Quarterback Turner Baty completed 19 of 32 passes for 224 yards with four touchdowns to lead the top-seeded New Canaan football team to a 28-0 victory over No. 2 East Lyme in the Class MM state championship game Saturday at Bunnell High in Stratford.

The Rams, ranked No. 7 in the Register Top 10 poll, earned their fourth straight Class MM title and eighth overall.

Baty threw touchdown passes of 9, 18 and 23 yards to Cody Newton and a 19-yard touchdown pass to Willie Ouelette.

Newton had 10 catches for 125 yards and Ouelette had four for 48 yards for the Rams (11-1). Peter Park had 12 carries for 63 yards New Canaan.

Kevin Miao ran 15 times for 49 yards and Jordan McCoy had 47 yards on 10 carries for the Vikings (10-2).

Class SS
St. Joseph 14, Montville 3: Tyler Matakevich scored a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs in the fourth quarter as the No. 4 Cadets rallied to win the championship at Strong Stadium in West Haven.

St. Joseph (10-2) took advantage of six Montville turnovers, including five lost fumbles, to win the school’s ninth state title, but first since 1990.

Matakevich ran for 111 yards on 31 carries, but he only had two carries over 10 yards.

Montville quarterback J.P. Morales connected with Jesse Sutherland on a 52-yard pass play on Montville’s first play from scrimmage, but the Indians had the first of their six turnovers on the goal line when Morales couldn’t handle a snap three plays later.

Morales threw for 76 yards, all to Sutherland, and ran for 53 more. Montville’s Ben Middel kicked a 47-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to give the Indians (10-2) a 3-0 halftime lead.

Hyde 21, Northwest Catholic 0
(at Waterbury)

Hyde 0 14 0 7 — 21
Northwest Catholic 0 0 0 0 — 0

Second quarter
H—DeShawn Murphy 60 pass from Joe Lambert (pass failed)
H—Joe Lambert 44 pass from Kendell Groom (Lambert run)
Fourth quarter
H—Justen Wilson 1 run (Murphy kick)

TEAM STATISTICS
NWC HY
First downs 10 11
Rushing yards 111 136
Passing yards 34 104
Comp-att-int 5-18-1 2-8-2
Fumbles-lost 4-4 2-2
Penalties-yards 3-31 6-45
Punts-avg 7-35.7 6-38.5
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing—HY: Kendell Groom, 6--5; Joe Lambert, 13-46; Myles Morrison, 9-29; Justen Wilson, 13-66; NWC: Ras Morgan, 12-59; Jack Murphy, 12-9; Justin Strid, 6-21; Jack Hayes, 6-22; Nicholas Calitri, 2-0;
Receiving—HY: Joe Lambert, 1-44; DeShawn Murphy, 1-60; NWC: Kevin OToole, 4-30; Ted Terrion, 1-4;
Passing—HY: Kendell Groom, 1-7-44-2; Joe Lambert, 1-1-60-0; NWC: Jack Murphy, 5-18-34-1;
Team records: Northwest Catholic 10-2; Hyde 11-1
Attendance: 1,500.

Senior Joe Lambert caught a 44-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Kendell Groom, and Lambert tossed a 60-yard touchdown pass to senior DeShawn Murphy on a half-back option, to lift the Hyde football teams to a 21-0 victory over Northwest Catholic Saturday before an estimated 1,500 at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury.

The second-seeded Howling Wolves (11-1), who led 14-0 at halftime, won their fourth state title this decade. Hyde also won in 2000, 2004 and 2005.

Senior Justen Wilson added a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for the Howling Wolves.

Wilson rushed for a team-high 66 yards on 13 carries. Lambert added 13 carries for 46 yards. Murphy recorded three sacks, and Hyde forced five turnovers, including four in the first half.

Junior Ras Morgan led the top-seeded Indians with 59 yards on 12 carries. Senior quarterback Jack Murphy completed 5 of 18 passes for 34 yards and an interception. Northwest Catholic (10-2) was playing in its first state title game.

This was sent by the CIAC:

In regards to Saturday's weather forecast, the current plan is to play all games as scheduled.

If any changes are necessary they will be posted at ciacsports.com no later then 10:00am on Saturday for the 2:00pm games, and 3:00pm on Saturday for the 7:00pm games.

Cheshire lost just one game this season, to Class L finalist Notre Dame-West Haven 40-35 in the closing minute on Oct. 9.

Since then, the Rams have won seven straight games and play for the Class LL state title against Staples on Saturday (7 p.m. at West Haven's Strong Stadium).

Although that loss ended Cheshire's hopes for a perfect season, that game might've been the turning point in the Rams' season.

"After the Notre Dame game, that's when everything really started to click," Cheshire senior Dan Sweeney said. "It was such a hard loss, but, at practice that week, we really came together."

Cheshire will attempt to win its seventh state title. The Rams won six straight from 1992-1997. It lost to Glastonbury in the Class LL final last season.

"Everyone's just congratulating all of the football guys," Sweeney said. "The town is supporting us very much. The alumni have been supportive. They have been coming back to Cheshire a lot to watch us play. We've been getting text messages getting ready for Saturday. Cheshire football is family."

Read more on Cheshire in Friday's Register.

Bassick is one of 10 national finalists in the Friday Night Feats high school football video contest on YouTube sponsored by State Farm.

With 15.5 seconds to go, quarterback Rodney Lanham connected with tailback Davonte "Petey" Franklin on a dramatic 34-yard touchdown pass that helped the Lions defeat Harding 18-12 on Nov. 16.

