Is it too late to look back on the 2009 high school football season? Probably, but I’m going for it.

I saw Ridgefield head coach Kevin Callahan at the FCIAC girls basketball semifinals on Wednesday, and that reminded me I never made mention of Ridgefield going 9-1 but not making the CIAC Class LL playoffs. All the focus in late fall was on Bridgeport Central not getting in after it nearly claimed its first-ever league championship.

Matter of fact, Ridgefield finished fourth in the FCIAC playoff standings behind Staples, Central and New Canaan. St. Joseph, your Class SS champion, was sixth in the FCIAC (oh, I saw Cadets/Hogs head coach Joe Della Vecchia at the game, too… now I feel like paparazzi guy with my name-dropping).

It’s a shame Ridgefield got shut out of the postseason because of one blip – albeit a huge blip – against Staples in Week 3. But the football bounces in funny ways. Ridgefield didn’t get a lot of help from its opponents: Three of its wins – Wilton, Danbury and Norwalk – came against teams with just two wins. The Tigers also beat McMahon, a 3-win team, and winless Harding.

In short, Ridgefield did what it had to do to be a postseason contender. It just didn’t get any outside help. In the 2010 playoff setup (four divisions, eight teams in each), Ridgefield is probably playing after Thanksgiving.

Ridgefield did have a 1,000 yard rusher in Drew Arcoleo, cornerback DeVaghn Millington was a two-way threat after transferring in from a New York school, Thomas Jordan was a force on both lines (and is recovering this winter from shoulder surgery), and the offense gelled once Griffin McCarty took over at quarterback.

The Tigers will lose its running backs to graduation, but I expect them to be hungry in 2010 after being left at the altar.

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St. Joseph athletic director took a huge gamble and ordered a bunch of t-shirts to honor the CIAC Class SS champion Cadets… before today’s game was played. Good thing he didn’t have to bury them out behind Dalling Field, or toss them in a dumpster: The Cadets (or Hogs) claimed that championship today with a 14-3 win over Montville.

The assistant coaches, and Olayos, beat the team buses back to St. Joseph. And as we waited for the rest of the team to return, they shared stories about how the weather and wind at Ken Strong Stadium in West Haven was a huge factor in the game. Montville’s points, for example, came on a 47-yard field goal that had 10 yards to spare.

But the field goal didn’t bother St. Joseph, which got a pair of touchdowns from Tyler Matakevich to clinch the title.

“When they kicked that field goal, they were going nuts,” Matakevich said. “We just went into halftime thinking it was 0-0. It really didn’t faze us that much.”

Matakevich and his teammates were greeted in the gym by a loud crowd of family and students as they returned to St. Joseph.

“Words can’t express how great I feel right now,” Matakevich said. “The whole team did an excellent job, including the coaching staff, getting us ready for this game.”

Joe Della Vecchia, the quarterback and head coach’s son, was also speechless.

“We didn’t play too well in the first half and couldn’t finish our drives,” Della Vecchia said. “Second half we came out fired up, and when we scored our first touchdown, I knew we were going to win.”

Now the father and son share a bond that very few do. They both won state championships as players at St. Joseph.

“When I was a player, I will never forget that feeling of winning a state championship,” Coach Della Vecchia said. “This is better because I got to share it with my son. It’s nerve-racking a lot of times because I call the plays and put him in a position where he can make the plays or not make them. He’s just an awesome football player. I think he’s one of the best quarterbacks I’ve seen in a long time. I know he’s my son, but he had a great year for us.”

The quarterback threw for more than 2,500 yards this season, and 28 touchdowns vs. just six interceptions. But with the wind and a wet ball major factors, it was Matakevich’s day.

“We got Tyler to give the ball to, he gives us a great one-two punch,” Della Vecchia said. “And I can’t say enough about our offensive line and the work they did today. They were bigger than us but we were not going to be denied that opportunity.”

So when did St. Joseph appear to have a chance at winning the CIAC Class SS championship? The Della Vecchias have different answers.

Young Joe didn’t see it coming until the season began.

“Coming into this season I don’t think anyone thought we would be where we are right now,” the quarterback said. “Probably in the first game we all started believing in each other, started believing we were a really good team.”

The coach became a believer in the team in the preseason.

“I thought we had a good shot to end up here at the end of the season,” Coach Della Vecchia said. “I felt that between Darien and New Canaan and Greenwich and Trumbull, if we could win two of those games, that would get our foot in the door.”

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There was a day just two summers ago, when St. Joseph head coach Joe Della Vecchia thought his life was over. At the age of 43, he had suffered a near-fatal heart attack. Della Vecchia watched what he ate, exercised regularly, but heart conditions were a part of his make-up, with his father dying at an early age from a heart attack.

