My name is Brendan Rand, and I am excited to be contributing to the FCIAC Football Blog this season! I am a rising senior at Staples High School, and I have been working to gain experience in media since my freshman year. I have been involved from the start with my school’s radio station, WWPT 90.3 FM, where I have broadcasted a variety of sports such as football, baseball, basketball, and lacrosse. I have done a little writing for Inklings, the school newspaper, where I will be involved as a staff writer this year. Read the full story

The postponement of the Staples-Cheshire CIAC Class LL championship game allowed me another day to post this video of the Staples-Xavier semifinal game.

I shot the first two series of the second half. The first was Xavier running back Julian Hayes pounding the ball at will against the Wreckers. The second was Staples running back Matt Kelly putting life back in the game for the Wreckers.

That second series definitely turned the tide for Staples, which had seen its 14-0 lead slip away. The long pass completion from Keith Gelman to Brendan Rankowitz, after a huge loss on a flea-flicker, sparked Staples.

It’s five days till Friday. And I am sure there are a lot of people who are still in shock about the FCIAC Championship Game match-up: Staples vs. Bridgeport Central.

Maybe the fans aren’t as surprised at Staples, which rose to its own challenge of playing Staples football. In the preseason, both Marce Petroccio and Brandon Pacilio talked about how the team’s chemistry improved through graduation and camaraderie, and how playing Staples football was more than just having an “S” on a silver helmet.

Okay, maybe Staples still is a surprise. Pacilio, the quarterback, went down with a season-ending broken leg in Week 6. Some of the media reports between that game at Harding and Keith Gelman’s first start at Ludlowe made it sound like doom and gloom, like Staples would crumble without its leader.

But Gelman proved he could be plugged into the Wreckers’ system, and that Staples would still be Staples.

Bridgeport Central was left for dead after its 21-0 loss to Trumbull in Week 4. Now everyone is scratching their head, wondering what Trumbull did to stop the Hilltoppers’ explosive offense.

It appears the Hilltoppers just didn’t show up that day, and learned from its mistake, which may keep Central from the CIAC Class LL playoffs. Something to point out here: the FCIAC Championship Games does not count in the state playoff rankings because it is not a regularly-scheduled contest.

Central is fourth in Class LL, but can be leapfrogged by Cheshire next Saturday, if it defeats West Haven. The Hilltoppers should defeat Harding on Thanksgiving, but won’t pick up many bonus points by defeating the Presidents and ultimately could need Greenwich to beat Staples to secure a state playoff spot.

So Friday, Central is really playing for everything.

You’ll see in this video that Bridgeport Central did a tremendous job keeping King stars Silas Redd and Kevin Pierre-Louis in check during an early September scrimmage. Say what you want about King, playing in the FAA and whatnot. But you can’t put any running back in the league on the same pedastool as Redd and Pierre-Louis.

Central is also, without a doubt, the most physican and athletic team in the FCIAC. Not only do the Hilltoppers hit, they hit people hard.

So what do you think? Do Christon Gill, Shabashe McIntosh, Dominick Luckey, Ernest Wiggans, Lucas Desousa, Christian Bish and Damien Francis bring its first FCIAC championship to Bridgeport Central? Or does Gelman, Ryan Burke, Matt Kelly, Jake Santora, Brendan Rankowitz, Devin Graber, Adam Rosenbloom and Santiago Caurtas give the Wreckers its first FCIAC title since 2003?

And that lesson: Don’t get complacent. Staples head coach Marce Petroccio said that’s what happened – from top to bottom – with the Wreckers in 2008. With six consecutive post-season appearances, the Wreckers were thinking about post-Thanksgiving football instead of the 11 games that made up the regular season.

“Even the (Westport) community started taking wins for granted,” Petroccio said. “What we learned as a team is you can’t just show up with a silver helmet with a blue ‘S’ on it and expect to win games.”

The Wreckers were 5-1 when a last-minute 21-20 loss to New Canaan sent the team into a downward spiral. Staples lost its confidence and was shut out in three of its last four games to finish the season 6-5. It needed a last-minute touchdown to take an 8-7 win over Ludlowe.

Staples quarterback Brandon Pacilio talked to the camera on Sunday. Here’s what he had to say about the most-recent off-season for Staples.

So what do you think: Will Staples rebound in 2009? Click “Want to leave a comment or read the comments?” below to access The Board.

Last season was, quite frankly, not a good one for Staples. At least by its own set of standards. The Wreckers finished the season with a 6-5 record, and missed the CIAC playoffs for the first time after a string of six straight appearances.

