-23.
POWER RANKINGS
1) Amity (14-0; Last Week 1) – Looking ahead, Shelton game Thursday could be only No. 2 of 4 meetings.
2) Shelton (10-4; LW 2) – Another week, another tough loss, but no one wants to see them in LL, I'm sure.
3) Xavier (10-4; LW 6) – The nightmare for rankings such as this, win a big one, lose a big one.
4) Notre Dame (12-2; LW 4) – Three wins, all at home. Schedule not really the toughest at second glance, is it?
5) Cheshire (10-4; LW 3) – Another Power Rankings nightmare, give up 23 runs than proceed to beat Shelton.
6) Jonathan Law (10-4; LW 8) – Pitching has carried them to the top of the division and to this lofty perch.
7) Foran (9-5; LW 5) – Couple steps forward, one step back. Would like to get into SCC Tournament.
8) East Haven (8-6; LW 10) – Won eight of nine, and should be in SCC Tournament for first time. Impressive.
9) Sheehan (8-6; LW 7) – Like Foran, not the greatest record, but not a team you want to see in the postseason.
10) North Haven (7-7; LW 9) – Indians would like to get one more win quickly to avoid tournament fears.
11) Branford (6-8; LW 11) – Speaking of the tournament, Hornets should make it, but should is not do sometimes.
12) Hamden (7-7; LW 12) – Gave ND quite the run, but lost to Lyman Hall in the game prior to that unfortunately.
13) Fairfield Prep (7-8; LW 13) – Got a big win over Hand, doesn't look like there's going to be a play-in this year.
14) Hand (4-10; LW 16) – Seemed to have the pitching sorted out, but can't score any runs all of a sudden.
15) Lyman Hall (5-9; LW 19) – Some life on their tournament hopes if they can pull off an upset or two late.
16) West Haven (2-12; LW 14) – Have to give Westies credit for battling, but just can't find a way to come out on top.
17) Guilford (4-10; LW 15) – Does look like the Indians are going to miss the tournament again this season.
18) Career (2-11; LW 17) – Unfortunate that we won't get to see them in Class S, could beat most of those teams.
19) Wilbur Cross (4-10; LW 18) – Tournament hopes fading away for the Governors as well in 2010.
20) Hillhouse (1-12; LW 20) – Despite the win, can't quite move them off bottom. But a tip of the cap for perseverance.
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