NVL Update

The NVL tonight has two games on Radio->
Ansonia vs. Woodland on WATR, 1320AM
Naugatuck vs. Seymour on WWCO, 1240 AM

The game to see, if you can get to it is Sacred Heart vs. Crosby. SERIOUSLY! Even Steve Fainer would agree (I think he started drinking some funny Kool-Aid, any way). Two words on this one-->Track Meet! These teams can explode to put up some points. Get there if you can...even if it is at the 3rd worst field in the NVL, Jimmy Lee (2nd worst, Seymour, worst=Wilby).

Tonight is the first home game for Seymour. Last week, they should have played at home, but the field was in bad shape. If only the town had not voted down turf! Not only did the team lose home field advantage to Wolcott (Nice turf field, 2nd best in the league), but shortly after halftime the lights went out...seriously. How embarassing. Wildcats are coming off a short week.

The rest of the slate is boring. HC will continue to show its weaknesses against a mediocre Watertown team. Kennedy/Wolcott is not very interesting. Torrington/Wilby...I just have a hunch this could become a laugher. Ansonia/Region-16 is going to be a long night for Tim Shea. Honestly, the league is down. The state may be down...

Honestly, I 'd probably most like to see Bunnell/Oxford, because the Wolverines may be good next year, and I'd like to know that I was there from the start.

Funniest thing I've seen in the Repulican in a while...Today the paper stated, "Torrington junior running back/linebacker Darrick Williams could be most underrated player in NVL. " Which is all well and good. I think that Torrington has a lot of good, young athletes. With Dan Dunaj, they've got solid leadership. Due to the parity of the NVL Copper, they could even win the division. But, how can the Republican state the Williams is the most unsung player in today's paper, if last week their online poll was...

Who is the most unsung player in the Naugatuck Valley League? And the winner was Jim Caporale, of Sacred Heart, earning 23% of the votes. The highest rated, and only Red Raider player mentioned was Fermin Sanchez, with 9% of the vote. Shouldn't the editors and website directors have noticed this issue.

Lastly, I'm not sure who Jim Caporale is...but the most underrated player I have seen this year was #61, the DT from Sacred Heart. That kid absolutely disrupted Seymour's offense for the first half, and held his own offensively versus a solid Seymour front 7.

From today's Waterbury Republican

"BY THE NUMBERS

Friday will mark the 63rd meeting between Naugatuck and Seymour. Naugatuck narrowly leads the series, 30-29-3.

Here are the scores since 1996: (Year, winner, outcome)

2007: Seymour, 62-19; 2006: Naugatuck, 27-20; 2005: Naugatuck, 15-12; 2004: Seymour, 52-0; 2003: Naugatuck, 52-18; 2002: Seymour, 56-6; 2001: Naugatuck, 26-21; 2000: Seymour, 13-6; 1999: Naugatuck, 41-6; 1998: Seymour, 35-0; 1997: Naugatuck, 44-17; 1997: Naugatuck, 44-17; 1996: Seymour, 28-7. "

Call it a hunch, but Spoony will even this rivalry before retiring at the end of the year. That 27-20 game in 2005 was another of those games involving fishy officiating. Players that were down, called for fumbles. Forced fumbles called back because players (who was clearly jacked up by a freshman safety, and not down) was called down. Funny how those things happen when Naugatuck has the coach's brother as their sideline official.

Word on the street...same situation for Seymour on Friday night, and maybe even Jim Shove as the special guest referee. If they let him out from Oak Hill (aka the Connecticut Institute for the Blind).

SCC Musings

Well finally a blog spot that has some character. I am honored to have been considered to do this. Tha fact the blogmaster feels I know something about the SCC can clearly be debated. The SCC is a conference that loves to claim it is the most competetive and sports some of the best teams (the coaches will tell you, just ask them). I am not sure if it is the best this year. I have seen lots of mediocre SCC teams. I have yet to see the WOW team. There are some new coaches this year as both Benoit and Acquvita have joined the fray. I feel both of these guys are good coaches but I have a tough time feeling warm and fuzzy about ther loyalties to the "program". Regardless both Hamden and W Cross are off to fine starts and I wish them well. So here is what is on tap for this week.....

Week 4 Games
Amity (1-2) at Hamden (3-0)Last week: Amity lost to Cross 35-28; Hamden defeated West Haven 29-28
I hope the Green Dragons do not look ahead to Shelton Week 5. Where did all those players that left Amity go???

Shelton (3-0) at Xavier (2-1)Last week: Shelton defeated Cheshire 35-34 (OT), Xavier defeated ND 21-14
It is the same old Gaels. Solid. Hope they do not play a team that throws often.....

