Jim Mora won 125 games in the NFL, which places him 21st on the all-time list. He was also the most successful coach in the short-lived USFL in the early to mid 1980s, but - sadly, at least for him - he‘s probably best known as the guy who screamed “Play-offs? Play-offs?” to the media after a particularly tough loss in his final season, 2001.
(If you go to Youtube, you can witness the entire speech, as well as an equally hilarious “Diddly-Poo” tirade when he was coaching the Saints in the 90s.) Jonathan Law coach Mark Robinson took a similar approach when asked about the possibility of his team possibly heading to the postseason after dominating the school with the most students in the SCC, Hamden, last week.
“If you mention anything about the playoffs in print, I’m going to go burn down your newspaper building,” Robinson said jokingly. Of course, the Elm City offices on New Haven Ave. in Milford might be in need of a little facelift anyway, and he wouldn’t have far to go.
But, in all seriousness, Robinson doesn’t want to have anything jinx what has been a remarkable rise to prominence for the Lawmen, who appeared to be doomed to non-competitiveness when they joined the SCC in 2004. After all, Law was just 1-20 in its final two seasons in the weaker South-West Conference, so when they went 0-10 in their inaugural campaign - including a pair of 61-0 beatings - it wasn’t a huge surprise.
But, believe it or not, things got even worse after the season, when the usual grumblings of disenchanted parents - particularly with a losing team - became public in a series of newspaper articles.
Ubiquitous “sources” said the team was plagued by “a lack of discipline”. There was alleged “infighting” among coaches. Robinson had a psychologist talk to the team (during the season), which some parents and officials used against him as another sign he was losing control.
A “top school source” (like it was the Yankees or something) said, “It’s time for someone to come in and provide a new fresh perspective and attitude to make the program more successful.”
Coaches, just like anyone else, should not be immune from criticism, but the fact that this was so public made it seem excessive. But just when it looked like Robinson’s head coaching career might be a short one, he got some much needed support from people in Milford, and the school board renewed his contract.
Looks like they made the right choice. Law went 4-6, beating Foran, in 2005, and was 6-4 last season, its first winning season since Robinson’s first season, 2001. But even though they were 6-4 last season, their start doomed the Lawmen as they lost their first three contests to North Haven, Fairfield Prep, and Branford before winning six of their final seven games. This season, Law pulled out a 28-27 decision on Opening Night, then - after falling to Fairfield Prep - blew out Branford two weeks ago before beating Hamden last Friday.
And although Robinson wants absolutely no part of mentioning it, the buzz has already started that Jonathan Law may be headed to the playoffs for the first time since, well, ever. “We can get beat by anyone on our schedule, especially in this league,” Robinson said. “We really stress the fact that every week and every game is a one-game mission. We really embellish that fact, because we want the kids focused on the task at hand. You can get in a lot of trouble if you’re not focused.”
Robinson also knows that this week’s opponent, Derby, has given him fits in the past, beating Law two years ago and almost knocking them off last year, despite finishing with a 1-9 record.
However, an honest look at Law’s schedule the rest of the way shows the four lowest teams in our Power Rankings remaining, three of them in the next three weeks. Guilford and Hillhouse also await, but with Guilford’s field under construction, it’s possible that Law will play its final four games at home, including both Guilford and Hillhouse.
If the season were to end today, Law would be the No. 4 seed in Class M. As Robinson said, any week could be the week they slip up, but led by one of the biggest offensive lines in the league and bruising runners like J.J. Jachym, Mike Caputo, Ricky Rozier, and quarterback Dave Plaskon, it doesn’t look like Law is going anywhere.
“The kids do a great job,” Robinson said. “I’m really glad the hard work they did is paying off. They were here the day after the season ended last year asking if I could open the weight room. Their work ethic is tremendous.”
By the way, in 2004, that “top school source” who was too gutless to use their real name added, “Law should mirror or exceed Foran’s performance.” Law has not only defeated Foran on Thanksgiving the last two seasons, but (counting 2007) has compiled a 13-11 record over the last three seasons. Foran - although it is also much-improved this season - has a mark of 3-21 over the same span. Any other questions?
DEVITO-GATE: So Mike Devito ended up coaching last week against Shelton after all, a game the Gaels trailed for most of the first half, but won going away, 41-19. Last week’s column (written early in the week) said Devito would not be coaching because he was ejected from the previous game against Guilford. And, by all accounts of people that were there (I wasn’t), he was ejected. He apparently got two unsportsmanlike penalties, left Sim Field at halftime, and did not return for the second half.
But somewhere along the line, one of the penalties he received was given to an assistant coach, and - apparently - Devito was never ejected and left the premises because of a “personnel decision” by Amity athletic director Paul Mengold.
Now, in the grand scheme of the SCC, this is a small matter, but the sequence of events just don’t seem to add up and no one really wants to give a completely straight answer as to what happened. Mengold will only call it “a personnel matter”, head of New Haven County Officials Steve Narracci said an ejection report was never filed and therefore Devito was fine in their eyes, but he left the building at halftime of a crucial game and didn’t come back. Why the two orders, Colonel Jessop?
