St. Joseph junior running back-linebacker Tyler Matakevich is the Fairfield County Player of the Week for the CIAC championship game weekend.

With the Cadets unable to throw the ball in extreme wind conditions at Ken Strong Stadium in West Haven, Matakevich delivered St. Joseph a CIAC Class SS championship game win. Matakevich ran for 11 yards on 31 carries and two fourth-quarter touchdowns in the 14-4 win over Montville.

Matakevich was also solid on defense, helping the Cadets hold Montville to just a field goal.

Other candidates for the award included:

• Brendan Rankowitz, WR-DB, Staples (8 catches for 119 yards and one touchdown in loss to Cheshire)
• Keith Gelman, QB, Staples (16-19-1-245 and a touchdown pass and touchdown run in loss to Cheshire)
• Turner Baty, QB, New Canaan (19-32-1-224 and four touchdowns in win over East Lyme)
• Cody Newton, WR, New Canaan (10 catches for 125 and three touchdowns in win over East Lyme)

Candidates for the Fairfield County Player of the Week award are nominated either direct from their coaches, by media recommendations or by fans of the FCIAC Football Blog on Facebook.

The Fairfield County Player of the Week Award is sponsored by BlueStreak Sports Training and supported by the FCIAC Football Blog.

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The postponement of the Staples-Cheshire CIAC Class LL championship game allowed me another day to post this video of the Staples-Xavier semifinal game.

I shot the first two series of the second half. The first was Xavier running back Julian Hayes pounding the ball at will against the Wreckers. The second was Staples running back Matt Kelly putting life back in the game for the Wreckers.

That second series definitely turned the tide for Staples, which had seen its 14-0 lead slip away. The long pass completion from Keith Gelman to Brendan Rankowitz, after a huge loss on a flea-flicker, sparked Staples.

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Will the FCIAC go 3-for-3 in state championship games this season? I wouldn’t be too certain. Here’s how I think tommorow’s games will go down though.

Class MM:
East Lyme vs. New Canaan, 2 p.m., at Bunnell High School (Stratford)
New Canaan’s offense has been a shell of itself since it ventured into Kennedy Stadium in Week 9 and lost 42-7 to the Hilltoppers. Talking with Turner Baty on Wednesday at the CIAC media luncheon, he said the weather had a lot to do with that Central loss. It’s going to be similar condition tomorrow at Bunnell.

Linebacker Cole Duncan said the New Canaan defense has been on the field a lot more than usual (about 70% of the time, he said), as teams are learning to control the ball to keep the Rams passing attack off the field.

East Lyme has a very good rushing attack, with two running backs surpassing 800 yards on the season. If the Vikings wanted to, they could have Jordan McCoy and Kevin Miao carry the ball all game and wear the Rams down.

East Lyme has a very good pass defense, with 17 interceptions and 20 passes defended. On top of that, East Lyme has 19 sacks and 20 fumble recoveries. The Vikings have given up just 64 points this season, including four shutouts, and game up a safety to Bacon Academy to close out another contest.

The Rams need to establish the run if they want to win a fourth straight CIAC Class MM title, and I don’t see it happening. New Canaan had shown the ability to run the ball earlier this season, but St. Paul Co-op shut Peter Park and Tim Robustelli down on Tuesday.

Two seasons ago, I was the only media member who thought New Canaan could beat Daniel Hand. Unless New Canaan finds a way to loosen up and have some fun on the field tomorrow, East Lyme will go home with the victory.

Class SS:
St. Joseph vs. Montville, 2 p.m., Ken Strong Stadium, West Haven
Montville head coach Tanner Grove knows how good Tyler Matakevich and Joe Della Vecchia are, and how strong St. Joseph is, and thinks they match up well on both sides of the ball with the Cadets.

Like the New Canaan-East Lyme game, St. Joseph’s defense will have its hands full with Montville’s run-oriented offense.

Montville runs a thunder and lightning type of offense, with a pair of junior running backs in Skyler McNair and Tyler Girard-Floyd. McNair is fast and shifty, and Girard-Floyd can pound the ball.

No doubt the father-son Della Vecchias will be looking for something to exploit in the Montville defense, as they did in its 56-7 win over Holy Cross on Tuesday. And Montville showed it can be vulnerable to the pass, losing to New London 28-26 earlier this season.

I think St. Joseph has a major deal of confidence on its side, and has been brilliant even in its losses to New Canaan and Greenwich this season. St. Joseph has waited 19 years for a shot at a state championship, and I think the Cadets (or Hogs) will rise to the occasion.

Class LL:
Cheshire at Staples, 7 p.m., Ken Strong Stadium, West Haven
(Listen Live on WWPTFM.com or 90.3 FM in the Westport area, starting with pregame at 6:30 p.m.)
When Cheshire head coach Mark Ecke told the CIAC media luncheon attendees that everything he learned about coaching defense, he learned from Staples head coach Marce Petroccio, everyone knew it would be a great game. Okay, maybe people knew before that, but now we know this will be a chess match for both schools.

Greg Palmer has rushed for more than 1,200 yards for Cheshire, and Dan Sweeney is at 909. If the Rob Gau, Jake Santora and Connor Bohling defense can shut down the run, then Kelly and Brendan Rankowitz should feast on Cheshire’s vulnerable pass offense.

Staples is the top team in the state for a reason. Each week, the Wreckers find a new may to win. If Matt Kelly can’t get the job done running the ball, Ryan Burke picks up the slack. If the offense can’t move the ball, the defense wins the game. And they have all picked up Keith Gelman, who inherited the quarterback job after a season-ending injury to Brandon Pacilio.

The Wreckers are a selfless group, and seem to be the team of destiny in 2009. They took Petroccio’s offseason message of playing as one unit to heart, and will ride that to victory tomorrow.