A panel of judges selected the finalists from the 51 videos fans voted as Zone winners. Viewers will choose the grand prize winner by voting for their favorite video on YouTube between Dec. 3 and Dec. 10.

Now it is the fans’ turn to vote with winners announced on Dec. 14. The grand prize is $15,000 with $10,000 for first place and $5,000 for second place. State Farm will have awarded almost to $160,000 to schools during the Friday Night Feats contest this year.

To view contest information and contest rules visit http://www.fridaynightfeats.com/. To see the finalist videos and all of the others submitted this year, visit the State Farm Friday Night Feats contest on YouTube at www.youtube.com/fridaynightfeats.

Kevin Pierre-Louis of King Low Heywood Thomas has been selected as the 2009-10 Gatorade Connecticut Football Player of the Year. Pierre-Louis is the school's first recipient of the state player of the year honor.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior middle linebacker and fullback amassed 159 tackles, including 101 solo tackles, this past season for the Vikings (8-1), who fell to Suffield Academy, 34-13, in the New England Prep School Athletic Conference Delprete-Theobold championship game.

Pierre-Louis also recorded three interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, two sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. On offense, Pierre-Louis rushed for 914 yards and 13 touchdowns on 77 carries, averaging 11.9 yards per attempt, and caught four passes for 84 yards and three touchdowns.

He has made a verbal commitment to play at Boston College.

Here are the times and sites for Saturday's CIAC football matchups:

Class LL
No.3 Cheshire (10-1) vs. No.1 Staples (12-0), 7 p.m. at Ken Strong Stadium, West Haven

Class L
No.3 Notre Dame-West Haven (10-1) vs. No.1 Pomperaug (12-0), 2 p.m. at Shelton High School

Class MM
No.2 East Lyme (10-1) vs. No.1 New Canaan (10-1), 2 p.m. at Bunnell High School

Class M
No.3 Berlin (9-2) vs. No.4 Bethel (9-2), 7 p.m. at Municipal Stadium, Waterbury

Class SS
No.2 Montville (10-1) vs. No.4 St. Joseph (9-2), 2 p.m. at Ken Strong Stadium, West Haven

Class S
No.2 Hyde Leadership (10-1) vs. No.1 Northwest Catholic (10-1), 2 p.m. at Municipal Stadium, Waterbury

A little surprised Notre Dame-West Haven vs. Pomperaug not at West Haven. There was talk last night that this game could draw well and West Haven was best equipped, but committee probably took into account fairness of Pomperaug having to play on a West Haven field.

Look for more from the CIAC luncheon later today from Mike Pucci and Joe Morelli.

Sean Barker

Here are results from Tuesday's Semifinals and the matchups for Saturday's championships:


CLASS LL
Semifinals
Tuesday’s results
No. 1 Staples 31, No. 4 Xavier 28
No. 3 Cheshire 20, No. 2 Glastonbury 6
Final
Saturday
Site and time, TBA
Staples vs. Cheshire

Class L
Semifinals
Tuesday’s results
No. 1 Pomperaug 41, No. 4 Simsbury 26
No. 3 Notre Dame-West Haven 42,
No. 2 Conard 14
Final
Saturday
Site and time, TBA
Pomperaug vs. Notre Dame-West Haven

Class MM
Semifinals
Tuesday’s results
No. 1 New Canaan 14, No. 4 St. Paul/Goodwin Tech 13
No. 2 East Lyme 39, No. 3 Vinal Tech/Coginchaug 0
Final
Saturday
Site and time, TBA
New Canaan vs. East Lyme

Class M
Semifinals
Tuesday’s results
No. 3 Berlin 35, No. 2 Avon 28
No. 4 Bethel 34, No. 1 New London 12
Final
Saturday
Site and time, TBA
Berlin vs. Bethel

Class SS
Semifinals
Tuesday’s results
No. 2 Montville 49, No. 3 Bullard-Havens 12
No. 4 St. Joseph 56, No. 1 Holy Cross 7
Final
Saturday
Site and time, TBA
Montville vs. St. Joseph

Class S
Semifinals
Tuesday’s results
No. 1 Northwest Catholic 24, No. 4 Ansonia 0
No. 2 Hyde 40, No. 3 Bloomfield 26
Final
Saturday
Site and time, TBA
Northwest Catholic vs. Hyde

Senior running back Juston Wilson rushed 24 times for 151 yards and one touchdown to lift the second-seeded Hyde football team to a 40-26 victory over No. 3 Bloomfield in the Class S state semifinals Tuesday at Strong Stadium in West Haven.

Senior Joe Lambert added 111 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries and senior Myles Morrison rushed 14 times for 83 yards and three touchdowns for the Howling Wolves (10-1).

Hyde will face No. 1 Northwest Catholic (10-1) in the championship game on Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

The Howling Wolves rushed 56 times for 370 and six touchdowns. Hyde, which led 26-0 at halftime, did not complete a pass in the game, and made just one attempt.

Bloomfield (9-2) senior quarterback Denzel Jones completed 14 of 20 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns. Junior wide receiver Parris Woods made seven catches for 163 yards and three touchdowns for the Warhawks.

Staples (11-0) remained No. 1 in the Top 10 Poll.

The rest of the Top 5:

2. Pomperaug (11-0)
3. New London (10-0)
4. Xavier (9-1)
5. Notre Dame-West Haven (9-1)

To see the complete poll, check out Tuesday's Register. Also Tuesday, stories on Notre Dame-West Haven (Class L) and Ansonia (Class S) and capsules on all 12 semifinal games.