The Academics knock off New Jersey power Hoboken.

Free safety Jeremy Moore led a stifling Hillhouse defense, making 12 tackles and four interceptions, and opened the second half with an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to lead the Academics to a 24-6 football victory over host Hoboken, N.J., which is ranked No. 15 in New Jersey.

It was the opener for both teams.

Hillhouse quarterback Bernard Risco led the Academics on offense with 105 yards rushing, including touchdown runs of 7 and 3 yards.

The Academics finished with over 280 yards of total offense.

Cheshire made too many mental mistakes, and it cost them against Hamden on Friday. The Green Dragons rallied to score twice before halftime to tie the game at 20, and then scored the eventual winning touchdown early in the fourth quarter to emerge with a 27-20 victory.

Late in the game, however, Cheshire quarterback Billy Ragone, a Register All-Area selection last season, and one of the state's best entering 2008, missed a key series in the fourth quarter with leg cramps.

Ragone wasn't effective late in the game, and if it wasn't for the injury, Cheshire might've have been able to engineer a comeback.

Cheshire coach Mark Ecke was disappointed with that turn of events, but didn't blame an injury to his star player with how the game ended. Ragone is also a defensive back.

"It displeases me greatly," Ecke said. "All the running that we do, and all that stuff. It's frustrating. But you're talking about a kid who doesn't come off the field. He's in the heat of every play. It's a humid night and he's running around in a quagmire (due to a soaking rain throughout the game)."

Ragone completed 12-of-28 passes for 57 yards and ran the ball 18 times for 59 yards and one touchdown.

Hamden junior quarterback Jason Lassiter had a role in all four of the Green Dragons' touchdowns in a 27-20 win over Cheshire in head coach Scott Benoit's debut at Hamden.

Lassiter completed 12-of-23 passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns, and he also scored twice on the ground, including a 13-yard score in the fourth quarter for the eventual game-winner.

Cheshire led 20-6 in the second quarter before Hamden rallied for two scores of its own before halftime.

Read the full story in Saturday's Register as well as game stories on Cross-Hyde and Amity-Branford, and a full football roundup.

I just got an e-mail alerting me that the starting time for the Hyde at Wilbur Cross game has been moved up to 3:30 p.m. today.

It was originally scheduled for 4 p.m.


The time change has been updated on the CIAC website.

With the schedule allowing an 11th game this season, Hand wanted to go outside its league and play of the state's top programs. The Tigers approached New London, who agreed to the game. Hand wanted to host, and play down at the Surf Club in Madison, which is considered one of the best home-field advantages in the state.

Although New London agreed to traveling down I-95, there was some chatter that the New London coaches wanted to play at a neutral site.

New London addressed that matter after his team emerged with a 20-6 victory on Thursday.

"We'll play anybody anytime," New London coach Jack Cochran said. "Northwest Catholic, we played them in Week 1 (last year). We want to play great programs. We don't want to get stuck with games where we're not competitive. The only thing I wish with this game was that we played on a neutral site. I fought hard for it. I think they did a great job here. But a lot of people had trouble getting in, a lot of trouble parking. If we do it again we should do it at Central Connecticut (or) West Haven (or) Southern Connecticut where we could fit a big, big (crowd). I think that was the only negative thing."

Cochran praised his senior running back/defensive back Richie Vitale. Vitale rushed 26 times for 102 yards and made numerous tackles.

"He's the heart and soul," Cochran said.

The New London Whalers scored two first quarter touchdowns, both by senior quarterback Jordan Reed, and emerged with a 20-6 win over Hand in a battle of teams ranked in the Register Top 10 Poll, before 4,000 at the Surf Club in Madison.

Read the full story in Friday's Register.

The preseason poll has been tabulated and sent off to press.

The following five teams received first-place votes:

Hand
New London
Greenwich
Ansonia
Bunnell

One of them finished at No. 1.

Find out in our special preview section on Thursday.

In our regular section there is an article on Hand-New London, and my predictions for each area game this weekend.

Each week during football season, I pick which teams will emerge victorious. That feature usually appears every Friday in the Register as part of the football package.

Since there are a few games tomorrow, they will run in Thursday's edition this week.

But since it's opening week, I thought I would throw my picks up on the blog. Feel free to add your thoughts. Coaches always get all fired up about the pics and usually aren't shy about letting me know when I get one wrong.

It's just for fun, and I usually tell them thanks for reading.
My picks are in bold. One may have better luck by calling Miss Cleo.

Thursday
New London at Hand
Stratford at Law
Ansonia at Sacred Heart
Platt Tech at Foran
Lyman Hall at Maloney

Friday
Seymour at Torrington
Wilby at Naugatuck
Woodland at Wolcott
Morgan at North Branford
Amity at Branford
Hamden at Cheshire
North Haven at Guilford
Hyde at Wilbur Cross
Sheehan at Platt
East Lyme at East Haven
Newtown at Shelton
Oxford at St. Paul/Goodwin Tech/Lewis Mills
Xavier at Northwest Catholic

Saturday
Vinal Tech/Coginchaug at Wolcott Tech
Hillhouse at Hoboken (N.J.)
Bunnell at Middletown
Derby/O'Brien Tech at Wilcox Tech

I am in the process of receiving ballots for the New Haven Register Top 10 Preseason Poll. While I have not begun to tabulate the votes since not everyone has voted, I can tell you a few things:

So far, four teams have received first-place votes. Right now, it breaks down like this:

One team has received 12 first-place votes while two teams have garnered two each. Another teams has received a single first-place vote.

35 teams have received votes so far while just three have been on every ballot.

There are certainly some of the old standbys getting a lot of votes, and some who have been voted on based on reputation and others who enjoyed great success in 2007. But there are some newbies and some surprises, and others who are projected to do well but still have a lot to prove.

Check out the complete poll in our special preview section on Thursday. But in the meantime, feel free to leave your comment and give us your Top 10.

The New Haven Register will publish its annual High School football preview on Thursday Sept. 11.

The special section will include:

The preseason Top 10 Poll
The Top 30 Players to Watch
The 2007 Final Standings
The Football Forecast for area conferences
Preview Capsules
Multiple features on some of the top players and teams from around the state
Bob Barton's annual Road Trip Column
Dave Solomon's interesting take on a hot topic for the upcoming season
The 2008 Schedule for every team in the state
A list of the 2008 CIAC playoff divisions by class

And much, much more.

Below is the schedule for games that will be broadcast on WTNH.

All games will be streamed live on WTNH.com.

The first date and time is when the game will be streamed live. The second date and time is when it will be broadcast on tape delay.

WCTX/MyTV9 schedule

New London at Hand Sept. 11 7 p.m. Sept. 13 7 p.m.

Hand at Hamden Sept. 19 7 p.m. Sept. 20 7 p.m.

Shelton at Cheshire Sept. 26 7 p.m. Sept. 27 7 p.m.

Cheshire at Notre Dame (W.H.) Oct. 10 7 p.m. Oct. 11 7 p.m.

Simsbury at Southington Oct. 17 7 p.m. Oct. 18 7 p.m.

Fitch at New London Oct. 25 1:30 p.m. Oct. 26 7 p.m.

Xavier at Fairfield Prep Nov. 7 7 p.m. Nov. 8 7 p.m.

Southington at New Britain Nov. 14 7 p.m. Nov. 15 7 p.m.

New London at Ledyard Nov. 20 10 a.m. Nov. 22 7 p.m.

MSG will carry the following game:

Hand at Fairfield Prep, Friday, Sept. 26, 6 p.m., tape delay to Sunday morning on MSG