Fall Sports Awards

December 5th, 2008 | Posted in news | No Comments »

Each year I write a fall sports awards column. I’m not certain yet whether it will appear in the newspaper or the blog — I am guessing it will be the paper. What I am certain of is this is probably the hardest year I will have picking winners, and I am probably going to have to create some new categories to accommodate everyone.

Who was the best team this fall? The New Canaan and Darien football teams? The Darien and Stamford field hockey teams? The Staples boys soccer team or Darien volleyball team? On any normal year any one of these is deserving.

What makes it more interesting is that almost every one of these teams has an interesting backstory. Then there is the case of the most valuable player and some other athletes who operate under the radar but have proved worthy of attention.

As I make my final decisions, if anyone out there has any opinions or wants to weigh in, send along your ideas.

An Appreciation

December 5th, 2008 | Posted in news | No Comments »

Sometime late tomorrow afternoon, either the New Canaan football team will be celebrating a perfect season with an FCIAC and state championship, or Darien will avenge its loss in the league final with a state title as the two arch-rivals play for the second time in nine days.

Whatever the outcome, both teams will walk off the field victors and they deserve to be congratulated.

As the CIAC again shows us that there may not be a more incompetent organization in existence — we still have six state championship games and the location and scheduling of the finals lead to further head-scratching — New Canaan and Darien have given us two perfect weeks of high school sports.

From the hype leading up to the league final between two undefeated teams ranked first and third in the state, to a good but not great game before 9,500 fans, to the teams winning their Class MM semifinal games to create a rematch, to further hype heading into tomorrow, the teams have created perhaps the best two weeks in the 80 years since they first met.

The two teams have handled the scrutiny with dignity and class, starting with the coaches — Darien’s Rob Trifone and New Canaan’s Lou Marinelli — down to their players.

In the process of doing justice to the tremendous buildup for both games, everyone involved has created memories that will last a lifetime.

The outcome of tomorrow’s game is going to create a tremendous storyline for the winning team. But in the final 24 hours before kickoff, lets take a step back and appreciate the excitement two great teams have given to what has already been one of the best years in FCIAC history.

New Canaan-Darien State Final Heading To……..Trumbull

December 3rd, 2008 | Posted in news | No Comments »

Despite the efforts by New Canaan and Darien officials to get the game moved to Boyle Stadium, the Class MM final will be held at Trumbull High School Saturday at 2 p.m.

The two teams met on Thanksgiving morning in the FCIAC final before 9,500 fans in Stamford. While the crowd Saturday is not expected to be quite as high because many alumni who were in town for the holiday have returned to college or their homes, estimates right now are for a crowd somewhere between 5,000-7,000.

New Canaan, which is 12-0, defeated Darien (11-1) for the league championship, 28-20.

CIAC officials contacted FCIAC executive secretary John Kuczo last week about holding the final in Boyle Stadium, where planned renovations on the turf field were scheduled to begin last Monday. They were delayed until this Monday in the eventuality the state decided to move the game there.

The possible cost of holding the game on the Stamford High School campus might have been one deterrent in the state’s decision to play in Trumbull, though another is the site will host two state finals. Ansonia and Cromwell will meet for the Class S title that night.

I just spoke to both New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli and Darien coach Rob Trifone as they headed up for this morning’s press conference with all 12 finalists. They held the party line: that while they would have preferred to play the game in Stamford, Trumbull was probably the next best option.

“If you can’t hold it in Boyle you might as well hold it in Trumbull,” Marinelli said. “I’m glad they kept it in Fairfield County. It makes sense.”

“No. 1 I’m glad they kept the game in Fairfield County as opposed to the New Canaan area,” Trifone said. “It was the right decision.”

New Canaan will be attempting for its third straight state title. Darien last won it in 1996.

This will be the second time in nine years the teams have met twice in a short time period. New Canaan, which had already won the FCIAC title, defeated Darien on Thanksgiving in 1999, but the Blue Wave bounced back to win a rematch in the state semifinals five days later before losing to Weaver in the final.

Boyle Available for Class MM Final…but Probably Won’t Be Used

December 2nd, 2008 | Posted in news | 2 Comments »

Should the New Canaan and Darien football teams win their semifinal games tonight, Boyle Stadium would be available to host a CIAC Class MM championship between the teams on Saturday. The game would have to be in the afternoon because of a rule of no night games when the schools meet because of a fight at a hockey match last winter.

But don’t count on the teams returning to Stamford. Darien athletic director John Keleher just told me he spoke with Paul Hoey of the CIAC, who said if the teams both win — New Canaan hosts Weaver and Darien travels to Hillhouse tonight — the rematch would be held Saturday afternoon at Trumbull High School. A Weaver-Darien or New Canaan-Hillhouse final would apparently be held at Southern Connecticut State University.

The state will decide on the sites and times for its six title games tomorrow morning.

FCIAC executive secretary John Kuczo said this morning that the facility manager engineers for the city of Stamford have agreed to put off renovations on Boyle Stadium, which includes the installation of a new field turf surface, by a week until next Monday.

