Remember two years ago, when everyone was talking about the great recruiting class led by Jonathan Meyers? With all due respect to Meyers, who turned down Florida for Princeton, the Class of 2010 is even greater.

The King School trio are just about all set: Silas Redd chose Penn State, Kevin Pierre-Louis will play for Boston College, and Eric Joyner is high on Virginia.

So now we’re waiting on Stamford’s Khairi Fortt, and The Advocate’s Dave Ruden profiles his story today. He’s getting recruited, by, well, just about everyone. He’s putting up super-human scores and stats at camps.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

By Tim Parry

King did not come home from West Hartford with a New England Prep School Athletic Conference championship. It didn’t take home the big trophy after the Sampson-Lourden Bowl. It lost 29-14 to a much bigger, much deeper Milton Academy team.

But Fairfield County should be proud of the King football program. It’s not every season that one of its Fairchester Athletic Association teams makes it to one of the five NEPSAC title games, and its not every season that a team like King could dominate so many of its opponents.

And by all means, King left everything on the Kingswood-Oxford School field yesterday. Including tears. Sure, some would say there’s no crying in football, but I’d rather see a team wear its heart on its sleeve like it did yesterday than take an oh-well approach when failing to win a title.

Here’s the article I did for the Stamford Advocate, and it includes some great photos by Kathleen O’Rourke (who didn’t catch me “chimping,” but did almost impale me with her monopod a couple of times, but she apologized and that’s cool!). And here’s the sidebar by Joe Ryan, which focuses on two senior captains, Vincent Love and Matt Santoro.

Milton head coach Kevin MacDonald and fullback Josh Scott, who was a one-person wrecking ball, had nothing but respect for King’s Big Three - Silas Redd, Kevin Pierre-Louis and Eric Joyner. They knew that the key to the game was to control the ball, and then find a way to contain those three Division I prospects.

And the overall numbers may have not shown it, but sophomore quarterback Mikey Serricchio did a very good job running the offense. And statistically, he did have a better day than counterpart Chris Amrheim, who completed just one of 11 passes.

Though I saw King in the preseason, I wasn’t convince a team like King could compete in the FCIAC. But after watching yesterday, I honestly didn’t see as many holes as I felt it had. And that was with a few key players in street clothes because of injuries yesterday.

What’s your opinion of King? Sound off on this thread on the FCIAC Football Blog’s boards.

By Tim Parry

King fans, I apologize for doing what I thought was the right thing yesterday, though it meant missing the King-RCD game yesterday. But I think it was a good trade and a win-win situation for all.

I was scheduled to freelance the Staples-New Canaan game for The Advocate. The Post (which is now a sister publication) was going to be there, so I had an option: still do the game of cover King-RCD. And with all the talk on this board about King this week, I chose that game.

But Saturday, Joe Ryan,who has covered King a few times, was scheduled to do Wright Tech/Stamford Academy, and that game was postponed without any notice. And I was emotionally tied to Staples-New Canaan because of the death of a former teammate.

So I asked Joe if he wanted to take King from me - and have a paycheck - and I’d go without this week and go where I spiritually needed to be, and then volunteered my time to The Advocate with a notebook item for Monday’s issue.

In return, Joe will do a post some time this season on King. I just have to work the timing out with him.

Here’s Joe’s article for The Advocate: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/localsports/ci_10819470

And now here’s my thoughts on King:

• Could King compete in the FCIAC? It depends. When you have a bunch of Division I talent (Silas Redd, Eric Joyner, Kevin Pierre-Louis) you should, in theory, be able to have a very talented team. But with the size of the school, there are a lot of holes on both sides of the ball, and maybe their individual performances don’t stand out as much.
• Are Redd, Joyner, and Pierre-Louis being recruited because of what they do in the Fairchester Athletic Association? While their legends are growing there, that’s not where college scouts determine the potential of players. That has to do with how they performs in camps. Now the academics at King are helping - you need some pretty darn good grades and SAT scores to get into Boston College and Virginia.
• Does it mean the FCIAC has less talent because its players aren’t going D-I? Not all. Ryan Sedlacek (who I saw yesterday at Staples) went D-I and has a shot to start at a very fine academic institution, Illinois, next season. Greenwich stars Jonathan Meyers and Chris Bisanzo turned down D-I offers to go with the academics and I-AA ball (Meyers with Princeton, Bisanzo with Georgetown). And take a look at New Canaan product Zach Renner, who went unrecruited and is a walk-on special teams monster at Georgia. Both the FCIAC and the FAA produce their fair share of Ivy League and NESCAC talent, too (and players who could probably buy and sell me like a commodity).
• Can you evaluate who the better team is by a scrimmage? Not really. Maybe in the final preseason scrimmage before the regular season, when game-planning goes into efect. There you’re talking more about getting ready for the regular season vs. evaluating talent. More often than not we read into scrimmage results as a harbinger for the regular season, only to get burned.

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).