Two seasons ago, his assistant coaches calmed him down when he screamed at referees. Now they let him go, as they know it’s a part of who Della Vecchia is.

“That’s part of my personality, that’s who I am, and I can’t change that,” said Della Vecchia, who is very soft spoken off the field.

The heart attack has not caused Della Vecchia to lose his will to win. Matter of fact, he said Wednesday at the CIAC media luncheon that he appreciates winning even more.

“I’m still as competitive, probably even more competitive because I understand how precious time is,” Della Vecchia said. “We have a saying at school, ‘Win Every Day,’ and I’ve been using that ever since I’ve been a coach. That’s what I want to do is compete every day, do the best we can do and come out on top.”

Della Vecchia and his St. Joseph team will play Montville at 2 p.m. today at Ken Strong Stadium for the CIAC Class SS title.

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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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Staples running back Ryan Burke has been named Fairfield County Player of the Week for the seventh week of the high school football season.

Against Ludlowe, Burke carried the ball for 163 yards on 16 carries, and had second half touchdown runs of 45, 65 and 23 yards to lead Staples to a 38-0 win.

Nominees for the Week 7 Fairfield County Player of the Week award included:

• Turner Baty, quarterback, New Canaan (21-33-0-6TDs, 383 yards, plus 57 rushing yards)
• Matt Hajducky, linebacker, Trumbull (12 total tackles, 5 for loss, forced fumble, interception in 21-6 win over Danbury)
• Taquan Bradshaw, Harding
• Joe Della Vecchia, quarterback, St. Joseph (13-20-0-2TDs 280 yards and 2 rushing TDs)
• Brian O’Neill: (8-10-0-4TDs 208 yards and a rushing touchdown)
• Austin Dowdle, New Canaan
• Tom McNamara, Warde (held St. Joseph to 75 rushing yards)

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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I spent less than one quarter at the Bassick-St. Joseph game on Saturday before heading over to the King game for The Advocate. It was a one-sided game at that point, in St. Joseph’s favor.

Here’s a few clips from that quarter, including touchdowns by Joe Della Vecchia and Tyler Matakevich, plus a great catch in traffic by Pat Mulligan, who was met hard by Bassick safety Jacquil Tuck.

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The Stamford Advocate asked me to do three teams for its FCIAC football preview suppliment, which I think is in Hearst Connecticut newspapers today. I drew Staples, Trumbull and St. Joseph.

This is not the preview I did for The Advocate, but my take on the St. Joseph Cadets. Or the St. Joseph Hogs. (Vote below, tell me what they should be called).

Whatever you want to call them, the team has a loaded junior class. Joe Della Vecchia (the player, not the head coach) should be one of the league’s top quarterbacks, and RB-LB Tyler Matakevich is an unstoppable force.

Matakevich led St. Joseph with with 9.3 tackles a game, had two interceptions, three fumble recoveries and a sack last season. Matakevich also carried the ball 51 times for 247 yards and two touchdowns, and was St. Joseph’s second-leading receiver with 27 catches for 506 yards and six scores.

In early August I was thinking St. Joseph would make a run at the FCIAC championship. But I think depth is going to be a concern. Several players are going to go both ways, and Joe Della Vecchia (the coach) had maybe 20 to 25 players he can count on to play at the varsity level.

That being said, I think its Oct. 24 game against New Canaan could be one of the best games of the year in Fairfield County.

St. Joseph opens on Friday night at Crosby. I’m being an FCIAC homer and picking St. Joseph to win tar. Here’s a double-pass-along for a prediction from the guru of Naugatuck Valley football, Steve Fainer targ.

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By Tim Parry

Don’t let the scoreboard fool you. Yes, St. Joseph (5-2 overall, 4-1 FCIAC) broke its two-game losing streak Friday night against McMahon with a 35-21 win on the road.

But head coach Joe DellaVecchia wasn’t to thrilled. The way he sounded after the game gave me the impression his team won in spite of itself.

“I hope (this win) will help us emotionally,” DellaVecchia said. “We’ve had three lousy weeks of practices. I don’t know why, I don’t know what the reasons are, but there’s so much out there in front of us. I hope it picks us back up because we have a huge game against (Danbury).

The Hogs lost the ball twice on fumbles (recovered by Jabari McClean and Lee Fanzilli) and an interception by Zach Ruther.

But St. Joseph’s did capitalize on two of its three interceptions: Colin Morris (3 catches for 107 yards) scored on a 63-yard pass one play after Matt Marini picked off Nick Blosio, and Luke Oczowski had a 20-yard scoring run one play after Morris picked off a pass and returned it 52 yards.

