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SCC Football Recap Week 1 |
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As I approached Paul Catino to get some postgame reaction to Hamden‘s stunning 19-14 season-opening win over Cheshire (No. 2 in someone‘s obviously skewed power rankings), Catino smiled and said, “You guys pretty much wrote us off, didn‘t you?”
Something like that happens often to people like me who stick their necks out with picks, only to see them woefully inaccurate. Usually, you respond by deflecting the question, talking about how you weren’t really sure, or that you knew it would be a close game. This time, though, I was still so shocked by the result that I was direct and to the point: “No, Paul, I didn’t think you had any shot in the world of winning this game.” Let’s be honest, Hamden bashing has been in vogue in recent years, and last season might have been the height. The Dragons beat Cheshire in a downpour in the season opener, and then did a whole lot of nothing for the next three months, losing all nine of their remaining games, many of them by lopsided margins.
Their downfall was probably best highlighted against Guilford - for a long time one of the poorest teams in the SCC - when Hamden was crushed, allowing nearly 500 yards rushing in the process. Two weeks later, the Dragons were beaten up by Jonathan Law, who were 0-10 in their first season in the SCC the previous year. Hamden, the eighth largest school in the state (by population), biggest in the SCC, and a town with a stellar feeder program as well as a history of superior athletes, doesn’t really get much sympathy from the rest of the league.
And when things go wrong, even at the high school level, some of the fingers start to be pointed toward the head coach. Rumors began to swirl that anyone from John Acquavita to Tony Sagnella to Scott Benoit to any number of assistant coaches would take the job when Catino retired at the end of the 2005 season. Then at the end of the 2006 season. But Catino, despite having a 12-29 record in four years at Hamden, waited a long time to become the head coach and still liked what he was doing.
And he saw something in his players this season that he didn’t see in 2006, even though most of the players anyone outside of Hamden had graduated, and Stirling Vaughn - a promising fullback/defensive back - had transferred to Notre Dame. Many pundits, me included, looked up and down Hamden’s schedule to try to find games they might be able to win and came up with very few.
“I think this year we’re a little tougher,” Catino said. “We have a good group of sophomores, and I just think we’re a different team this time around.” Hamden did get off to a rather inauspicious start to the season. Much of their previous problems had to deal with discipline, particularly on the field where needless time outs and silly penalties left the Dragons fighting an uphill battle. And as Hamden lined up for the first play of the 2007 season, they were penalized for lining up offside. On offense.
After Hamden punted, Cheshire quarterback Billy Ragone went 76 yards on their first play and the Rams were down 7-0. But instead of getting blown out like they might have last season , they regrouped.
One of the big changes Catino made this season was to institute the ubiquitous “spread offense” that many Division I-A colleges run. With a speedy quarterback like Aaron Brockenberry, it makes it easier for Hamden to get to the outside and tougher to know who actually has the ball. The Dragons scored only 19 points against Cheshire, but controlled the ball for much of the game and will be tough if they get the blocking they received last week.
Obviously, one game does not a season make, and Cheshire and Hamden went in opposite directions after the Dragons won their season-opening meeting last year. But with plenty of young talent on both sides of the ball, things are looking up for Catino, his coaching staff, and the Dragons. Hopefully for them, this won’t be another woefully inaccurate assessment.
WELCOME TO THE SCC, MR. ACQUAVITA: Just like with Hamden, there won’t be many people feeling sorry for John Acquavita this season in the SCC. Acquavita, who turned the Hyde Leadership School into a Class S football power, going 77-23 and winning state championships in 2000, 2004, and 2005, decided to take over at his alma mater - Wilbur Cross - after Dennis Wanzie was unceremoniously dismissed in the offseason.
But while he was very successful in the relatively weak Pequot Conference, many people are anxious to see how Acquavita fares at Cross, playing a Division I schedule. Wanzie was able to take the Governors from a patsy (winless in 1999 and 2000), into a respectable program that - despite playing in arguably the toughest division in the state - went 6-4 in 2005 and 5-5 last season.
But he ruffled one too many feathers in New Haven, and now the opportunity comes for Acquavita, who learned very quickly that he’s not in the Pequot Conference anymore, Toto, as the Governors were blown out, 28-0, by Fairfield Prep, in a game that was over before halftime. “We showed how much work we really need to do,” Acquavita said.
To his credit, Acquavita showed some guts by taking the job in the first place when he basically had a guaranteed state title contender every year at Hyde. He also hasn’t complained about the schedule, despite it being extremely difficult (Cross does have three Division II teams on its slate in North Haven, East Haven, and Hillhouse, but faces West Haven, Hand, and Shelton after facing North Haven Thursday).
However, after so much relatively easy success at Hyde, there are many people who are waiting to see Acquavita squirm like he did last week against Prep. “The bottom line is, how will you respond when you turn the ball over?,” Acquavita said. “Will you respond like a 5-5 team and tank it for awhile, or will you respond like a 10-0 team, like a championship team and rebound and play hard?”
With most of Division I still awaiting on their schedule, it may be considered a measure of success if Acquavita can get Cross to that 5-5 mark.
