NEW HAVEN — The Southern Connecticut State football team lost 16 starters from last season’s 7-3 squad. The Owls lost All-American running back Rashaad Slowley, quarterback Kevin Lynch and nearly the entire defensive unit.

The talk around the powerful Northeast-10 Conference is that the Owls, a perennial conference contender, are rebuilding.

“Let us be the underdogs,” SCSU sophomore safety Dion O’Joe said. “It’s great that they think like that. It will just be more disappointing for the rest of the teams.”

Read more from Bill Cloutier here.

Via press release

The Rivals Northeast Combine and Skills Academy run by The Program will take place on Friday May 4 at Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport.

Registration is at 3 p.m. 

The Combine runs from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and is open to any aspiring Division I/I-AA football players currently in grades 9 to 11.

Registration can be done at: http://theprogram1.com/wp/

Rob Marone was unanimously approved by the Wallingford Board of Education to be the next head football coach at Lyman Hall.

Marone, who served the last four seasons as the offensive coordinator at Wilbur Cross, takes over for Chip McKeehan, who stepped down in January after 12 seasons with the Trojans. McKeehan replaced Phil Ottochian, who stepped down after 32 seasons in 1999.

"It's definitely a bit overwhelming being the next guy in line after Chip McKeehan and after coach Ottochian," said Marone, who played at Lyman Hall. "I'm definitely looking forward to giving back, and being an influence to the kids like those guys were on me."

Marone will continue his full-time position as a physical education teacher at Wilbur Cross.

"I'm happy for him," Wilbur Cross coach John Acquavita said. "It's nice for him to get a shot at this. He's going to be missed."

NEW HAVEN — Week after week last season Jacob Jablonski got a small taste of what college football would be like.

As the backup to All-American quarterback Kevin Lynch at Southern Connecticut State, Jablonski took over for the second series of every game. It was a conscious decision by Owls’ coach Rich Cavanaugh to prepare his young blood for the upcoming season.

Now it’s time to see if how much it has paid off. With Lynch among the 20 seniors gone from the Owls Jablonski will take over as signal-caller taking over a team that went 7-3 last season and is seeking a return to the NCAA Division II playoffs.

“Losing 20 seniors we’re trying to find out who the new leaders are,” Cavanaugh said. “We have some guys stepping up, and (Jablonski’s) certainly one of them.”

Read more from Bill Cloutier here.

UCONN

EAST HARTFORD — Chandler Whitmer is certainly happy he’s not in Kansas anymore. And not just because he avoided a series of tornadoes last weekend that ripped through Butler County, where he attended community college last fall.

Whitmer, who transferred to UConn in January, made quite an impression in his Connecticut debut at Rentschler Field on Saturday. He completed 18-of-27 passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns to lead his White team to a 14-5 victory during the Huskies annual spring game before a crowd of 5,500.

“I have a lot of friends still out there,” said Whitmer, a third-year sophomore with three seasons of eligibility remaining. “(The tornadoes) were scary for them. I’ll be honest, I do miss the place. But it’s definitely nice to be out here.”

Read more from Chip Malafronte here.

YALE

WEST HAVEN — As the spring session came to an end Saturday, Yale’s new head coach Tony Reno remained tightlipped about the Bulldogs quarterback situation.

“They both did a nice job and made some plays,” Reno said. “We want to let that thing sort out. We want to make sure we make the right decision on that one.”

PHOTOS: Yale Blue-White scrimmage

While Reno chose to remain quiet following the Bulldogs Blue-White scrimmage at the Yale Bowl, it’s hard to believe junior quarterback John Whitelaw doesn’t have an edge in the race heading into the summer. He’s the only quarterback on the roster who threw a pass for Yale last season.

Read more from Chris Hunn here.

NEW HAVEN

WEST HAVEN — University of New Haven sophomore running back Mike DeCaro thought he could’ve done better during the spring. According to DeCaro, he had missed some practices because of class and even in the spring game he didn’t think he performed well. However, the final score is all that counts, even in an exhibition game.

“There was 40 seconds left,” DeCaro said, “there is always an incentive to win.”

DeCaro’s 60-yard catch and scamper led to a Demetrius Washington-Ellison touchdown late in fourth quarter to give the White Team a 7-6 victory over the Blue Team at Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium on Saturday morning.

Read more from Henry Chisholm here.