Thunderstorms postponed many season-opening football games scheduled to play Thursday night. A number of them involved area teams playing in the SCC-FCIAC Challenge.

And some of those area teams have to finish completed games on Friday. One of them is Hillhouse, which trails 40-26 to Darien with just over 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Academics will return to Darien Friday to resume the game at 4 p.m.

Shelton led Trumbull 49-0 at halftime when thunderstorms postponed the second half of that non-league contest to 3 p.m. Friday. Among teams in the Register Top 10 poll, No. 5 West Haven leads host Greenwich 13-7 in the third quarter. That game will resume Sunday at 1 p.m. in Greenwich.

No. 6 Middletown led East Lyme 7-0 at home in the second quarter. It will be resumed Sunday at 1:30 p.m. No. 7 Southington never got started at Glastonbury. That game begins Friday at 3 p.m.

Hamden led Danbury 6-0 with 1:23 left in the first quarter Thursday night. That game will resume at 3:30 Friday. Wilbur Cross trails McMahon 13-0 at halftime. The Governors will return to Norwalk at 3 p.m. Friday.

Other rescheduled games to Friday include: Fairfield Prep at Stamford, 3:30 p.m.; North Haven at Bridgeport Central, 4:30 p.m., Trinity Catholic at Sheehan, 4:30 p.m.; Branford at Woodland, 4:30 p.m.; and Bassick at East Haven, 7 p.m.

 Fairfield Ludlowe led Lyman Hall 24-7 in the third quarter and have not announced a makeup date yet. North Branford led Haddam-Killingworth 39-0 in the third quarter. That makeup is also not known.

Three area games were completed Thursday: Valley Regional/Old Lyme beat Hyde 34-0, Oxford beat Weston 23-6 and Wilton edged Guilford 21-20.

Hamden pieced together a 14-play, 56-yard scoring play that covered some 7 minutes of the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead over Danbury. Billy Varney hit Maliek Williamson on a 12-yard screen pass for the game’s lone score so far.

But on Danbury’s ensuing possession, with 1:23 left in the opening quarter, lightning caused play to be stopped. About 10 minutes later, all the lights on the field and in the school went out.

 

 

 

SHEEHAN

John Riccitelli Field, Wallingford

Coach: John Ferrazzi (9th year, 31-48-2)
Conference: SCC
2012 Record: 4-6
2013 Kickoff: vs. Trinity Catholic, Sept. 13, 6 p.m.
Top offensive players: Jeremy Gannon, 5-9, 165, Sr., ATH; Rafael Dominguez, 5-3, 142, Sr., RB; Brandon Gauthier, 5-11, 165, Sr., WR; Greg Suplinskas, 6-3, 195, Sr., OL; Justin Lange, 6-4, 190, Sr., QB.
Top defensive players: Jordan Lytle, 6-1, 215, Sr., DE; Tom Francis, 5-10, 230, Sr., DE; Riley Konopka, 5-9, 205, Sr., LB; Brandon Selvaggi, 6-0, 190, Sr., LB.
Key losses: Sean Merrill, OL/DL (playing football at Sacred Heart University); Kyle Paolella, WR/CB (running track at CCSU).
Outlook: Sheehan returns a deep group of skill players. Gannon will be among best athletes in the league with his versatility. He can play quarterback, receiver, running back, on special teams and at defensive back. Dominguez (pictured above) returns as the team’s top running back after gaining 1,036 all-purpose yards with 10 touchdowns last season. Gauthier is expected to emerge as one of the top receivers in the SCC.  Depth at wide receiver should help bolster the offense. Lytle and Francis have the strength, toughness, and tenacity to be dangerous at defensive end, while there's also depth at the linebacker position. Replacing Merrill and three other offensive linemen who graduated will be the main challenge.

.



Previous entries in the Inside The Huddle series:

Pomperaug

Below is a list of players who have decided on their college destination.




