It’s now nine weeks in a row that New Canaan has topped the Bill Gonillo Five Fairfield County football poll, conducted by the FCIAC Football Blog. Yes, it said seventh last week, but New Cnaan has been the top since Week 2, this is Week 10, and I majored in English (and can’t count).
Darien received two of the 15 first place votes and is in second. Newtown, with one first-place vote, jumped to third, and is followed by Masuk and Brookfield.
The Bill Gonillo 5 is a weekly poll conducted by the FCIAC Football Blog and voted on by sports media members who cover teams and leagues based in Fairfield County. Updated results are announced every Monday during the football season.
For more about Bill Gonillo, check out BillGonillo.com.
For previous poll results, click here.
| Team | Pts. |
| New Canaan (12) | 140 |
| Darien (2) | 114 |
| Newtown (1) | 56 |
| Masuk | 46 |
| Brookfield | 34 |
Also receiving votes: Greenwich 31, Bunnell 14, Ridgefield 12, Norwalk 7, St. Joseph 6, King 2, New Milford 1, Staples 1, Trumbull 1.
The following media members voted: Damian Andrew (News 12 Connecticut), Jon Chik (Norwalk Citizen-News), Zachary Eastright (WSTC-AM/WNLK-AM), Dan Farrand (News-Times), Scott Ferrari (Greenwich Citizen), Andy Hutchison (Newtown Bee), Jason A. Intrieri (FCIAC Football Blog Live), Ken Morse (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers), John Nash (The Stamford Times), Matt Norlander (New Canaan News-Review), Mike Quick (MSG Plus), Joe Ryan (freelancer), Eliot Schickler (Westport News), Paul Silverfarb (Greenwich Post), Rob Sullivan (Minuteman Newspapers/Bridgeport Banner).
Popularity: 17% [?]
November 18th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I was not there but didn’t Norwalk just beat Ridgefield two weeks ago by 14 points? I believe they have the same record and they lost to Norwalk head to head. Do these voters know this?
November 18th, 2008 at 10:57 am
The FCIAC championship is going to be a great match up. Not sure if Darien and NC are more closely matched than the poll numbers suggest. NC will have to commit fewer mistakes on offense than they have the last few weeks if they are going to stay in this game. I think they had 5 turnovers vs. Wilton. The Blue Wave will have to show they can run AND throw consistently. This one may come down to special teams, penalties and turn overs. I hope they get a good officiating crew. The crew at NC vs Wilton wasn’t well lead and made some terrible calls. And, in my view, the crew at Darien vs St Joe’s took over the game at the end and, with some poor calls, influenced the outcome. Not good! Lets hope for good weather on Thanksgiving so we all get to watch these two fine programs at their best.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
insightful comments oldballplayer. couldn’t agree with you more on the turnover side. it seems that the NC QB is prone to throw into coverage which could be a problem against a solid Darien secondary. The other aspect to watch is team speed on both sides of the ball where it would appear that Darien has the edge.
Saw both games and the officiating in each was horrible. The thrice tipped “interception” was ridiculous at NC and the number of holding calls (9-10?) at Darien was hard to believe. Judging from comments by fans near the field, the two unsportsmanlike calls against St Joes were merited given the level of profanity uttered.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Any predictions for the FCIAC Championship game?
New Canaan 21
Darien 13
November 18th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
umm.. new york, to say the the NC QB is prone to through into coverage, that is untrue. He is top two in the FCIAC in passing yards and touchdowns, both in front of Darien’s QB. You say Darien has a solid secondary, where NC’s Secondary leads the state in takeaways. If you ask me I am not sure if Darien will be able to move the ball against a tough, backbreaking defense like New Canaan’s. They just have too many weapons with Quinn, Ondash, Sciarretta, Simmons on offense and Dirubio leading that defense. I haven’t seen a more feared defense like this in years.
I think it will be close, being that Darien still is a very good football team. But, my prediction for this Turkey bowl classic is-
New Canaan 28
Darien 10
November 18th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
in response to footballfan03’s comment about Quinn’s passing yards and touchdowns, you have to take into consideration that the New Canaan ratio of pass to run plays is 3:1. I’m sure that if the team ran the ball more often the numbers would be a different story.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
no dispute with the yardage and touchdowns but how many interceptions has Quinn thrown? you have to admit that he threw into Wilton coverage 3-4 times on Friday night. We’ll see about Darien’s ability to move the ball. They definitely have a more balanced O with 50/50 pass run. As for feared defenses, did you see Greenwich play last year?
