In a week filled with stellar offensive performances, a defensive player rose to the top.

Norwalk defensive end Shawnelle Philo was voted the BlueStreak Sports Training Fairfield County Player of the Week by members of the media, from a ballot compiled by nominations from both fans and coaches.

In Norwalk’s 17-0 win over Staples on Friday, Philo had a blocked punt, two fumble recoveries (including one for a 46-yard touchdown), nine solo tackles (including four for a loss) and had four assists.

“Philo is one of the best kept secrets in the FCIAC,” Norwalk head coach Pete Tucci said after the game.

There were 13 players on the ballot, including Three quarterbacks who combined for 16 touchdown passes: Masuk’s Bobby Baker (6), Stamford’s Mitch O’Meara (5), and Darien’s Matt Wheelock (5), and a fullback who rushed for close to 300 yards (Nick Cortese of Trinity Catholic).

Other players on the ballot included: Ethan Buster, Bullard-Havens; Chris Evans, Stamford; Isaiah Flores, Central; Tim Miller, Pomperaug; Alex Morsanutto, Norwalk; Rory Noonan, Newtown; Luke Oczkowski, St. Joseph; Jake Peyser, Weston.

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), John Nash (The Stamford Times), Ken Morse (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers), Joe Ryan (freelance), Eliot Schickler (Westport News), Paul Silverfarb (Greenwich Post), Dave Stewart (New Canaan Advertiser), Michael Suppe (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers).

Popularity: 24% [?]

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.”

Popularity: 17% [?]

Shelton quarterback Mike Brighindi has been named BlueStreak Sports Training Fairfield County Player of the Week for his performance Friday against Cheshire.

Brighindi completed 19 of 28 passes for 276 yards and one TD and in a come from behind 35-34 overtime victory on the road. Brighindi led the Gaels on an 82-yard drive in the final two minutes of regulation to tie the score, and completed six of eight for yards on the game-tying drive.

Brighindi will receive his award at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday from BlueStreak Sports Training president Matt Cole.

Nick Cortese of Trinity Catholic, the winner of the award in Week 2, was the runner up. He ran for 216 yards and five touchdowns in the Crusaders double-overtime win over Fairfield Ludlowe.

Also nominated in Week 3: Scott Benzing, WR, Brookfield; Joe Dalla Vecchia, QB, St. Joseph; Nikki Dysenchuk, RB, Darien; Chris Hines, RB, Norwalk; Matt Kelly, CB, Staples; Justin Warzoha, QB, Greenwich; and Mike Webber, WR, New Milford.

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), Ken Morse (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers), John Nash (The Stamford Times), Matt Norlander (New Canaan News-Review), Dave Ruden (Stamford Advocate), Eliot Schickler (Westport News), Paul Silverfarb (Greenwich Post), Dave Stewart (New Canaan Advertiser), Rob Sullivan (Minuteman Newspapers), Michael Suppe (Hersam-Acorn Newspapers).

Popularity: 37% [?]

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).

Popularity: 21% [?]

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…

Popularity: 24% [?]