Andre Anderson Hillhouse Univ. of New Haven
Andrew Barton Ridgefield Bryant
Ben Berey Glastonbury Tufts
Brendan Bilcheck Hand Bowdoin
Tim Boyle Xavier UConn
Caleb Camacho New London Sacred Heart
Chris Devaney Newtown Bryant
Jonah Dorsey Xavier Stonehill
Quinn Fleeting Windsor Central Conn. State
James Frusciante Staples Princeton
Pete Gerson Hand Yale
Peter Gesualdi Darien Hobart
Chris Golger Fairfield Prep Tufts
Pieter Hoets Staples Trinity
Darryn Horner Hillhouse Stonehill
Andrew Isaacs Manchester Maryland
Cory Jasudowich Cheshire Academy UConn
Andrew Kalach Watertown Sacred Heart
Kevin Kearney Staples Bowdoin
Nick Kelly Staples Amherst College
Mike Lasala Wilton Washington & Lee
Marcus Little Manchester Boston College
Kris Luster Xavier Wesleyan
Andrew Matos Ansonia Rhode Island
Sean Merrill Sheehan Sacred Heart
Tom Milone Masuk UConn (baseball)
Colin Moore Avon Furman (lacrosse)
Je’Vaughn Moore Hillhouse Monmouth
Ryheime Moore Windsor AIC
Ryan Murtha Montville Sacred Heart
Tommy Myers Coventry/Windham Tech UConn
Liam O’Neil Greenwich Tufts
Darick Orange Windham Tech Central Conn. State
Cole Ormsby Windsor UConn
Lance Ormsby Windsor Central Conn. State
Brandon Robertson Montville Sacred Heart
Hector Rodriguez Berlin Dean
Patsy Romero Wilton Plymouth State
Connor Rowe Ridgefield Bryant
Max Schumann Xavier Univ. of Chicago
George Smith Holy Cross Bryant
Max Tylki Xavier Brown
Kyle Vaughn Staples Fordham
Matt Walsh Hand UConn
Hal Chapman Wingo Avon Georgetown

DIVISION I

OFFENSE

OL-Dennis Flanagan, Sr., Amity
OL-John Thomas, Sr., Hamden
OL-Zack Creeron, Sr., Xavier
OL-Greg Purcell, Sr., Amity
K-Ed Groth, Sr., Shelton
WR-Kris Luster, Sr., Xavier
WR-Chris Perry, Sr., ND-WH
WR-Kyle Drost, Jr., Shelton
WR-Kyle Anderson, Sr., Hand
RB-DeAngelo Berry, Sr., Xavier
RB-Ervin Philips, Jr., West Haven
RB-Cameran Tucker, Jr., ND-WH
RB-David Attolino, Sr., Amity
QB-Tim Boyle, Sr., Xavier
QB-Brendan Bilcheck, Sr., Hand

DEFENSE

DL-Alex Chow-Yen, Sr., Cross
DL-Peter Gerson, Sr., Hand
DL-Eddy Williams, Sr., West Haven
DL-Anthony Palazzolo, So., Fairfield Prep
LB-Nick Crowle, Jr., Fairfield Prep
LB-Matt Walsh, Sr., Hand
LB-Max Tylki, Sr., Xavier
LB-Kadialy Toure, Sr., West Haven
LB-Chris Golger, Sr., Fairfield Prep
DB-Alex Tuccero, Sr., Hand
DB-Jack Cunningham, So., Cheshire
DB-Sam Pascale, Sr., Cheshire
DB-Amore Gee, Sr., West Haven
DB-Vincent Sansone, Sr., Cheshire
P-Ysaan Frazier, Sr., Wilbur Cross

DIVISION II

OFFENSE

OL-Matt Marcarelli, Sr., North Haven
OL-Zach Hubler, Jr., Foran
OL-Nick Casagrande, Jr., Law
OL-George Knoth, Sr., Law
OL-Sean Merrill, Sr., Sheehan
OL-Colton Schilling, Sr., Guilford
WR-Nick Weissauer, Jr., Foran
WR-Ryan Bohne, Sr., Lyman Hall
RB-Harold Cooper, Jr., Hillhouse
RB-Jalon White, Sr., North Haven
QB-Jake Kasuba, So., Foran
QB-Joe Nault, Jr., Guilford
UT-K.C. Horton, Jr., Guilford

DEFENSE
DL-Andrew Klarman, Sr., Branford
DL-Mark Spadacenta, Sr., East Haven
DL-Anthony Jones, Sr., Branford
DL-Teno Simpson, Sr., Hillhouse
LB-Mike Halloran, Jr., North Haven
LB-Ford Linell, Jr., Guilford
LB-Alex Borkowski, Sr., Branford
LB-Terrell Fairweather, Sr., Hillhouse
LB-Quincy Pecora, Sr., North Haven
DB-Je'Vaughn Moore, Sr., Hillhouse
DB-Kyle Paolella, Sr., Sheehan
DB-Darryn Horner, Sr., Hillhouse
DB-Andre Anderson, Sr., Hillhouse

No. 3 Hand wins 15th straight, beats No. 7 Hillhouse

Amity runs all over Sheehan


No. 1 Xavier pulls away from North Haven


ROUNDUP: Derby edges Naugatuck


Follow our Week 2 Scoreboard


VOTE for Friday's STAR: ND-WH's Cameran Tucker and Ansonia's Andrew Matos are nominated!

All you need to know about high school football in this state this year is right here.