Matt Marconi added an interception to ice the game.

The turning point came with the score tied at 14 with 2:45 left in the first half. McMahon went for the fake punt – a staple of its offense – and Mike Graham didn’t even show fake. He just took off and was tackled behind the line of scrimmage.

How predictable is the McMahon fake punt?

“We actually left our defense out there, we didn’t even bother sending our punt return team out there,” DellaVecchia said. “We knew the fake put would happen sooner or later.”

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By Tim Parry

When you start at quarterback as a sophomore, there’s going to be a lot of pressure.

When you start at quarterback as a sophomore and get your team off to a 4-0 start and your father is the head coach, the pressure intensifies.

So far, so good thought for Joe DellaVecchia of St. Joseph.

Through four games, the son of head coach Joe DellaVecchia, DellaVecchia has 37 completions in 63 attempts for 817 yards and 12 touchdowns. He’s been picked off just once.

“He’s really doing a great job,” the senior DellaVecchia said. “He’s very composed. He’s under a lot of pressure with his dad as the coach, and he’s handling it great.”

The DellaVecchia’s won’t be the last father-son head coach-quarterback combination, and he’s not the first. This decade there has been Tony and Maxx Catapano at Warde, Bobby Maffei and Bobby III at Trumbull, and Lou and John Marinelli at New Canaan.

John Marinelli, a senior safety at Trinity, understands what the younger DellaVecchia is going through now, and will for the next two seasons.

And Marinelli understood that playing under center wasn’t a privilege because of the blood lines.

“A lot of people think that we only play because of our situation but that’s just not the case,” Marinelli said. “The one thing a lot of people don’t realize is that our fathers, Bobby’s, Joe’s and mine, their profession is a football coach. It’s not youth football, where your dad gets home from work to go right to football. This is their job, this is their work.”

But like youth football, the fathers and sons need to remember that there’s a time to turn the coach-quarterback relationship.

Coach DellaVecchia understands there’s a line that needs to be drawn, when to be the football coach, and when to be the father. He said he tries to avoid the subject with his son once he’s in the house.

“We talk a little at home, but we do most of that on the field and on the car ride home,” DellaVecchia said. “Once in a while we’ll talk about it, but I really don’t want to get into it. We spent most of this past summer talking about it.”

John Marinelli says the football conversation rarely stopped, and that he was the one that initiated it at home.

“My dad has this unique ability, like I know Bobby’s dad does, to turn off being a coach and turn on being a father,” Marinelli said. “After a loss, he was never upset with me or his players, and it was usually him or I to pick each other up.”

The younger Maffei, who is a student manager in his second year at University of Nebraska, said he and his father talked a lot about non-football related things, but was just as comfortable talking about Trumbull football.

“Which was fine because I grew up watching film with the coaches at the Sunday night meetings,” Maffei said. “I grew up going to summer conditioning when my Mom was working as a nurse. I grew up going to games that my dad was scouting and helping him watch the plays. It made me who I am today.”

Marinelli said high school football was part of his lifestyle, too, and that like Maffei, grew up idolizing players like Chris Silvestri, a past Gatorade state player of the year, on the sidelines. And long-time assistant coaches like Bo Hickey and Joe Ditolla became additional father figures.

“I know that it was the best experience I will ever have as a player,” Marinelli said. “My dad is my role model and my best friend. It was never easy playing for him, but it was why I am the person I am today.”

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By Tim Parry

Smart bunch of readers at the FCIAC Football Blog: 85% of them felt St. Joseph would take care of business against Trinity Catholic.

And that’s what St. Joseph did. The Hogs improved to 4-0 with a convincing 40-7 win yesterday over the Crusaders.

The big difference: St. Joseph was able to shut down Trinity Catholic fullback Nick Cortese, who ran for more than 200 yards in each of his last two games. And Trinity Catholic was unable to adapt.

“They came out and put a lot of guys inside. You can’t come out with one play and say this is what we’re going,” Trinity Catholic head coach Bryan Fox said. “You have to look at what they are doing and try to counter that. We have to be able to do that if we want to be successful.”

And the Hogs offense also came up with the big plays. Sophomore quarterback Joe Della Vecchia hit Tyler Matakevich for touchdowns of 56 and three yards, and Sam Ditchkus for a 32-yard score. Ditchkus and Matt Marini scored on the ground, too.

And late in the fourth quarter, Hogs defensive tackle Donnohue Lovelace intercepted a Steve Scalero pass at the line of scrimmage and dazzled the crowd with a 62-yard tackle-breaking return for a touchdown.

