FCIAC Football Blog

Here ya go – enjoy!

Matt Levine gave me these unedited interviews with Nate Quinn and Cody Newton from Tuesday’s postgame, and I’m finally getting around to posting them.

Most interesting: Newton unlocks the secrets of preparing for a playoff game, and how his teammates needed to be prepared to play, even if they weren’t in the original starting lineup. Defense wins games, and New Canaan’s needed to be ready.

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Haven’t talked much about The News-Times coverage lately. But with tonight’s Newtown-Brookfield SWC title game as its backyard brawl (being played at Bunnell, the Connecticut Post’s turf… and we know how bad media turf wars can get!), they’ve been rolling a lot of pregame features.

So here’s what we got:

• Bearded brothers: Treibt twins hope to lead Brookfield to title
• Newtown, Brookfield meet again with title on the line
• Leading by example: Nighthawks’ QB DeVellis takes charge
• Born to hit: Newtown’s McNamara at home on defense
• Coaches set sights on SWC title game

We’ve also got this piece for you by Newtown Bee sports editor Andy Hutchison.

Speaking of Andy, he’s become a regular guest on FCIAC Football Blog Live with Tim Parry and Jason Intrieri. Here he is the past two weeks:

• Nov. 8 after Newtown defeated Brookfield
• Nov. 15 after Newtown defeated Bethel, and a championship game preview

Here’s the lineup for FCIAC Football Blog Live, which can be heard live at 9 a.m. or later as a podcast at http://blogtalkradio.com/fciacfootballblog:

• Joe Ryan, freelance writer who will be covering the King vs. Milton Acadamy Sampson-Lorden Bowl today for the Stamford Advocate, and has followed the Fairchester Athletic Association champions all season.
• Andy Hutchison, sports editor of the Newtown Bee (I know, repeat guest) to talk about Newtown’s 24-17 overtime win last night over Bethel, and its rematch against Brookfield this Thursday.
• Matt Levine, sports director at WSTC 1400, WNLK 1350, to talk about last night’s New Canaan-Wilton game and give us his two cents on the FCIAC title game matchup.

By Tim Parry

Norwalk is 6-3 this season after a win Saturday against Ridgefield. And Ridgefield dropped to 6-3 with that 24-10 loss. But for both teams, it’s turned into a what could have been theme this season.

Norwalk hasn’t been a premiere team for at least a decade, and suddenly the Bears were in the preseason spotlight. They were the talk of the media, with D-I recruit DJ Morrell anchoring the line, Chris Hines in the backfield, and a defense led by Shawnelle Philo, and were ranked in the Top 10 in the state polls for the preseason.

And Norwalk flopped coming out of the gate, losing first to Norwalk on a last-second field goal, and then to Wilton in Week 2. And in Week 5, it appeared everything had fallen apart when the Bears were dismantled by New Canaan.

Ridgefield had been in the spotlight and for a second year of the Matt-White-at-quarterback era. Based on what the lacrosse team did in the spring (several lax players are on the football team, including Virginia-bound White) it seemed that momentum could carry over to the gridiron.

Ridgefield got huge wins over Staples and Greenwich in back-to-back weeks, but those followed losses to the FCIAC’s two undefeated teams, New Canaan and Darien.

But more about the game. Weather conditions had nothing to do with the outcome, neither did the 11 a.m. start time. Nor did the 20 minute halftime show by the Marching Bears (which, by the way, should not be the only reason people go to a Norwalk football game).

It did come down to a swarming Norwalk defense making things rough for the Ridgefield offense, and the shiftiness of Hines.

Critics (including me) say Hines gets impatient in the backfield, and picks up big yardage against weak defenses. But he’s more patient than we all think. He’s got a great field of vision, and an elusiveness that allows him to bounce off tacklers and break away for big yardage.

Hines’ biggest play came when it was least expected, and turned the game around. With 1:41 left in the first half, Hines grabbed Matt Baker’s coffin-corner punt before it could go out of bounds and raced 88 yards untouched for a tie-breaking touchdown.

Had Hines not raced in to grab the line-drive punt, it most-likely would have gone out of bounds inside the 5-yard line, and given the Norwalk offense little wiggle room to work with.

Postgame comments (including press members Matt Doran of The Hour and freelance writer/Newtown Bee sports editor Andy Hutchison):

• Chris Hines
• Pete Tucci
• Kevin Callahan

By Tim Parry

Are there any New Canaan doubters left? Maybe not after what the Rams did to Ridgefield last night.

Even after a week when many were thinking New Canaan could only throw the ball, and that its defense would have a tough time shutting down Ridgefield quarterback Matt White, the Rams were dominant in a 40-13 win at Dunning Stadium.

And this came six days after New Canaan defeated Trumbull 41-13.

White was rattled by some unfamiliar defensive formations and was picked off four times. He completed just nine of his 27 pass attempts.

And Chris Sciarretta carried 13 times for 98 yards, while Sean Simmons gained 83 yards on seven attempts.

The question is, does this make New Canaan the front-runner for the chance to dethrone FCIAC champion Greenwich (who lost its first in-state game since Thanksgiving 2006 since I started writing this), or will homecoming Saturday be another disaster for the Rams?

Kurt Ondash – who had six catches for 165 yards against Ridgefield and 296 yards in just two games – was on FCIAC Football Blog Live this morning, and shared his thoughts. Click here to listen.

So, is New Canaan able to reload year in and year out because of the players, the coaches, or a little bit of both? Share your thoughts below: