November 5, 2007 - With no disrespect intended to Hamden and Derby, although I guess you can find some inherent with the point being made, Shelton’s bid to return to the Class LL playoffs probably came down to two games: Hillhouse and Xavier.
Sure, the Gaels were favored in both games and both games were at home, but coming off a humiliating 33-7 home defeat to Hand, and with Andre Henderson - one of the keys to their fast start - out of the lineup, things looked like they might be unraveling in the Valley. Jeff Roy had tried some other people in Henderson’s spot, but heading into the Hillhouse game, he told Geoff Schultz to get a good night’s rest, he’d be busy.
Schultz carried the ball 43 times against Hillhouse, and then came back and took it for 46 carries against Xavier, picking up 262 and 388 yards, respectively, in the process. Add in being on the field for most of the plays on defense, and Schultz was one tired dude by the end of last Friday’s contest. But the most important numbers, of course, were on the scoreboard, where the Gaels picked up two wins, and barring a monumental upset by Hamden Friday (1-5-2) or Derby (3-5) on Thanksgiving, Shelton should be back in the CIAC playoffs.
“This is our senior season and none of us wanted to go home,” Schultz said. “It’s been win or go home. We’re coming out winning.” With Henderson apparently coming back by Thanksgiving at the latest, the Gaels have the potential to be a force in Class LL, even with the likes of Greenwich, Southington, and New Britain as potential opponents.
But they do have to get in first, and with the way the CIAC points system works, they still need a little bit of help, likely a loss from either New Britain or Norwich Free Academy to book their place in the postseason. And with New Britain having two undefeated teams (Southington, Weaver) remaining and NFA still having mighty New London left, their chances look good. If they can beat Hamden and Derby, of course.
CRUEL, CRUEL GAME: Daniel Hand now has a beautiful artificial turf football field on its campus which they use for most of their practices, but they still play varsity home games at the traffic-congestion challenged Surf Club. The main reason for staying at the Surf Club has to do with the lack of seating on campus, but part of it is what happened there last week.
Unbeaten Hand raced to a 27-14 lead over underdog West Haven midway through the third quarter and looks poised to put the game away. But the Tigers’ defense decided to take the rest of the night off as the game Westies scored four touchdowns, eventually taking a 40-34 lead with 27 seconds remaining.
Normally that’s game over, but there’s something about the Surf Club and Hand that seems to give them superpowers when faced with impossible adversity. This time, former starting quarterback Mike Langreiger took a pitch from current starter Nick Merullo, then hit Jack Callaghan for a 46-yard gain. On the final play of the game, Merullo found Dylan Taylor, who had some work to do, but maneuvered into the end zone as time expired, tying the game. Joe Robichaud calmly drilled the extra point and the Surf Club magic was alive again.
It also marked the second straight week Merullo and Taylor connected in the final seconds to give Hand a victory over a West Haven team (Hand beat Notre Dame 22-20 two weeks ago). It also means that the Tigers only have to win one of their final two games, both against Division II teams (Sheehan and Guilford) to return to the postseason after a one-year absence.
DEFENSE, ANYONE?: I‘m not sure if anyone at the SCC offices keeps track of records such as this, but Week 8 had to be a record for points scored in a week. Maybe it was the relatively nice weather, maybe it was the matchups, but in the 10 SCC games last week, there were a total of 617 points scored, or an average of 61.7 per game, meaning obviously an average of more than 30 per team (I studied math once in school).
The craziest game, other than the one at the Surf Club, was in North Haven, where the Indians won rather comfortably, 61-43, but the biggest story was Foran quarterback Jake White, who finished 38-of-61 passing for 526 yards and five touchdowns. None of those numbers are misprints.
The attempts and completions are both state records, while the yardage is the third most in state history, meaning that they are all SCC records. And we’d like to thank Jake for cleaning up the SCC record book in just one night. Meanwhile, North Haven’s Mike Friello ran for four touchdowns and threw for two more before the wild night at Vanacore Field was over.
Jonathan Law got down 7-0 early to Guilford, but put on an offensive clinic on the new turf at Kavanaugh Field, scoring 28 points in the first quarter and 42 in the first half against the helpless Guilford defense. Even games that seemed like they were low-scoring like Shelton’s 38-21 win over Xavier and Cheshire’s 40-28 victory over Notre Dame brought the total higher and leaves defensive coordinators with some work to do before this week’s contests.