“We’ve had a lot of distractions this week, with SATs and homecoming,” St. Joseph head coach Joe Della Vecchia said. “I’m so proud of what they did to fight off those distractions and do what they did.”

So what does this mean for each team? Trinity Catholic is going back to the drawing board, and St. Joseph, at 4-0, will try not to look ahead.

“Mistakes are going to kill you. We’ve got to execute, and right now we’re not executing,” Fox said. “The blocking, the tackling, the throwing, the catching, the very beginnings of a football program are not there, so we’ve got to go back to square one.”

“We’ve got a long way to go, we’ve only played four games and we’ve got one heck of a schedule coming up,” Della Vecchia said. “Every team in our league is good. There’s no such thing as a bye week, there’s no way we can take it easy against anyone.”

Waking up the Echos: Did Della Vecchia have anything special to talk about this week? How about the 1978 Class S state championship game. Trinity Catholic (then Stamford Catholic) defeated St. Joseph 20-9. That was Della Vecchia’s sophomore year at St. Joseph.

“We had some wild state baseball games, too,” Della Vecchia said. “It’s always been a great match-up as long as I’ve been here. We’re in the same boat, we’re two small Catholic schools playing in this great league, and there’s a lot of pride on the line for both teams.”

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By Tim Parry

Trinity Catholic fullback and linebacker Nick Cortese was selected as the BlueStreak Sports Training Fairfield County Player of the Week after a dominant performance against Westhill of Saturday.

Cortese ran for 239 yards and four touchdowns, had three tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery, and as a punter held the Vikings to zero yards on punt returns.

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.

Brian Kosnik of Darien was the runner-up. In the Blue Wave’s upset of Greenwich, Kosnik had six catches, 113 yards, one touchdown, a two-point conversion, and seven tackles.

Other Week 2 nominees included Stuart Armstrong (Danbury), Vinnie Cannon (Wilton), Joe Della Vecchia (St. Joseph), Axel Lee (Central) and Andrew Millmore (Warde).

The following media members voted: The following media members voted: Rob Adams (WGCH-AM), Bill Bloxsom (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers), Zach Eastright (WSTC-AM/WNLK-AM), Dan Farrand (News-Times), Scott Ferrari (Greenwich Citizen), Jason A. Intrieri (FCIAC Football Blog Live), Ken Morse (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).

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By Tim Parry

This is definitely not the best week for me to pick a fight… or should I say fight back. My wife and I found out today that our 10-or-so-year-old basset hound, Abbi, has several cancerous growths in her abdominal and pelvic cavities, and will know more when we get the biopsy report back if we have to put her down.

But I’m trying to get this off my mind, I discovered that Ludlowe’s new helmet is an exact photoshop inverse of Michigan’s, and I haven’t talked about them yet this week.

And I think it’s a good time to bring up a question no one else is asking: Can Ludlowe enter the Ridgefield game on Oct. 17 with a 5-0 record?

I know we in the media learned a lot this week about picking a darkhorse that has been down on its luck for years to be a thoroughbred. And I know this is going to tick off every St. Joseph and Trinity Catholic fan.

But maybe, just maybe, there’s an argument. Or maybe, just maybe, St. Joeseph will leave Taft Field with a 40-0 victory on Friday.

Here’s some reasons to think Ludlowe will be 5-0 when Ridgefield comes to town:

• New head coach Matt McCloskey has the players believing in themselves. One can argue the Ludlowe win Friday over Norwalk was the biggest opening day upset win in the FCIAC for a first-year head coach since Lou Marinelli led New Canaan, losers of 30-something straight, to a win over defending state champ Rippowam in 1981.
• Ludlowe came from behind to win in the second half. Last season, Ludlowe was the team that ran out of gas in the third quarter.
• St. Joseph lost a lot of talent from last season’s 7-3 team.
• Trinity Catholic may not have improved from last season’s 3-7 record.
• Harding and Bassick are still Harding and Bassick.
• Ludlowe plays four of its first five at Taft Field.

But they won’t go 5-0 if:

• St. Joseph defensive back Colin Morris has another three intercption day like he did against Bassick.
• Young quarterback Joe Della Vecchia can hit his targets the way he did against Bassick.
• Trinity Catholic fullback Nick Cortese goes wild against the Falcons defense.
• Trinity Catholic shakes off the cobwebs from its beating against Darien.
• Ludlowe’s players gets overconfident, now that they know what victory feels like again.

So… I’m going to check on Abbi. Tell me (and the blogosphere) what you think…

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