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Here’s some belated video from the FCIAC Championship Game. It’s the Brendan Rankowitz goat-to-hero story. First it starts with Rankowitz dropping a sure touchdown pass for what could have been the game-winning touchdown. Then it’s Rankowitz on the reception from Gelman and the 66-yard dash for the go-ahead touchdown. And to top it off, you have Rankowitz intercepting Central quarterback Christon Gill’s deep pass to seal the victory.

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If you missed tonight’s FCIAC Championship Game, you missed one for the ages, and instant classic, and all those fun cliches. Staples game back from a 10-0 deficit and defeated Bridgeport Central on its final drive of the game 14-10.

With 1:05 left, Staples quarterback Keith Gelman hit wide receiver Brendan Rankowitz on a short swing pass that Rankowitz turned into a 66-yard game-winning touchdown.

On Central’s last-chance drive, quarterback Christon Gill threw a deep corner pass in the direction of Shabashe McIntosh that was picked off by, who else, Rankowitz to seal the game.

Want more? We’re about to start talking about this on FCIAC Football Blog LIVE on BlogTalkRadio.com, join me and my guests, Brendan Rand of WWPT-FM and Matt Levine of WSTC-AM and WNLK-AM, at 11 p.m. (the podcast will be available there, too).

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It’s five days till Friday. And I am sure there are a lot of people who are still in shock about the FCIAC Championship Game match-up: Staples vs. Bridgeport Central.

Maybe the fans aren’t as surprised at Staples, which rose to its own challenge of playing Staples football. In the preseason, both Marce Petroccio and Brandon Pacilio talked about how the team’s chemistry improved through graduation and camaraderie, and how playing Staples football was more than just having an “S” on a silver helmet.

Okay, maybe Staples still is a surprise. Pacilio, the quarterback, went down with a season-ending broken leg in Week 6. Some of the media reports between that game at Harding and Keith Gelman’s first start at Ludlowe made it sound like doom and gloom, like Staples would crumble without its leader.

But Gelman proved he could be plugged into the Wreckers’ system, and that Staples would still be Staples.

Bridgeport Central was left for dead after its 21-0 loss to Trumbull in Week 4. Now everyone is scratching their head, wondering what Trumbull did to stop the Hilltoppers’ explosive offense.

It appears the Hilltoppers just didn’t show up that day, and learned from its mistake, which may keep Central from the CIAC Class LL playoffs. Something to point out here: the FCIAC Championship Games does not count in the state playoff rankings because it is not a regularly-scheduled contest.

Central is fourth in Class LL, but can be leapfrogged by Cheshire next Saturday, if it defeats West Haven. The Hilltoppers should defeat Harding on Thanksgiving, but won’t pick up many bonus points by defeating the Presidents and ultimately could need Greenwich to beat Staples to secure a state playoff spot.

So Friday, Central is really playing for everything.

You’ll see in this video that Bridgeport Central did a tremendous job keeping King stars Silas Redd and Kevin Pierre-Louis in check during an early September scrimmage. Say what you want about King, playing in the FAA and whatnot. But you can’t put any running back in the league on the same pedastool as Redd and Pierre-Louis.

Central is also, without a doubt, the most physican and athletic team in the FCIAC. Not only do the Hilltoppers hit, they hit people hard.

So what do you think? Do Christon Gill, Shabashe McIntosh, Dominick Luckey, Ernest Wiggans, Lucas Desousa, Christian Bish and Damien Francis bring its first FCIAC championship to Bridgeport Central? Or does Gelman, Ryan Burke, Matt Kelly, Jake Santora, Brendan Rankowitz, Devin Graber, Adam Rosenbloom and Santiago Caurtas give the Wreckers its first FCIAC title since 2003?

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By Tim Parry

If there’s anything Ridgefield head coach hates, it’s orange jerseys. But a few hours before his team kicked off to Staples last night, he had a box of them for his team.

Now Callahan said his team was focused on Staples this week, but just maybe the new threads gave Ridgefield the final bit of motivation it needed to beat Staples for the first time in his coaching career.

Ridgefield didn’t just defeat the Wreckers. Ridgefield dominated the Wreckers 37-6.

“We walk into the equipment room two hours before the game and Coach Callahan pulls out a surprise,” Ridgefield quarterback Matt White said. “And we figure we better get a win with these new jerseys.”

Heck, Ridgefield stormed out of the gate. Ridgefield got a safety, and then a 65-yard touchdown on the ensuing free kick by Drew Arcoleo. Arcoleo then scored on a 40-yard touchdown run on Ridgefield’s first offensive play, giving the Tigers a 16-0 lead just four minutes into the game.

“You can’t spot a team like that a 16-0 lead like that four minutes into the game,” Staples head coach Marce Petroccio said. “You have to give Ridgefield all the credit in the world, but we just made every mistake you can possibly make on both sides of the ball.”

White, for the record, completed just three of nine passes for 31 yards. But with Ridgefield getting the big lead and Arcoleo getting off to the strong start, White said he was fine with keeping the ball on the ground.

“He’s getting the job done, you’ve got to keep feeding him,” White said.

Arcoleo finished with 69 yards on 12 carries, and fullback Michael McKnight had 105 on 13.

The Ridgefield defense did most of the damage. They forced five Staples turnovers, including two fumbles that were recovered by Jimmy O’Dea.

Now it wasn’t all Ridgefield in this one. Brandon Pacilio hit Brendan Rankowitz on a 47-yard bomb. And Pacilio was able to find wide-open receivers downfield. Midway through the second quarter, Staples could have pulled within a touchdown, but a wide-open Matt Kelly couldn’t hang on to a Pacilio pass in the end zone.

Rankowitz finished with five catched for 93 yards.

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