Below are links from the Register's 2012 preview.


Xavier lands at No. 1 in Preseason Top 10 Poll

Ervin Philips, Harold Cooper and Arkeel Newsome ready to run all over area defenses

Nutmeg Nuggets: Top 30 Players to Watch 

Sean Merrill, Sheehan thinking big this season

Haddam-Killingworth quarterback Alex DiMauro-D'Amico will miss senior season

Whitney Tech set to embark on first varsity season

Bob Barton: Many high school nicknames need a name change,  Everything you needed to know about nicknames

Hand's Pete Gerson, Matt Walsh lead tenacious Tigers 'D'


North Branford favored to win Pequot Conference

Xavier takes aim at a hat trick

Staples chases another championship season

Fairfield Prep focused on taking another step forward

Bryan Castelot, Bunnell hope to have foes on the run

Condors developing O'Brien Tech pride in program's second year

CAP THIS

CCC Capsules

ECC Capsules

FCIAC Capsules

NVL Capsules

Pequot Capsules

Preps Capsules

SCC Capsules

SWC Capsules

FOOTBALL: Sean Merrill, Sheehan thinking big this season

By Mike Wollschlager, Assistant Sports Editor
mwollschlager@nhregister.com / Twitter: @nhrMikeW

Wallingford-- Sheehan defensive lineman Sean Merrill. Photo (right) Peter Casolino/New Haven Register 09/08/2012

WALLINGFORD — Sheehan football coach John Ferrazzi says the sky is the limit for titanic Titan tackle Sean Merrill.

Hopes are equally as high for a program that hasn’t been to a state playoff game since the mid-90s.

“We have a lot of potential this year,” Merrill said. “We’re all finally old enough; we’ve been playing together since we were freshmen and sophomores. We have the potential to be a great team.”

The 6-foot-4, 275-pound senior left tackle has gotten looks from Villanova, Lehigh, Lafayette, New Hampshire and Stony Brook, in addition to New Haven, Southern Connecticut and Central Connecticut.

“There’s been a mix of I-AA schools that have been actively recruiting him throughout,” Ferrazzi said. “He’s been to a slew of camps over the summer. Nobody’s pulled the trigger yet. I think a lot of them are waiting for some senior film.”

What may potentially end up on that film is what has Sheehan players and coaches optimistic about the upcoming season.

“Our main goal this year is to make the playoffs,” Ferrazzi said. “With this senior class, with the experience of some of these kids, that’s their goal. Anything less than that is going to be a disappointment.”

One junior will figure prominently in helping this senior class achieve its goal. Jeremy Gannon is taking over for his graduated brother, Billy, as the Titans quarterback. He’s not worried about filling his shoes, but he’s already filled his jersey.

Beginning today in our What to Look For (W2L4) feature, I will highlight teams, leagues, players, positions to keep an eye out for in 2012.

Summer conditioning begins Wednesday for teams that DID NOT elect to have spring practice. For teams that did elect to have spring practice, they will begin summer conditioning on Aug. 20.


W2L4: SHEEHAN

Coach: John Ferrazzi (8th season, 27-42-2)
Last season: 5-5
Top offensive players: Sean Merrill, 6-4, 275, Sr., OL; Jeremy Gannon, 5-9, 165, Sr., ATH/QB/WR.
Top defensive players: Rich Radomski, 6-0, 220, Sr., LB; Kyle Paolella, 5-10, 160, Sr., DB.
Key losses: A.J. Pascuzzo, WR/RB/DB; Billy Gannon, QB; Brodie Corless, K/P/WR/LB.
Inside the huddle: Return four starters on offensive line; Defense returns eight starters. Offense has potential to be "dangerous" according to Ferrazzi.
Recruiting watch: Merrill has received interest from Villanova, Lafayette, Lehigh and New Hampshire. 

Fairfield County erased a 13-point second half deficit and scored 23 unanswered points to defeat New Haven County in the 16th Hall of Fame Classic before 1,849 fans Saturday at West Haven's Ken Strong Stadium.

HIGHLIGHTS

FAIRFIELD COUNTY

Bunnell's J.J. Bivona returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the third quarter.
Bunnell's Jawad Chisholm caught eight passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns.

NEW HAVEN COUNTY

Cheshire's Kyle Pulek kicked field goals of 27 and 42 yards.
Sheehan's Brodie Corless caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Amity's Tyler Vallie.

MVPs

Fairfield County

Offensive: Chisholm
Defensive: Bivona

New Haven County

Offensive: Pulek
Defensive: Ansonia's Jake LaRovera (blocked punt)

Sheehan coach John Ferrazzi will be the head coach for Team Connecticut for the 15th Governor's Cup game against Rhode Island next year.