The CIAC contacted Kuczo last week about the availability of Boyle Stadium for a possible title game rematch. Kuczo had to submit a voucher today for what it would cost the state to hold a game on the Stamford High School campus.

There was a crowd of 9,500 people on Thanksgiving morning for the teams’ FCIAC title game, which New Canaan won, 28-20. One would assume a crowd on Saturday would not be as large because of the alumni who were home for the holiday who attended the game. But you would also pick up a lot of general fans who went to watch other Thanksgiving games and have an extremely large crowd.

It sounds like the cost of holding a New Canaan-Darien rematch in Stamford would be too prohibitive for the state.

New Canaan Wins FCIAC Title

November 27th, 2008 | Posted in news | No Comments »

STAMFORD — Nate Quinn threw three first quarter touchdown passes and New Canaan High School held off a late comeback bid to defeat Darien and win the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship, 28-20, before a crowd of 9,500 at Boyle Stadium Wednesday morning.

It was the first league title since 2000 for the Rams (11-0), who will be the No. 1 seed in the CIAC Class MM playoffs, which begin Tuesday. They are the No. 1 team in both state polls and will be attempting to win their third straight CIAC championship.

Darien, which is now 10-1, slipped to the third seed in the Class MM Tournament, meaning with semifinal wins the teams could meet again in eight days for the state title.

The much-hyped game, dubbed the Turkey Bowl in both towns, saw the two teams enter Wednesday’s game unbeaten. It drew what is believed to be the second largest crowd for an FCIAC final, surpassed only by the 1966 game between Stamford Catholic and Rippowam.

Wednesday’s game appeared as if it would be a blowout early, as Quinn, the Rams’ dynamic quarterback, completed a 21-yard scoring pass to Mike DiRocco just over two minutes in. Before the first quarter had ended, he had connected with his favorite receiver, Kurt Ondash, on touchdowns of 67 and 30 yards to give New Canaan a 21-0 lead.

But the Blue Wave battled back and got within 21-14 on Nikki Dysenchuk’s 1-yard touchdown run on the opening play of the fourth quarter.

After the Rams blocked a field goal attempt, Chris Sciarretta secured the victory with a 28-yard touchdown run with 3:54 remaining.

Darien got a touchdown on the game’s final play.

FCIAC Final Ticket Sales Approaching 7,000

November 26th, 2008 | Posted in news | 1 Comment »

New Canaan athletic director Jay Egan said early this afternoon that sales for tomorrow’s Darien-New Canaan FCIAC final are up to 6,800. With the walk-up crowd, one suspects the final gate could reach somewhere between 7,500-8,000.

For those who cannot get to the game, it will be broadcast live on the AM dial at 1400WSTC/1350WNLK. Kickoff is at 10:30.

Egan again emphasized that because parking will be tight, people coming to the game should try to carpool.

Next Stop, Giants Stadium?

November 25th, 2008 | Posted in news | No Comments »

When Jay Egan pulled into the parking lot outside his office at New Canaan High School this morning, he was amazed to find a line of several hundred people waiting to purchase tickets for Thursday’s can’t-be-hyped-enough FCIAC title game between the Rams and Darien.

“This game may be too big for that stadium,” the New Canaan athletic director said jokingly, referring to Boyle Stadium, the new home for the contest after it was moved from the Rams’ home field on Monday to accommodate the huge crowd expected. “The interest is unbelievable, and because people think there’s going to be a shortage they are buying them up.”

As of early this afternoon there have been about 6,500 tickets sold, meaning around 2,500 were purchased today in a little over five hours. The numbers are split about evenly down the line between the schools. Darien athletic director John Keleher said while the line at his school was not quite as long as New Canaan’s, people were buying tickets in blocks of 10 and 15 apiece.

“There’s no precedent for this,” Egan said. “The way people have reacted to this, you have to step back and see how interested people are in the communities.”

Say what you want about how the FCIAC handled the 11th-hour change in venue — and I can guarantee you I have been removed from the league’s Christmas card list for this column in today’s paper: Delay in decision to switch hurts FCIAC’s credibility — Thursday’s game at Boyle is going to create one of the great spectacles in recent history and a real bonanza for the FCIAC.

Just to clear up one point people were wondering about: New Canaan will get to host the schools’ Thanksgiving game next year since it lost the home game this year.

Since fans outside of the two towns have yet to get tickets, there will probably be a decent sized walk-up crowd. It would not be surprising if it reached or surpassed 8,000.

Egan advised people to try and carpool to the game because the parking will be extremely limited for the number of people attending. Besides the lot across from the school, there will be space available at the Tully Center.

Hopefully now all the controversy has been cast aside and the focus can return to the game.

New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli is still upset by the way the situation was handled, but he said this afternoon, “My job was to do what’s best for the kids and that’s what I did. Now it’s time to move on and get ready.”