EXTRA POINTS: To show you how meaningless preseason rankings are, in our Power Rankings, the three lowest rated Division I teams were Hamden, Amity, and Hand. All three picked up victories in Week 1, and all three were over Division I teams. You know already that Hamden stunned Cheshire 19-14. Amity went to Quigley Stadium and knocked off Notre Dame, 14-12, while Hand, which struggled last season, came out with a vengeance, racing out to a 31-0 lead before beating reasonably highly touted Xavier, 31-16. Those games put Division I in a mess, a situation where it seems almost anyone can beat anyone else. Just the way we like it.
The showdown between Shelton and West Haven turned out to be a rather one-sided affair, a 49-24 Shelton rout that really should not have been that close. The Westies scored two of their four touchdowns on special teams. Is Shelton that good or West Haven that mediocre? I guess time will tell.
Foran, which gave up a state-high 410 points last season, gave up 48 to Guilford in a 48-13 loss in the opener. The Indians, led by Fred Turcio, may be heard from in Division II before all is said and done this season, but may face the prospect of playing their entire season on the road if their new turf field is not ready to go. They will already definitely play their first four games away from Guilford.
New Hillhouse coach Tom Dyer had a much more successful debut than his counterpart, Acquavita, as the Academics - with plenty of new faces - walked all over Derby, 37-0, at Bowen Field. I know we‘re supposed to call them Derby/O‘Brien Tech nowadays, but that‘s just too long for me, they‘re still Derby.
Dave Plaskon‘s 76-yard run late in the game spared Jonathan Law from a season-opening loss to North Haven for the second straight year as they held on for a 28-27 victory. It was Plaskon‘s second long touchdown run of the second half, but the Lawmen have a tall order when they take on Fairfield Prep on Thursday night.
Injuries were already a factor for Cheshire and East Haven in their first games. The Rams played without leading rusher Mark Schmidt, who had a high ankle sprain, while the Easties played Lyman Hall without receiver/defensive back Andre Allen, who suffered a foot injury in their final scrimmage.
The SCC schedule is split nearly in half this weekend, with six games on Thursday and four more on Friday. That West Haven/Sheehan game start is not a misprint, it is a 3:30 p.m. start in Wallingford.
GAME OF THE WEEK Guilford at Hamden, Thursday, 7 p.m. -- Definitely wouldn‘t have picked this here a week ago, but this game has suddenly become very intriguing, with the Indians looking like one of the better teams in Division II, and the Dragons looking like they might be able to do some damage in Division I. Of course, last season, Hamden was 1-0 and Guilford absolutely destroyed them in Guilford.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK Andre Henderson, Shelton - Henderson had a tough time with injuries last season, but showed no ill effects in the season opener against West Haven, running for 122 yards on just 14 carries and two touchdowns, as well as playing an outstanding game on defense as the Gaels rolled to a 49-24 victory, and keep their top spot in the Power Rankings.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS 0 Number of home games Guilford may have this season, because of delays in instituting the new turf at Guilford High. The Indians will definitely have, at most, four home games, and will play their first four games away from home and then will see how far the construction has come.
POWER RANKINGS
1) Shelton (1-0, Last Week 1) -- Came out angry and West Haven paid the price for it.
2) Fairfield Prep (1-0, LW 6) -- Very impressive in the first week, looking dangerous.
3) Hand (1-0, LW 10) -- Rout of Xavier most mysterious result of the season‘s first week.
4) West Haven (0-1, LW 3) -- Just ran into a buzz saw for which they had no answer.
5) Amity (1-0, LW 14) -- Kept their cool when things got tough and defense did the job.
6) Hillhouse (1-0, LW 9) -- If you thought they were dropping significantly, guess again.
7) Hamden (1-0, LW 16) -- Still don‘t know who some of those guys were, but they were good.
8) Cheshire (0-1, LW 2) -- New linemen struggled and they desperately missed Schmidt.
9) Notre Dame (0-1, LW 4) -- Can‘t think of a good reason why they should have lost game.
10) Xavier (0-1, LW 5) -- Wasn‘t a good night for rival Catholic school ND and the Falcons.
11) Jonathan Law (1-0, LW 8) -- Running backs will be tough to stop, but they need defense.
12) Guilford (1-0, LW 12) -- Whooped up on Foran, but things will be tougher this week.
13) Wilbur Cross (0-1, LW 7) -- Never really stood a chance in opener against Prep.
14) Branford (0-0-1, LW 11) -- Tie would have looked better if they didn‘t have Shelton next.
15) North Haven (0-1, LW 13) -- Still fighting hard, still the favorites in their division.
16) Sheehan (0-0-1, LW 15) -- Encouraging start to the season for Titans, this week is tough.
17) Lyman Hall (1-0, LW 17) -- Have now won 2 in a row, although Amity will be difficult.
18) Derby (0-1, LW 18) -- Still looking for a spark to get some positive momentum going.
19) Foran (0-1, LW 19) -- Tough to see them being competitive in too many games in 2007.
20) East Haven (0-1, LW 20) -- Didn‘t really need the injury bug to bite them so early.
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