Not the Fox TV show but the 24 teams that are most likely to qualify for the CIAC playoffs – 4 from each of the 6 classes.
Here’s my breakdown heading into Week 8. As always, I welcome your opinions with an email to john.holt@wfsb.com
Class LL
The Top 4 Right Now: Glastonbury, Hamden, Southington, Xavier
It’ll be different to not have Greenwich in the state playoffs this year. The reigning LL champs already have 3 losses and check in at #14 in the playoff point standings.
Most Likely Of The Current 4 Not To Qualify: Southington. The Blue Knights have yet to lose to an in state opponent but Glastonbury, New Britain (in a game played at RentschlerField) & Cheshire all loom on a brutal schedule. It’s not hard to see the Blue Knights picking up another loss or two. With that said, I voted Southington 4th in the state this week in the Register poll behind Ansonia, New Canaan and & New London.
Most Likely Team To Vault Into The Top 4: #8 Cheshire. How impressive is Rams senior quarterback Billy Ragone? He’s already been offered scholarships by Army and Temple and may end up playing in the Ivy League. Cheshire had 2 early season losses but if they win out – capped off by a second straight Thanksgiving victory over Southington they could squeak in at #4
Class Champion: Glastonbury. No one has come within 18 points of beating the Tomahawks this season. They are having a state championship type of season.
Class L
The Top 4 Right Now: Masuk, Newington, Bunnell, Simsbury
There’s not an undefeated team left in Class L but there’s plenty of talent. Simsbury is #4 with 91.43 points but #5 Crosby and #6 Windsor are right on the Trojans’ heels at 90.00.
Most Likely Of The Current 4 Not To Qualify: Simsbury. There is very little margin for error. Next Friday’s home game with New Britain is a must win. A third loss will doom Simsbury’s playoff hopes.
Most Likely Team To Vault Into The Top 4: #6 Windsor. At one point this season I thought the Warriors had a chance to go undefeated. Back to back losses to Simsbury and Wethersfield blew that prediction up. However, if New Britain does beat Simsbury next week the Warriors are in good shape if they can win out – which would include a victory next Friday night over Class MM #4 Weaver.
Class Champion:It’ll be Masuk vs. Bunnell yet again. The winner? Despite the crushing loss last week at home to Masuk I say Bunnell, provided Rutgers bound wide receiver Mark Harrison is healthy (which he wasn’t for the second half last week).
Class MM
The Top 4 Right Now: New Canaan, Darien, Hillhouse, Weaver
3 good undefeated teams at the top and all 3 ranked in the top 6 of both the Day of New London State Coaches’ Poll and the New Haven Register State Media Poll. New Canaan and Darien meet each other on Thanksgiving. I expect all 3 to make the playoffs.
Most Likely Of The Current 4 Not To Qualify: Weaver is the only answer that makes any sense here. The Beavers have no guaranteed wins in its’ 4 remaining games – Wethersfield, Windsor, Hall and Hartford Public.
Most Likely Team To Vault Into The Top 4: #5 Bristol Eastern or #6 Platt. If both happen to win this week to move to (6-2), their November 14thgame with each other could prove to be HUGE!
Class Champion: New Canaan. 3 state titles in a row, and 5 in 8 years for the Rams.
Class M
The Top 4 Right Now: Brookfield, Cheney Tech, Berlin, St. Paul/Goodwin Tech/Lewis Mills
Brookfield is the only team to have notched a win over Masuk this season. Cheney is undefeated but the critics will be sure to question their tech-school heavy schedule.
Most Likely Of The Current 4 Not To Qualify: St. Paul. A game next Friday night at Berlin could mean a second loss not to mention the test St. Paul gets this week against Middletown.
Most Likely Team To Vault Into The Top 4: Avon. If St. Paul slips up, Avon could slip in. The Falcons have 2 losses at the moment (Cromwell and Hyde) but a very favorable schedule down the stretch.
Class Champion: Brookfield. Bobcats alum Scott Lutrus – currently starring at linebacker at UConn – will be very proud of his alma matr come December 6th.
Class SS
The Top 4 Right Now: New London, Seymour, Montville, Rocky Hill
Most Likely Of The Current 4 Not To Qualify: Rocky Hill. Not likely. Just can’t risk it with a loss in 2 weeks at Middletown.
Most Likely Team To Vault Into The Top 4: Nobody. Part of me wants to pick #9 Foran as a dark horse but I won’t.
Class Champion: Is New London Quarterback Jordan Reed healthy enough to play like the All American he is? We’ll find out a lot next Friday night when New London hosts Montville in what’s shaping up as a battle of ECC unbeatens. In the end, it’s Jack coaching his alma matr to a state championship after 2 title game losses in recent years.
Class S
The Top 4 Right Now: Cromwell, Ansonia, North Branford, Hyde Leadership
34 wins in a row and counting for state #1 Ansonia. Cromwell is the real deal – with 5 shutouts through 7 games while allowing opponents less than 4 points a game on average.
Most Likely Of The Current 4 Not To Qualify: North Branford. The Thunderbirdsstill have games remaining with Cromwell and Hyde. Beating one of them is a must.
Most Likely Team To Vault Into The Top 4: #5 Northwest Catholic (4-2) is a long shot. They’re only playing 10 games instead of the 11 most others are playing. They’d need to win out and that means beating Berlin.
Class Champion:Until proven otherwise Ansonia remains the pick in Class S.
Injury Fatigue
Consider this: The #1 high school quarterback in the state, Jordan Reed, injured his ankle last Friday night. The #1 college quarterback in the state, UConn’s Tyler Lorenzen, is out for 6 weeks. The #1 professional quarterback in the region, Tom Brady, is out for the season. Are you getting a little tired of all the increased injuries in football? When the star players are increasingly hurt doesn’t it take some of the fun out of following the sport? Is football more violent than ever? That’s not a good thing, is it?
3 Games We’ll Be Watching
Hillhouse at Shelton Friday 7pm - Can the undefeated Academics survive the Finn Fanatics (and a solid Shelton team) on Halloween night? I look forward to finding out.
Platt at Newington Friday 7pm- Newington has lost just once under first year head coach Clay Hillyer. Streaking Platt (5-2) has won 5 straight, outscoring opponents by an incredible 188 to 18 in that stretch.
Hyde Leadership at Cromwell Saturday 1pm – It seems every season these two play a big regular season game. Nothing has changed this year.
Completely Unrelated Thought of the Week:
What’s the oldest t-shirt in your active rotation? I got to thinking about this last week when I headed out to the gym in a WPI/Amherst College football camp t-shirt I got from a coach as a freebie back sometime in 1995 or 1996. Can you beat a 12 to 13 year old t-shirt?
See You Tonight at 11:15pm for FNF!
John