FCIAC Final Moving to Boyle

November 24th, 2008 | Posted in news | No Comments »

The ongoing saga over the location for Thursday morning’s FCIAC football championship game was finalized this afternoon when the FCIAC Board of Directors took the decision away from New Canaan and decided to move the contest from Dunning Field to Boyle Stadium.

New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli found out about this at 3 p.m. on his way to practice and to say he is irate would be an understatement. I just got off the phone with him at 4 and he still hadn’t told his players.

There was talk about moving the game for a few days to accommodate the large crowd. The FCIAC told New Canaan it was the school’s choice to make, and New Canaan athletic director Jay Egan put the decision in Marinelli’s hand. Marinelli decided to keep the home game, then Darien petitioned the FCIAC and the FCIAC board of directors decided to move the game.

New Canaan put a limit of 4,000 tickets, and they were sold out at 10 this morning, in just over two days. Boyle can hold about twice that amount.

Egan said tickets sales will resume at both schools tomorrow morning.

Egan said, “I supported playing the game at home and support the coaches and players wanting to play at home, and now I have to support the FCIAC’s decision and go forward. I resent being put in the middle of this.

We’ll have more on this in tomorrow’s paper, but the FCIAC is doing a pretty good impersonation of the CIAC, the most feckless organization around. While the FCIAC’s intentions are good, they can’t put the choice in Marinelli’s hands and then say they don’t like the decision.

FCIAC Title Game Likely Staying in New Canaan

November 23rd, 2008 | Posted in news | No Comments »

I just got off the phone with New Canaan football coach Lou Marinelli and in his words “it is 99 percent certain” the FCIAC title game against Darien Thanksgiving morning will be played at Dunning Field.

There was some talk of moving the game to Boyle Stadium because of the huge crowd expected. Right now New Canaan is estimating it can accommodate a crowd of 4,000 and 3,500 tickets were sold the first two days they went on sale. Boyle could handle about twice as many fans.

Marinelli met with his players today and they agreed: they do not want to give up the home-field advantage, especially after playing on the road for six straight weeks before last weekend’s game against Wilton.

“I feel we owe it to our kids and the community to keep it in New Canaan and be selfish about it,” Marinelli said.

Marinelli said he was told last week by Jay Egan, the school’s athletic director, and administrators that the decision was his to make. Unless something has changed, Marinelli plans on walking into Egan’s office tomorrow morning and telling him to prepare for the biggest crowd in the history of Dunning Field.

“I talked to the kids and they agreed that whether we have 8,000 people or 4,000 people, we all thought it was important to keep the game at home for several reasons, including out of respect for a lot of the people in New Canaan who wouldn’t come to the game if it was in Stamford,” Marinelli said.

Expect New Canaan to take some criticism this week for not moving the game to get the largest crowd possible.

But you really can’t get on the Rams for wanting to maintain their home-field advantage. When Staples and Greenwich played for the FCIAC title last year under similar circumstances the game wasn’t moved. The same thing happened seven years ago when Greenwich and Danbury met on Thanksgiving for the championship.

Most schools under the circumstances would want to maintain their edge. You can’t blame New Canaan for doing so, though a lot of fans unable to get tickets no doubt will.

If anything should change tomorrow, the deadline for making a move, we will have the information for you.

Site of FCIAC Title Game Still Uncertain

November 23rd, 2008 | Posted in news | No Comments »

Word has leaked out about the possibility that the FCIAC championship game between New Canaan and Darien may be moved to Boyle Stadium Thanksgiving morning. I learned about this yesterday morning and spoke both to New Canaan’s athletic director, Jay Egan, and coach, Lou Marinelli, and all I can tell you is as of right now no decision has been made.

Egan understandably has tried to keep the possibility out of the press for fear that there could be a lot of talk about moving the game and then nothing happens. He is trying to limit any confusion. But a lot of people have been inquiring about the situation so here is a thumbnail sketch.

Tickets went on sale Thursday at the two schools and 3,500 were sold in two days. Egan said the school can reasonably handle around 4,000 people. So the possibility was raised about moving the game to Boyle Stadium, which can hold about 6,000-7,000.

The decision is New Canaan’s call and right now the people involved are torn about what to do. The Rams don’t want to give up the home-field advantage. They also played six straight games on the road before hosting Wilton a week ago yesterday.

On the other hand, there is something to be said about getting the chance to play before what would be one of the biggest crowds for an FCIAC game in recent memory.

Two other variables: Egan is concerned about the problem of a huge traffic nightmare becoming exacerbated by people without tickets taking up parking spaces and then being unable to get into a sold-out game. And the playing surface at Boyle is the first-generation turf that is as hard as a rock.

Marinelli said yesterday he really was conflicted about what to do. He said he planned on talking to his players today to get their input.

What is the right answer? I don’t think there is one. New Canaan cannot be faulted for not wanting to sacrifice a home game. There is also the allure of the huge crowd and the New Canaan people wanting to make tickets available to everyone.

All I can tell you with any certainty is a decision will be made by early afternoon tomorrow. Stamford and Westhill will be playing their holiday game at Boyle the night before.

Check back and we will have updates as they become available.