Fairfield Prep blitzes Shelton 

By Mary Albl, Register Staff
malbl@journalregister.com / Twitter: @MaryAlbl

Shelton's Mark Piccirillo looks for room through the Fairfield Prep's defense during the first quarter of Prep's 42-3 win. Photo Peter Casolino/New Haven Register.

FAIRFIELD — All season long Fairfield Prep football head coach Tom Shea has preached the message of beating an elite opponent. Last Saturday, the Jesuits hopes of doing that were crushed in a 35-14 loss to top-ranked Xavier.

Friday night at Alumni Field, Prep answered the call with a dominant 42-3 Southern Connecticut Conference victory over Shelton to move to 3-1.

“Listen, they’re (Shelton) an outstanding program with a great tradition,” Shea said. “You cannot be a good team unless you’re able to play with, compete with and beat a team like that. For us, we hope it’s a step forward.”

Masuk runs wild over Bunnell

STRATFORD — At tradition-rich programs like Masuk, where there’s usually an abundance of talent, most players must wait their turn until they’re seniors to play full-time.

 Andy Fredeen is one of those players. Fredeen played sparingly last season when the Panthers advanced to the Class L state semifinals.

Fredeen returned the game’s opening kickoff 65 yards for a touchdown against rival Bunnell, helping the Panthers cruise to a 63-14 South-West Conference victory Friday.

“He’s a senior who’s been waiting for his time,” Masuk coach John Murphy said. “He stepped up tonight when we needed him. (Had a) big one on the opening kickoff to get us going. I thought Andy had a great game.”

PHOTOS: Masuk runs past Bunnell

ROUNDUP: Hillhouse shuts out Law

Andre Anderson ran for 135 yards, scored three touchdowns, had an interception and eight tackles and JeVaughn Moore ran for 85 yards one seven carries and a touchdown as the Hillhouse football team routed Law 47-0 in New Haven on Friday afternoon in a Southern Connecticut Conference Division II game.

Cheshire 48, Notre Dame-West Haven 13: Vin Sansone threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more amassing 175 total yards and Sam Pascale had two rushing touchdowns as Cheshire won the SCC Division I East game.

Jack Cunningham had five tackles, two interceptions, a blocked PAT and on offense, six rushes for 69 yards for Cheshire (3-1) in the win over Notre Dame-West Haven (1-3).

No. 3 Hand 49, Wilbur Cross 14: Seven different players scored for Hand in a SCC Division I East game at New Haven.


Hillhouse's Andre Anderson and North Haven's Jalon White have been nominated for FRIDAY'S STAR. VOTE!

Senior Frank Bacarella rushed 14 times for 132 yards and four touchdowns for visiting Masuk in this South-West Conference victory Friday at Stratford.

Thomas Milone rushed 11 times for 79 yards and caught a 56-yard touchdown pass from Malik Cummings for the Panthers (4-0), who are ranked No. 7 in the Register Top 10 Poll.

Andy Fredeen returned the game's opening kickoff 65-yards for a touchdown for Masuk. Fredeen also caught two passes for 11 yards and made two interceptions.

Nolan Aurelia scored on an 8-yard run and Bryan Castelot tossed a 73-yard touchdown pass to Justin Townsend for Bunnell (1-3).

A year after going 4-6, the program's first losing season since 1999, Hyde has quickly reversed its fortunes.

The Howling Wolves are 3-0 entering this week's Pequot Conference contest with Cromwell, also unbeaten.

Although last season's finish was disappointing, Hyde learned some valuable lessons.

"A good number of these kids from last year were football players," Hyde coach Melvin Wells said. "They played and went through the ups and downs of the season. They saw early on that without a good amount of leadership and dedication, you're not going to be successful."

Wells, though, insists that's not a knock on last year's seniors. Sometimes a team has the horses to be competitive. Sometimes it doesn't.

"Last year's group, we just had a small senior class," Wells said. "We had the desire, but we just didn't have a whole lot of out-and-out talent. That was just the reality of it. We weren't as physical as we've been in the past. It's hard to win when you're not physical. They did the best they could with what they had, but we learned lessons as we went through the process."

Wells said this year's squad has really focused on playing team football.

"None of us are good enough to do it by ourselves," Wells said. "They all have to feed off each other in order to be successful."

Hyde's 14 seniors have all contributed, especially quarterback Kevin Jones.

"He's done a wonderful job so far," Wells said. "He's led this time at quarterback the way they need to be led. He makes plays when they need to be made. What I mean by that is he's not a greedy player by any stretch of the imagination. He does whatever it takes to win."

Read more on HYDE here. 


CHECK OUT my WEEK 4 Predictions 


STATE CONFERENCE STANDINGS

Guilford’s record entering this past week didn’t quite reflect how talented and competitive the Indians could be.

Guilford suffered losses to North Haven and West Haven, two of the better teams in the Southern Connecticut Conference, during the first two weeks of this season.

