There’s no wilder week during the state high school football regular season than Thanksgiving week.
There were more than enough games that elicited reactions of, “what?”, or, “OMG”, but only one impacted the final Hartford Courant state coaches’ poll before the start of the playoffs. — Southington routed then-No. 8 Cheshire on Thanksgiving, 31-0, resulting in the latter dropping out of the Top 10.
Southington (7-3) has been on an impressive five-game winning streak and moved up to No. 12, tying it with Berlin. The Blue Knights beat No. 9 Windsor (28-7) during that streak.
Newtown (8-2), a perennial power in both the South-West Conference and CIAC playoffs, makes its season debut at No. 10.
And now, onto the playoffs — 24 quarterfinals are scheduled to be played across six divisions on Tuesday night at 6:30.
Ansonia (Class S), Greenwich (LL), Killingly (SS), New Canaan (L) and St. Joseph (M) all have a chance to repeat, or, in the case of New Canaan, four-peat.
The higher seeds will host semifinal games on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 12:30 p.m.
The finals are scheduled to be played on Saturday, Dec. 13, and possibly Dec. 12, at sites and times to be announced.
Top 10 State Coaches’ Poll
Listing record, total points with first-place votes in parentheses, previous ranking and CIAC class. Points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis:
1. New Canaan, 10-0, 388 (12), No. 1, Class L
KNOW THIS: The first of two FCIAC rematches — the Rams beat neighbor Darien, 39-7, on Thanksgiving.
NEXT: Class L quarterfinal vs. Darien (6-4), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
2. Killingly, 10-0, 360 (1), No. 2, Class SS
KNOW THIS: The Trailblazers have outscored their opponents by an average score of 55-16. That’s not good news for Ellington, what, with the T-Blazers tying a state-record by scoring 69 in the first half of last year’s 75-14 SS quarterfinal thumping. And they only ran 16 offensive plays in said half.
NEXT: Class SS quarterfinal vs. Ellington (7-3), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
3. Hand, 9-1, 330, No. 3, Class SS
KNOW THIS: Generally, it’s the larger schools that dominate the Top 10, so it’s unusual for Hand and Killingly to both be ranked in the top three. Obviously says a lot about the respect both have earned, too.
NEXT: Class SS quarterfinal vs. Waterford (6-4), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
4. St. Joseph, 8-2, 312, No. 4, Class M
KNOW THIS: The Cadets played nine teams that made states, eight which had winning records, and their opponents combined to have a state-best 69-31 record, according to HSRatings.com. All of that explains why, with two losses, St. Joseph earned enough playoff points to earn the top seed in Class M over both No. 2 Berlin (10-0) and No. 3 Rockville (9-1).
NEXT: Class SS quarterfinal vs. Waterbury Career Academy (7-3) at Derby, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
5. Wilton, 9-1, 280, No. 5, Class MM
KNOW THIS: The Warriors like to run, Torrington likes to run, so there’s going to be so much glorious running in their quarterfinal.
NEXT: Class MM quarterfinal vs. Torrington (7-3), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
CT High School Football Playoffs: See who’s playing, where and when
6. Greenwich, 8-2, 255, No. 6, Class LL
KNOW THIS: The second of two FCIAC rematches — the Cardinals beat Staples on Thanksgiving, 33-19.
NEXT: Class LL quarterfinal vs. Staples (5-5), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
7. Fairfield Prep, 8-2, 214, No. 7, Class LL
KNOW THIS: Greenwich beat Prep (31-14, Sept. 12) and Prep beat New Britain (24-21, Sept. 26) during the regular season, but the top seeds in LL are, in order, New Britain, Prep and Greenwich. Wacky.
NEXT: Class LL quarterfinal vs. Danbury (6-4) at Fairfield University, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
8. New Britain, 8-1, 199, No. 9, Class LL
KNOW THIS: The Golden Hurricanes haven’t played in 17 days (Nov. 14). That’s really wacky.
NEXT: Class LL quarterfinal vs. Norwich Free Academy (6-4), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
9. Windsor, 9-1, 177, No. 10, Class MM
KNOW THIS: The top seed in Class MM beat five of their last six opponents by 50 points or more.
NEXT: Class MM quarterfinal vs. Valley Panthers (7-3), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
10. Newtown, 8-2, 153, NR, Class L
KNOW THIS: The Nighthawks have won seven in a row after losing two of their first three games — to New Canaan (30-10, Sept. 12) and Windsor (34-31, Sept. 26).
NEXT: Class L quarterfinal vs. Ridgefield (7-3), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
Dropped out: Cheshire (8).
Also receiving votes: Woodland (10-0), 117 points; Tie, Berlin (10-0) and Southington (7-3), 112; Cheshire (7-3), 80; Fairfield Ludlowe (7-3), 67; Sheehan (8-2), 38; Glastonbury (7-3), 28; Tie, Bunnell (8-2) and Brookfield (8-2), 26; Law (8-2), 15 points; Tie, Bloomfield (7-3) and Maloney (6-4), 9; Darien (6-4), 8.
Voters: Erik Becker, Hand; Jason Bruenn, Platt; Joe Della Vecchia; St. Joseph; Mike Ellis; Fitch; Kevin Frederick, Maloney; Tanner Grove; Montville; Keith Hellstern, Fairfield Prep; Erick Knickerbocker, Rockville; Joe Lato; Woodland; John Mihalko, Ansonia; Bryan Muller; Brookfield; Marce Petroccio; Trumbull; Nathan Tyler, Stratford.
Ned Griffen has obsessively covered state high school football since the mid-nineties, back when Dan Orlovsky was just a wiry teenager at Shelton High School. He was genetically hardwired to love the sport having been born in Texas. He enjoys heavy metal, pro wrestling, the wit and wisdom of Jennifer Walters and being adored by cats and dogs everywhere.