For now, this issue is done, but talk about opening up a can of worms if another coach gets out of hand after picking up an unsportsmanlike call.
QUIGLEY-GATE: Apparently, Quigley Stadium is the Rasputin of SCC facilities, as it looks like Notre Dame will host Xavier there Friday night. Remember, Veterans Stadium on Bull Hill Lane in West Haven was supposed to open for the 2006 campaign, finally getting Notre Dame out of decrepit Quigley Stadium, where most fans can’t see the action and a pitcher’s mound threatens to trip up runners on about the 15-yard line.
But, almost inexplicably, Notre Dame’s new field remains untouched, although the turf has been down for more than a year. Apparently, there are some people in West Haven who don’t want Notre Dame on what is still a city field, but for the fans’ sake, let’s hope this situation resolves itself before the 2007 season draws to a close.
Meanwhile, Guilford has targeted November 2 as the date for its first artificial turf home game, which would be against Jonathan Law. Hopefully, then they will host Hand on Thanksgiving.
EXTRA POINTS: Jeff Bevino, fresh off considerable success at Notre Dame-Fairfield, suffered through an 0-10 season in his first year at Foran in 2006, but the Lions entered 2007 with a positive attitude, and finally broke into the win column last week, downing Derby 24-21 with two fourth-quarter touchdown, the second coming from transfer Tyler Hames, with a 61-yard touchdown run. The win broke a 13-game losing streak, longest in the SCC …
Hand has flown under the radar, but moved to 4-0 by stopping improved Wilbur Cross 14-7 last Friday. The road gets tougher quickly for the Tigers, with Amity, Shelton, and Notre Dame in the next three weeks, though …
The fog set in at Ken Strong Stadium, but Notre Dame topped West Haven 26-20 to push the Blue Devils to 1-3. They‘ll win a few more games, but the Westies playoff hopes are done … But North Haven can be mentioned in the Class MM playoff race (with Notre Dame) after stopping Cheshire 20-14 last week. Their schedule is very favorable until a Thanksgiving showdown with Amity, but the Indians won that one last season and two losses may be enough to get it done. North Haven did lose quarterback Jeff Bartek to a shoulder injury in the Cheshire contest, however.
GAME OF THE WEEK Amity at Hand, Friday, 7 p.m. - No one has paid much attention to Hand this season, which may be just the way they like it. But this is the stretch of games they will have to get through to make a return to the postseason. Amity, with a lot of points still on the schedule, still thinks they have a shot as well, and their passing game may be able to break down a very good Hand defense.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK Tyler Hames, Foran - Hames ran for two long touchdowns (90 and 61 yards), as Foran won their first game since 2005, stopping Derby 24-21 in Derby. The Lions were 0-10 last season and 0-3 this year before beating the Red Raiders.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS 7
Longest winless streak in the SCC, which actually belongs to Branford, following Foran‘s victory last week. Remember, the Hornets - the 2005 Class MM champion -fell to East Haven the day after Thanksgiving last season, and are winless in four games this season.
POWER RANKINGS
1) Shelton (4-0, Last Week 1) -- Pretty scary the way they came out after halftime break.
2) Fairfield Prep (3-1, LW 2) -- Wasn‘t a blowout, but an effective win nonetheless. 3) Hand (4-0, LW 3) -- Days of not being noticed will come to end this week no matter what.
4) Amity (3-1, LW 4) -- Have to rebound this week to keep their playoff hopes alive.
5) Hillhouse (3-1, LW 6) -- Might have been their most impressive effort to date.
6) Notre Dame (3-1, LW 9) -- Knights were in a similar spot last year before things went sour.
7) Xavier (2-2, LW 5) -- Two losses against two very good teams, but still sitting at .500.
8) Jonathan Law (3-1, LW 12) -- As big and strong as anyone in the league, but we‘ll see. 9) North Haven (3-1, LW 13) -- Indians could actually be dreaming of 10-0 if not for Law.
10) Wilbur Cross (1-3, LW 14) -- Road doesn‘t get any easier with Shelton looming Friday.
11) West Haven (1-3, LW 7) -- Westies should be able to get untracked, but no playoffs.
12) Guilford (1-2-1, LW 8) -- Not looking forward to day games at Bowen Field any time soon.
13) Lyman Hall (2-2, LW 17) -- Still not rolling, but much better off than they were last year.
14) Hamden (1-2-1, LW 10) -- Two wins over Cheshire, 0-11-1 against everyone else since ‘05.
15) Cheshire (1-3, LW 11) -- Not really sure what happened to the Rams this season.
16) Sheehan (1-2-1, LW 16) -- Titans made it interesting, but able to pull out first win of season.
17) Branford (0-3-1, LW 15) -- Foran will be fired up on Friday after their first victory.
18) Foran (1-3, LW 19) -- Must be really nice for them to get that zero out of the win column.
19) Derby (1-3, LW 18) -- Things won‘t get much easier for the Red Raiders in 2007.
20) East Haven (0-4, LW 20) -- Playing better football, but some good teams ahead of them.
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