EXTRA POINTS: Cheshire may have only beaten Notre Dame 40-28, but it wasn‘t nearly that close as the Rams pummeled an opponent with a better record for the second straight home game. Cheshire led 34-0 and 40-6 before Notre Dame got some late touchdowns. One of the big reasons for the turnaround has been the health of running back Mark Schmidt, who has been fighting an ankle injury for most of the season, which I‘m sure doesn‘t make Southington all that happy …
Other than Shelton, it doesn‘t look like any other SCC team has a chance in either Class LL or Class L. Fairfield Prep, at 6-2, clings to hope, but it would take some serious collapses by teams above them to have a shot …
Hillhouse, playing its home game against Branford at West Haven, had all kinds of trouble putting away the stubborn Hornets before finally pulling away late for a 34-7 win. Like Prep, Hillhouse is 6-2, but in Class M, they have a slightly better chance to qualify for the playoffs at 8-2, especially with the points they would get from Jonathan Law. But it’s still a longshot.
GAME OF THE WEEK Hillhouse at Jonathan Law, Friday, 7 p.m. - You think the Lawmen might be a little fired up for this game with what their program has been through in the last five years or so? Foran remains on Thanksgiving, but a win here will get them one step closer to a Class M playoff berth. Hillhouse‘s offense should give Law some trouble, though, and it will come down to whether the Academics can find a way to slow down the massive Law front line.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK Geoff Schultz, Shelton - We really tried to go somewhere else here, but with 46 carries and 388 yards rushing to go along with four touchdowns in a big game, there really was no other choice. Although the performances by Foran‘s Jake White, North Haven‘s Mike Friello, Amity‘s Chris Peterson, and Cheshire‘s Billy Ragone are definitely worth mentioning somewhere.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS 2
Number of SCC teams (Shelton, Hand) that would qualify for the CIAC playoffs if the season ended today, although that number is a little misleading with Jonathan Law (M) and North Haven (MM) both sitting at fifth in their respective classes and a couple of other teams having a chance to get in. But it doesn‘t look like there will be a slew of SCC squads in the playoffs this year.
POWER RANKINGS
1) Hand (8-0, Last Week 1) -- Little Surf Club magic never hurt anyone, except the other team.
2) Shelton (7-1, LW 2) -- You can question things about them, but you can‘t question their guts.
3) Fairfield Prep (6-2, LW 3) -- They keep winning, but their playoff hopes keep shrinking.
4) Jonathan Law (7-1, LW 4) -- Playing like a freight train that just can‘t be slowed down. 5) Hillhouse (6-2, LW 5) -- Unofficial Division II championship contest taking place this week.
6) North Haven (6-2, LW 8) -- May come down to that Amity game the night before Thanksgiving.
7) Xavier (4-4, LW 7) -- Would be nice for their season to win last two and get ready for 2008.
8) Cheshire (4-4, LW 12) -- If you have to play Cheshire, do it in the first half of the season.
9) Amity (5-3, LW 10) -- Not much playoff implication, but a good game against Prep Friday.
10) Notre Dame (4-4, LW 6) -- Wilbur Cross may be the more motivated squad at Veterans‘.
11) West Haven (3-5, LW 11) -- Have to keep the ship above water to avoid finishing at 3-7.
12) Guilford (4-3-1, LW 9) -- Have one more chance to play spoiler role when Hand comes to town.
13) Wilbur Cross (2-5-1, LW 13) -- Nice to pick up a win for the Governors, even if it was Easties.
14) Hamden (1-5-2, LW 14) -- Still 0-14-2 against anyone not named Cheshire in last two years.
15) Derby (3-5, LW 17) -- Would have had Comeback of the Week if it weren‘t for the Hand game.
16) Lyman Hall (3-5, LW 15) -- Angry Guilford squad won’t be an easy one to rebound for Trojans.
17) Sheehan (2-5-1, LW 16) -- Would like to have Friday‘s game back when all is said and done.
18) Branford (1-6-1, LW 19) -- Had Hillhouse worried for a while last week at West Haven.
19) Foran (1-7, LW 18) -- Hope White‘s arm is OK after throwing all those passes for records.
20) East Haven (0-8, LW 20) -- They still have No. 18 and No. 19 left on the schedule, still a chance. .
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