Notre Dame (0-2) at West Haven (0-2)Last week: ND lost to Xavier 21-14; West Haven lost to Hamden 29-28
Big night in WH. Public vs Private. As usual it the same old ND and i mean that in a negative way. WH has lots of athletes and O'Brien Johnson is special, but can they successfully snap the ball this week?

Cross (3-0) at Cheshire (1-2)Last week: Cross defeated Amity 35-28; Cheshire lost to Shelton 35-34 (OT)
Maybe the best game of the week....To much red for me

Guilford (1-2) at Lyman Hall (2-1)Last week: Guilford defeated Foran 29-20; Lyman Hall defeated East Haven 30-29 (OT)
Another new coach I forgot to mention above..Why??It is Guilford, that's why.

Hillhouse (3-0) at Branford (2-1)Last week: Hillhouse defeated North Haven 18-10; Branford defeated Derby 33-0
In some eyes of the media HH is the best team in the SCC. My thoughts...Get new eyes!!

Foran (2-1) at East Haven (0-3)Last week: Foran lost to Guilford 29-20; East Haven lost to Lyman Hall 30-29 (OT)
Foran has an "all state" QB.. Gives attention to the fact the all state polls are sometimes inaccurate..

Derby (1-2) at North Haven (1-2)Last week: Derby lost to Branford 33-0; North Haven lost to Hillhouse 18-10
Coming off a semi-final appearance in the playoffs last year NH is 1-2...I really can not come up with anything better for this game

Law (2-1) at Prep (1-1)Last week: Law lost to Sheehan 30-29; Prep lost to Hand 27-21
Law feel they were denied last year goin 9-1 and likely were as they were left ut of the playoffs. They may feel they are better than they really are..Prep???? They have lots of players just not sure if they are football players.

Sheehan (3-0) at Hand (1-2)Last week: Sheehan defeated Law 30-29; Hand defeated Prep 27-21
Really good QB...As he goes the Titans will go. Can any one see Sheehan beating Hand with Merullo?

NVL-Week 4

Friday

Ansonia at Woodland 7:00 p.m.
Kennedy at Wolcott, 7:00 p.m
Naugatuck at Seymour, 7:00 p.m.
Sacred Heart at Crosby, 7:00 p.m.
Watertown at Holy Cross, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday

Torrington at Wilby, 1:30 p.m.

The Republican-American's Red Zone offers its picks from "Mike and the Jaff Man" (Really? Do they call him that? Seriously?).

What are your thoughts on the game?

What is the best game you've ever attended?

Taking a survey:

What is the best CT high school football game you have ever attended?

Why?

Some may ask why start this site. It's pretty simple. Connecticut's high school football fanbase is vast and numerous. Fans rarely get a chance to air their thoughts regarding the season. Whether in Greenwich or Putman, Ansonia or Torrington, Hartford, New Haven, Da' Valley, New London, or Bloomfield, the fans deserve a spot to debate the merits of a given team or league. My answer, "why not?"

Recently, some coworkers and I were disappointed to see a blog we enjoyed reading go private ( Boss Fainer's NVL Football Blogosphere). Not really sure why he did it. Some people argued that the man just lost it. Still, within the past few days we have sensed a void.

I suggested to one of these coworkers that we just start our own site. I'm into blogs, follow NVL football (though would love to see a return to the Old Housatonic League), and he is a big SCC fan. He thought it was a great idea, and here we are. The following day, he came back, and said that some of his connections around the state seemed into it, but they were into the ECC, SWC, and FCIAC. What started off as an idea to help us pass some time took on a life of its own.

From that, I give you the Connecticut Football Insider. This blog is dedicated to anything related to CT's high school football scene. Connecticut's newspapers have some pretty good, dedicated high school sports sites. The Waterbury Republican just launched a nice site, it dubbed the Red Zone and the Connecticut Post also offers a site dedicated to HS football. The Post's Sean Patrick Bowley also offers a podcast through iTunes. The Hartford Courant, New London Day, and New Haven Register all offer sites dedicated strictly to high school sports. Still, where is the site dedicated strictly for fans? Where can fans argue over which team or league is best in the state? Here is that place. It gives a voice to the fans.

While I am well acquainted with the likes of the NVL, there are still others out there that are better suited to discuss other leagues. What I'd like to see is people willing to post articles regarding leagues, games, and players around the state. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in posting new threads.

Not interested in everything? Use the LABELS option on the sidebar to look at articles dedicated to your favorite league. Feel free to comment. Just try to keep it clean, and if you're mentioning a player, try to keep it positive. Otherwise, everything and every team is fair game.