But that could have been a good thing for the Wreckers. The Staples players learned that the postseason is not a given, but a privilege it must earn.

Staples quarterback Brandon Pacilio talked with me today after the Wreckers scrimmage with Seymour and Shelton. And here’s what the co-captain and second-year starter had to say about the team’s long offseason.

By Tim Parry

If Warde head coach Tony Catapano had a say in the matter, he would have dumped the Mustangs’ black helmets three seasons ago, when he took the job.

But his sons, Maxx and Marcello, liked them. So he kept with them until they graduated, Catapano told me during a Hall of Fame Classic practice session.

Anyone who has seen Warde in the pre-season – or Chike Madu during the Classic – knows they switched to white helmets, and kept the black facemasks. The pretzel “W” above will be on the sides. And I’m guessing there will be a uniform tweak as well, since Catapano says they will look a lot like Louisville.

And then there’s Staples, getting rid of the Dallas Cowboys look and putting this shield (left) on the sleeves, according to assistant coach Jack McFarland.

Not that I’m the fashion police, but in my book, it’s a good thing. Those jerseys, with the sewn-on numbers, looked great on the first day. Then when they were washed, they got all wrinkled and whatnot, and the Wreckers looked like they were wearing pajamas.

There’s also going to be a tweak to the helmet. It appears there will be a single dark blue stripe down the middle, and a wider “S” on the side.

I’m a font freak, but I don’t know which is used for the new Staples helmet logo.

Any other emperors getting new clothes? Leave a comment and describe what’s going on.

When the average sports fan hears the name “Mike Samela” in the fall, the thought of the Staples quarterback running a bootleg for an overtime touchdown as snow showers fell on New Canaan’s Dunning Field to lift the Wreckers to the FCIAC football title game comes to mind.

In the springtime, it’s the thought of an athletic catcher who lets nothing get past him, and a dominant hitter on the baseball diamond.

Though the senior’s high school career will end in May – or June – of this year, his dominance on the athletic fields should continue for four more years. Samela has agreed to play both baseball and football at Amherst, and his Wreckers coaches think he can handle the balance of athletics and academics.

And they don’t have to look far down Samela’s family tree for proof: Matt Samela, Mike’s brother, is a starter on both the football and baseball teams at Ithaca College.

“He’s tremendously gifted, He’s a kid that will keep getting better and better,” said Staples head football coach Marce Petroccio, who took in the Staples-Ludlowe game last Friday. “He’s going to have a great career at Amherst and he’s going to get a great education, so it’s a home run for Amherst.”

Though Samela was Staples’ starting quarterback for just one season, he’s slated to play the position at Amherst.

“He’s got a tremendous arm, he’s got quick feet, he should do very well there,” Petroccio said.

Staples head baseball coach Jack McFarland, who has also coached Samela on the football field, said playing two sports in college is very difficult, but believes Samela is the kind of kid who can do it.

“Most kids are told you can’t do it, don’t do it, it’s too much,” McFarland said. “But he’s a high achiever, I think he’ll do fine.”

There is, of course, the challenges involved in balancing two sports and academics, one that Petroccio said can become a conflict even on the high school level.

“The football coach wants you lifting weights and getting ready for spring football, and the baseball coach wants you playing fall baseball,” Petroccio said. “But if anyone can do it, Mike can do it. He’s a type of kid that will do whatever you ask whenever you ask. But when you pile it on with the academics, it’s a lot to ask a kid.”

LocalSportsFeed founder Tim Parry sat down with Samela after the Staples-Ludlowe game. Here’s what he had to say about the challenge:

Staples running back-defensive back Colin O’Shea is the FCIAC Football Blog and BlueStreak Sports Training Player of the Week for Week 4 of the 2007 football season.

In the Wreckers’ 20-7 win over Ridgefield, O’Shea had a phenomenal afternoon.

On offense, O’Shea carried the ball 8 times for 139 yards and a 69-yard touchdown. He also had three catches for 107 yards and two scores. One touchdown was a 19 yarder, the other was from 39.

Defensively, O’Shea also had six tackles and sacked Ridgefield quarterback Matt White once.

Also nominated this week:

• Henri Fatigate, FB-LB, Fairfield Ludlowe
• Mike Dinihanian, WR-DB, St. Joseph
• Jonathan Meyers, FB-LB, Greenwich
• Mike Parelli, WR-DB, Greenwich

For a quick video of O’Shea’s performance, click below: