BERLIN – The Berlin football team finished its regular season undefeated for the second time in four years.
In 2022, the Redcoats were unbeaten until the Class M championship game, when they lost to Notre Dame-West Haven, 35-8.
This season, Berlin (10-0) is the No. 2 seed in Class M and will face No. 7 Platt Tech Tuesday in a quarterfinal game at 6:30 p.m. at Sage Park in Berlin.
But this year, things are different at Berlin. Coach John Capodice, who took over when Joe Aresimowicz retired in March, returned in the spring after a 10-year absence from coaching at Berlin. Capodice, who has been a physical education teacher at the school for 29 years, was dismissed as coach in 2015 and went to Wesleyan to become an assistant after the CIAC penalized the Berlin football program for allegedly recruiting players from New Britain. After an investigation, Berlin High School was fined $4,000, the team’s seven wins that year were forfeited and Berlin suspended the coach for the final game of the season. Capodice, whose Berlin team won a state title in 2009, told The Courant in 2015 that he did nothing wrong.
Last week, with an unbeaten team, Capodice was only looking ahead to the playoffs.
“It’s 2025– it’s irrelevant,” he said. “The job opened. It was a great opportunity. So I applied for it. The alumni supported me coming back. The players supported me coming back. And here we are. Ten in a row.”
Berlin athletic director David Francalangia said last week: “Without a doubt, there was no reservation whatsoever to have him back.”
Capodice took over in March and since then, the Berlin players have bought into his system.
“The year’s gone great for us,” said senior Sean Granger, an offensive/defensive lineman. “We got a new head coach and we didn’t know what was going to happen but we know Coach Cap’s a hard-working guy. We’re working well together.
“I feel like in Berlin, it’s just expected that we win. It’s expected, especially with Coach Cap, knowing what type of guy he is, what type of coach, the type of players we have – it was expected.”
There were some games where the score was tied at halftime – Bloomfield on Sept. 19, Wethersfield on Oct. 3 and Newington on Oct. 24. But the Redcoats came out ahead in all three.
“We’re playing good teams and good coaches and it could have gone either way,” Capodice said. “Our kids persevered.
“We want to win every game but it’s hard to win. You just don’t know. Things got to go your way. We’re very fortunate. These kids have put in the work, the coaches have put in the work.”
Senior quarterback Cody Puzio has completed 38 of 74 passes for 676 yards and 14 passing touchdowns and has rushed for 630 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns. Senior Eli Rice (403 yards, five TDs) and sophomore Nick Balicki (398, four TDs) have also contributed offensively. Senior Ryan Lavender, who missed last year with an elbow injury, is back at fullback/linebacker.
“It’s been great,” Lavender said. “I really missed it when I was out and the whole off-season we were all working and getting back. I’m planning on playing baseball in college but I knew I had to come out again and play football. There’s something different about football.”
Puzio was the quarterback last year for the Redcoats, who were Class M semifinalists, and quarterfinalists the year before, losing by a point to Class M runner-up Rockville in 2023.
“Winning’s expected in Berlin – our coaches have always told us that,” Puzio said. “We come every week expecting to go 1-0 and now we’re in the playoffs and it’s time to finish.”
And their goal?
“To win the state championship,” Puzio said. “It has been a while, but we’re up to the task.”