By Tim Parry

We’ve seen the spread offense come into play in Fairfield County this decade, but we haven’t seen wide receivers put up earth-shattering numbers yet.

Let’s start with Rutgers-bound Mark Harrison. Even with a shoulder injury on Friday, the Bunnell star still had four catches for 96 yards and two touchdowns. With Harrison sitting out the second half, the offense could not move against Masuk, and the Bulldogs lost 42-20.

Harrison’s numbers now look like this through seven games: 31 catches, 961 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Then there’s the FCIAC’s two undefeated teams, Darien and New Canaan.

Brian Kosnik – whose Blue Wave team is not running a spread offense – has 40 catches for 721 yards and eight touchdowns. Teams have tried to double team Kosnik, but Matt Wheelock just puts the ball up for the 6-foot-4 Kosnik, and he outleaps the corners.

And in New Canaan, Kurt Ondash is near pace to set the CIAC record for touchdowns in a season. Ondash has 12 through seven games, and 36 carries for 793 yards. Now New Canaan plays 11 regular season games, and could have two CIAC games as well. A 14th game, the FCIAC championship game, could happen, or the regularly-scheduled Thanksgiving Day clash with Darien could replace that.

And another receiver putting up monster numbers (and a player I haven’t got to see this season yet, hence no photo inclusion) is Chris Evans of Stamford. Evans is at 932 yards and 11 touchdowns on 59 catches in the high-octane Black Knights offense. He has two games this season with more than 190 yards receiving.

So, what do you think? All four are seniors, can we get them all to represent Fairfield County in the Hall of Fame Classic?

Popularity: 20% [?]

By Tim Parry

Has a chant of “underrated” ever been chanted at a high school football game? Maybe it’s time Darien got the credit that is due.

The Blue Wave was near flawless against Wilton of Friday night. No turnovers, a balanced offense, some hard hits on defense.

Also, there has been some great game planning by Rob Trifone’s staff, based on what I saw Friday. Darien was able to take Wilton linebacker Joe LaSala out of the action by spreading the field and running Nikki Dysenchuk in the other direction.

And quarterback Matt Wheelock had a field day hitting tall target Brian Kosnik on the alley-oop passes. Not only could he get those jump balls against Wilton’s cornerbacks, but Kosnik was also able to absorb some big hits on the slant plays.

Dysenchuk could not be brought down. He carried the ball 23 times for 204 yards and four touchdowns. He also had a 27-yard reception, and an interception to kill Wilton’s final offensive drive of the first half.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Brookfield quarterback Jordan Burandt has been named BlueStreak Sports Training’s Fairfield County Player of the Week for his Week 5 performance against Masuk.

Burandt completed 21 of 36 passes for 364 yards and four touchdowns and was picked off twice in the Bobcats’ 31-24 upset win over the Panthers, who were ranked fifth in the State Coaches Poll.

Other Week 5 nominees included Nick DiRubio (New Canaan), Chris Evans (Stamford), Kyle Finnegan (Ludlowe), Adler Florian (Westhill), Gaquawn Henderson (Wright Tech/Stamford Academy), Brian Kosnik (Darien), Kevin Pierre-Louis (King) and Joe Scalzo (Brunswick).

Players are nominated both by football coaches representing teams in Fairfield County. A mimimum of five nominees from a weekly fan poll are also included on a ballot, and the Player of the Week is then selected by members of the Fairfield County sports media community.

The award is presented by the FCIAC Football Blog.

The following media members voted: The following media members voted: Rob Adams (WGCH-AM), Bill Bloxsom (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers), 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), John Nash (The Stamford Times), Ken Morse (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers), Jesse Quinlan (Greenwich Time), Dave Ruden (Stamford Advocate), Eliot Schickler (Westport News), Dave Stewart (New Canaan Advertiser), Rob Sullivan (Minuteman Newspapers/Bridgeport Banner), Michael Suppe (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers).

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New Canaan quarterback Nate Quinn is the Week One recipient of the BlueStreak Sports Training Player of the Week award, which is presented weekly by the FCIAC Football Blog.

Making his first offensive start for the Rams against Trumbull on Saturday, Quinn completed nine of 17 passes for 255 yards and six touchdowns. New Canaan defeated Trumbull 41-13.

Quinn will receive his award from BlueStreak Sports Training president Matt Cole Wednesday at 5:45 p.m. at New Canaan High School at the upper field.

Players are nominated both by football coaches representing teams in Fairfield County. A mimimum of five nominees from a weekly fan poll are also included on a ballot, and the Player of the Week is then selected by members of the Fairfield County sports media community.

Fairfield Ludlowe placekicker Sean Anderson was the runner up. In addition to a pair of extra points, he nailed a 29-yard field goal as time expired to lift Ludlowe over heavily-favored Norwalk 17-14.

The Week-One nominees also included George Benitez (Darien), Tae Dangerfield (Staples), Marcus Dixon (Stamford), Chris Evans (Stamford), Mike Graham (McMahon), Mike Grant (Greenwich), Brian Kosnik (Darien), Colin Morris (St. Joseph), Kurt Ondash (New Canaan) and Chris Sloat (Bunnell).

The following media members voted: The following media members voted: Rob Adams (WGCH-AM), Bill Bloxsom (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers), Dan Farrand (News-Times), Scott Ferrari (Greenwich Citizen), Andy Hutchison (Newtown Bee), Jason A. Intrieri (FCIAC Football Blog Live), Ken Morse (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers), Tim Murphy (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers), John Nash (The Stamford Times), Matt Norlander (New Canaan News-Review), Dave Ruden (Stamford Advocate), Paul Silverfarb (Greenwich Post), Rob Sullivan (Minuteman Newspapers), Michael Suppe (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers).

Photos of Nate Quinn by Dave Stewart/New Canaan Sports Photography

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