But the Indians finally had reason to celebrate after a 56-7 Southern Connecticut Conference Division II West victory over Lyman Hall last Friday.

“It feels great,” Guilford coach Tom Unger said. “It was a D2 West win, and it was a good feeling for our guys to get in the win column.”

LION PRIDE

Foran, like Guilford, posted its first win of the season after earning a 26-7 victory over Sheehan last Friday. The Lions had lost to Hillhouse and Shelton to the year.

“We’ve got a young team, so we needed to play well and get a win,” Foran coach Jeff Bevino said. “I kept telling them they can do it, and now they know they can.”

Bevino credits his defensive coordinator, Jim Esposito, for preparing the Lions for Sheehan’s explosive offensive attack.

Sheehan scored on its opening possession, but was shut out the remainder of the game.  

“Our kids were extremely well-prepared,” Bevino said.

READ MORE OF TUESDAY'S NOTEBOOK

HIGHLIGHTS

OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF WEEK

♦Hillhouse Jr. RB Harold Cooper: Rushed for four touchdowns in a 32-18 win over Branford on Friday.

♦Notre Dame-West Haven Sr. RB Cameran Tucker: Rushed 44 times for 323 yards and two scores in a 34-13 loss to West Haven on Friday.


DEFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

♦Cheney Tech Sr. CB Andre Rose: Made three interceptions, including one he returned 40 yards for a touchdown, in a 36-19 win over Wilcox Tech on Saturday. Rose also scored on an 83-yard kickoff return.

♦Glastonbury Sr. LB Nick Karp: Made 15 tackles and returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown in a 35-6 win over Conard on Saturday.

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

♦Newtown Sr. Dan Hebert: Scored on an 85-yard kickoff return in a 43-14 win over Stratford on Saturday. Hebert also had touchdown runs of 13 and six yards.

♦Shelton Sr. Ed Groth: Kicked field goals of 34 and 41 yards in a 34-28 win over Amity on Saturday.

TEAMS OF THE WEEK

♦Nonnewaug: T.J. Meyer blocked a field goal as time expired in an 8-7 win over East Hampton/Vinal Tech on Saturday. The victory was the first varsity win for the Chiefs since 2008.

♦Sacred Heart: Jaquan Overbey rushed 13 times for 203 yards and three touchdowns in a 50-30 win over Whitney Tech on Friday. The win marked the first for Cortez Johnson as the Hearts’ head coach.

MORE HIGHLIGHTS


Xavier, Staples, Hand remain 1-2-3 in Register Top 10 Poll

REGISTER TEAM OF THE WEEK: Law football 

 

By Joe Morelli, Schools Sports Editor
jmorelli@nhregister.com / Twitter: @nhrJoeMorelli

MILFORD — It’s always easier to go through a week of football practice after a victory. When it’s your first win in more than a year, it’s even better.

So you can imagine things were quite upbeat for the Law football team this past week, coming off a 28-12 win over Wilbur Cross that earned the Lawmen Register Team of the Week laurels following a vote at nhregister.com.

READ MORE




VOTE for this week's NOMINEES, including HAMDEN, until 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

Here is the ballot I submitted for the New Haven Register Top 10 football poll after Week 3. Voters are asked to vote for 15 teams. Points on tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis.

The poll should be up later tonight on the Register's website and will appear in Tuesday's print editions.


Two teams from my previous ballot lost (Darien and Ledyard), so I dropped them out and added two new teams.

1. Xavier
2. Staples
3. Hand
4. Windsor
5. Ansonia
6. Greenwich
7. Newtown
8. West Haven
9. Masuk
10. Berlin
11. Southington
12. Glastonbury
13. New London
14. Norwich Free Academy
15. North Branford

Pingree, Piccirillo help Shelton edge Amity

SHELTON — Junior Michael Pingree took home a souvenir for his defensive effort in Shelton’s comeback victory over Amity.

Although Pingree was awarded the black baseball bat with the Gaels’ logo on it, it could have been presented to any member of Shelton’s defensive unit.

The gritty Gaels defense shut out the Spartans in the fourth quarter and Shelton rallied for a 34-28 Southern Connecticut Conference Division I West victory Saturday at Finn Stadium.


D’Angelo Berry rushed for 168 yards, including touchdown runs of 1 and 54 yards, and added an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to lead No. 1 Xavier to a 35-14 Southern Connecticut Conference Division I West win over Fairfield Prep in Middletown on Saturday.

Quarterback Tim Boyle completed 10 of 14 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns and Kris Luster had six receptions for 48 yards and a 5-yard touchdown catch.

Quarterback Strecker Backe completed 6 of 26 passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns and Joseph Ganim had six receptions for 78 yards for the Jesuits (2-1). Xavier improves to 3-0.

MORE ROUNDUP AND BOX SCORES



HAMDEN has been nominated for the TEAM OF THE WEEK. VOTE!