Norwalk running back Chris Hines was voted BlueStreak Sports Training’s Fairfield County Player of the Week for his performance against Bridgeport Central.

Hines carried 42 times for 279 yards and four touchdowns in the Bears’ 39-26 win.

The co-runner-ups played against each other in Week Four: Bobby Wood, QB, New Fairfield (21-34-274 passing and 3 touchdowns, 9-85 rushing and 2 touchdowns) and Brandon Farrell, RB/DB, Bethel (15 carries 242 yards 3 TDs (66, 50, and 55 yards) 6 tackles, 1 sack).

Other nominees included: Vinnie Cannon, QB, Wilton; Mark Harrison, WR, Bunnell; Donnohue Lovelace, DT, St. Joseph; Mike McKnight, RB, Ridgefield; Kurt Nacewicz, WR, Newtown; Kevin Pierre-Louis, RB-LB, King, and Justin Warzhoa, QB, Greenwich.

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: Bill Bloxsom (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers), Zachary Eastright (WSTC-AM/WNLK-AM), Dan Farrand (News-Times), Scott Ferrari (Greenwich Citizen), Jason A. Intrieri (FCIAC Football Blog Live), John Nash (The Stamford Times), Ken Morse (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers), Matt Norlander (New Canaan News-Review), Mike Quick (MSG Plus), Dave Ruden (Stamford Advocate), Eliot Schickler (Westport News), Paul Silverfarb (Greenwich Post), Dave Stewart (New Canaan Advertiser), Michael Suppe (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers).

By Tim Parry

What’s the best game that no one is talking about this week? Brunswick at King.

Neither team ever sees the mainstream spotlight, since they are in the Fairchester Athletic Association, but both have Division I caliber stars in their programs. Right now, Brunswich stands at 2-1, while King is 2-0 and hoping to achieve its best season ever.

This week is a different story when it comes to the press. The Advocate has featured King a few times this week in its sports section. Today it’s this column, Wednesday it was a feature on the team, Tuesday it was a feature on Boston College-bound junior Kevin Pierre-Louis. Today stringer Joe Ryan will be covering a King game for a third time this season, I’ve been told.

The Greenwich Time includes Brunswick football in its coverage… I unfortunately can’t find a link to today’s preview. The Greenwich Post gives you the details about last week’s game here.

Both schools are hard to ignore. Brunswick has Virginia-bound Kevin Royal moving from wide receiver to running back last week to take advantage of his speed. And the King junior class of Pierre-Louis, Silas Redd and Eric Joyner is among the best in the state.

The game is at King at 3 p.m. today, for those of you who are looking for something to do. Or you can listen live on WGCH-AM 1490 (or on the Web).

By Tim Parry

Looking for the best high school football team in Stamford? You may have to look outside the FCIAC to find it.

King - formerly the clunky-sounding King & Low-Heywood Thomas - has been in the shadows of Stamford, Westhill and Trinity Catholic for its lifetime. But with three juniors who are receiving Division I offers seemingly on a daily basis, the Vikings could be the team to watch in 2008 and 2009.

Despite a 4-5 record in the Fairchester Athletic Association last season, Silas Redd ran for 1,261 yards and 13 touchdowns as a sophomore, and has an offer on the table from Boston College, and one that may come Monday from Virginia.

Classmate Kevin Pierre-Louis is expecting a Boston College offer on Monday. He ran for 754 yards and seven touchdowns last season and had 147 tackles.

And Eric Joyner also impressed as a sophomore with 10 catches for 312 yards in a run-first offense. He, too, is getting the looks from Division I schools.

“Because we’re a private school, people think that if they play sports, they can’t go anywhere,” King head coach Danny Gouin said Saturday during a scrimmage involving multiple teams at Fairfield Warde. “Now we have Nate Collins, who is starting at nose tackle at Virginia. And there’s kids like Silas, Kevin, Eric Joyner, kids like Arlington Hendrickson and Jimmy Georges, who should be scholarship players here. And there’s Vinny Love, who is probably going to play in the Ivys somewhere.”

Gouin returns just about everyone from last season’s team with the exception of quarterback John Honey-Fitzgerald, who played last month in the Hall of Fame Classic. He will be replace by sophomore Mikey Serricchio, who started a game in Honey-Fitzgerald’s absence last season.

If the Vikings can defeat Hopkins in its opener on Sept. 13, Gouin feels King could be the team to beat in the Fairchester.

Which is why Gouin says King, a non-CIAC school, needs to get some scrimmage-time against CIAC opponents. Especially when one of the teams is the neighbor down the road, Trinity Catholic.

“We were very good against Trinity today,” Gouin said. “They are always hard nosed, tough, disciplined kids. Since we’re right down the street, it brings out the best in both teams. For us, as a private school, it takes away the stigma that we can’t compete. Our defense, I don’t think, gave up anything to Bullard-Havens. That’s a huge confidence builder for our team.”