Score predictions are a waste of time.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Newyork02 do you really believe that Darien has more team speed than NC. Darien has a bunch of kids at the skill positions who just aren’t fast at all including their big WR who looks like he is moving in slow motion.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
That is a valid point for both central and newyork. But, Quinn is getting the job done and putting up big numbers for his team. When you have that big “0″ in the lose column, a large part has to go to the quarterback. And, Quinn is putting up bigger numbers than wheelock, regardless of a fluke pick here or there. We’ll see what unfolds on Turkey day, it’ll probably be the biggest game ever for both schools. It’s gonna be a great one.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
bottom line, nate quinn, great high school quarterback – numbers to prove it, however lets talk about wheelock – he has done nothing but manage all the games for his team, he’s come up with great throws and has also ran the ball very well this year…. if he were in the offense new canaan is in, he would be putting up similar numbers to nate quinn….both very capable quarterbacks…my prediction is that whichever quarterback can manage the game better for their offense, doesn’t turn the ball over, makes smart decisions, that team will win the game…..and as for the comment about koznik, he’s one of the fastest kids on the field, thats why he also plays safety….don’t let his size fool you, the kid can move, division 1 schools, don’t take slow wide receivers…. (he committed to dartmouth)
nate quinn has 20 touchdown passes to 9 interceptions…..thats just under one per game.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
“including their big WR who looks like he is moving in slow motion.” First off, that is a ridiculous comment. Kosnik is legitimate. He is top 5 in the FCIAC in receptions and yards, and probably also touchdowns. I’m not saying he is one of the fastest guys on the field either, but he is for real. He can jump out of the building, and with his 6′4″ frame, he hauls down a lot of passes against shorter cornerbacks. Don’t take Darien lightly. They have legitimate threats across the board. Wheelock, Dysenchuk, Kosnik are the big three, but they have a lot of role players that can do damage. Dysenchuk catching balls out of the backfield is also a threat. I agree with fbfan – its going to be about holding onto the ball and clock management. Darien’s offense has been slowed down the past 2 weeks, something they have not experienced all year. This could very well happen against NC’s stellar defense, so they will have to control the clock throughout.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:07 am
seen both play a few times
really don’t have a good feel for this game at all
Can the NC D stop the Trafone offense? Can the Darien D stop the NC aerial attack?
I think they are probably even on speed…no one stands out to me…which is odd, b/c there is usually one or two burners in this game every year
Could it come down to line play? Darien plays most of their line both ways…NC does not
I’ll say it comes down to special teams
NC 28
Darien 27
Whoever loses has their work cut out for themselves
Hillhouse is the real deal
November 19th, 2008 at 10:30 am
i guess no one wins the argument about team speed but i have not been impressed wtih the overall speed of the NC skill players. I agree with the posts about clock management and QB performance. Interesting that NC has turned the ball over more than twice as much as Darien (21 vs. 9). Ball posession will be key. Interesting to see how much pressure Darien will be able to exert on Quinn as he has not been blitzed very much this year.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Now the biggest question… Who wants to set up a tailgate at the NC-Darien game for all you FCIAC Football Blog fans? (I guess it should be me, but I can barely afford the 2 for $3 breakfast at McDonald’s! lol!)
November 19th, 2008 at 11:30 am
I think it will be interesting from the coaches perspective. Like every year, I can see both coaches trying to throw something out there that they haven’t done all year early on, just to try and confuse each other. (Like throwing a new defensive front out, or coming out in new offensive formations) They may stick with it for a while and see if its getting anywhere. Adjustments will have to be made throughout the game, and this is where the expertise of Trifone and Marinelli will come in, two of the best coaches in the FCIAC. This is going to be a good one. Hopefully we get a nice, cool, crisp day, so we can see both teams at their full potential.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
excellent point, brosef. Do you stick with what has worked so well all year or do you change it up to take advantage of the surprise factor? Gotta think that the offensive schemes will pretty much stay the same except for the fluke trick play. Given NC’s explosiveness, I would think that Darien will focus on controlling the ball/clock. They do have 3-4 very capable runners so maybe they will change their orientation to more run. NC is not big sizewise at the corners on D.
Couldn’t ask for two more talented and experienced coaches. Halftime will probably bring adjustments galore.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Newyork02 – I agree with you, I don’t think that either team is planning on revamping their entire gameplan just for this game. But, think about this way – both teams have been scouting, watching film, setting up automatic checks and audibles in certain places for the past 2 weeks. I can definitely see in the opening drive either team sending out a package that hasn’t been seen yet on film, which can easily lead to some confusion. Nothing like getting the other team nervous and on their toes right off the bat. Like a few years ago, when Darien came out with a 3-5 stack defense, totally throwing off NC’s offensive line blocking scheme – they only managed 7 points in the first half, until they made some halftime adjustments, and were able to win it 21-7 if I remember.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
good point on the potential benefit of the surprise factor. Not to overgeneralize but Darien needs to slow down the high speed NC O and NC needs to tackle well against the competent Darien rush. I agree that MO may play a big role and therefore turnovers may be key. Seems like it will be a dry track..at least as of now.
November 20th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Yea hopefully its a nice day so we get to see both teams to their potential. Sorry, but what do you mean by MO?
November 20th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Field position, ball control, clock management, midgame adjustments, and discipline. Special teams will also be huge. I think Darien might have the advantage there. Gardner has done a great job both kicking and punting. Gives them the option of taking 3 points in some places rather than getting nothing. This is going to be a heated rivalry, both teams have to stay within themselves and avoid the stupid penalties. You saw what happened to St. Joes last week, a couple bonehead misconduct calls which costed them big time.