Ferrazzi will serve as offensive coordinator for this year's game, which takes place at 4:30 p.m. on June 30 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. Connecticut has won the last nine meetings and holds a 10-3 series lead. Hartford Public coach Harry Bellucci is the head coach for Team CT this year.

"I'm fortunate to work under Harry this year, and even more fortunate to get the head job for next year," Ferrazzi said.

This year marks Ferrazzi's ninth year as an assistant for Connecticut.

"I'm excited," Ferrazzi said. "This is my first year on the offensive side of the ball. I've been on the defensive side of the ball for eight years in this game. Now, I finally made the transition to the other side. It's a new found motivation, to turn over a new leaf on the other side of the ball."

Ansonia knocked off Torrington in a big NVL clash. Read the story here.

Read Torrington Register Citizen's Dan Podheiser's column on Ansonia-Torrington here.

Billy Gannon led Sheehan past Law.

FRIDAY'S SCHEDULE
CCC INTER
Hartford Public at Maloney, 6:30 p.m.
Rocky Hill at Rockville, 6:30 p.m.
Bristol Central at Bulkeley, 7:00 p.m.
East Catholic at Berlin, 7:00 p.m.
East Hartford at Southington, 7:00 p.m.
Glastonbury at New Britain, 7:00 p.m.
Newington at Simsbury, 7:00 p.m.
Plainville at Bloomfield, 7:00 p.m.
Platt at Northwest Catholic, 7:00 p.m.
RHAM at Bristol Eastern, 7:00 p.m.
Wethersfield at Windsor, 7:00 p.m.

CSC
Wilcox Tech at Cheney Tech, 6:00 p.m.
Bullard Havens Tech at Platt Tech, 7:00 p.m.

ECC LARGE
Woodstock Academy at New London, 6:30 p.m.

ECC INTER
Bacon Academy at Griswold, 6:30 p.m.
Fitch at Plainfield, 6:30 p.m.
Ledyard at Killingly, 6:30 p.m.
Waterford at Stonington, 6:30 p.m.

FCIAC CENTRAL
Harding at Stamford, 6:00 p.m.

FCIAC INTER
Brien McMahon at Fairfield Warde, 7:00 p.m.
Norwalk at Danbury, 7:00 p.m.
Ridgefield at Greenwich, 7:00 p.m.

NVL INTER
Crosby at Holy Cross, 7:00 p.m.
Kennedy at Wolcott, 7:00 p.m.
St. Paul Catholic at Derby, 7:00 p.m.

PEQUOT SASSACUS
North Branford at Valley Regional/Old Lyme, 6:30 p.m.

PEQUOT UNCAS
Avon at Stafford/East Windsor, 6:30 p.m.
Windsor Locks/Suffield/East Granby at Housatonic/Wamogo, 6:30 p.m.
Coventry/Windham Tech at Gilbert/NW Regional, 7:00 p.m.

SCC INTER
North Haven at Hillhouse, 3:30 p.m.
Shelton at Wilbur Cross, 4:00 p.m.
Amity at West Haven, 7:00 p.m.
East Haven at Guilford, 7:00 p.m.
Fairfield Prep at Daniel Hand, 7:00 p.m.
Foran at Branford, 7:00 p.m.
Hamden at Cheshire, 7:00 p.m.
Notre Dame-West Haven at Xavier, 7:00 p.m.

SWC COLONIAL
Bethel at New Milford, 7:00 p.m.
Pomperaug at Brookfield, 7:00 p.m.

SWC PATRIOT
Notre Dame-Fairfield at New Fairfield, 7:00 p.m.
Weston at Stratford, 7:00 p.m.

SWC INTER
Newtown at Joel Barlow, 7:00 p.m.

OTHERS
Naugatuck at East Longmeadow (MA), 7:00 p.m.
St. Bernard/Norwich Tech at Lowell Catholic (MA), 7:00 p.m.
Trumbull at Catholic Memorial (MA), 7:00 p.m.

Cheshire football’s first home game of the season will be played at Sheehan High on Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. while the new turf field is being built. The Rams will “host” Hamden.

Groundbreaking for the turf field began last week and Oct. 15 is the projected finish date. The turf installment/construction is being done by R.A.D. Sports, based out of Rockland Mass., and Shaw Sportexe based in Kennesaw, Ga.

“I have high confidence in R.A.D. Sports and Shaw Sportexe,” said Bob Behrer, chairman of the Cheshire Turf Committee. “They are wonderful and will do everything they can to get this done on time or earlier.”

The Hamden game at Cheshire was originally scheduled for Sept. 16. Cheshire also has home games Oct. 6 against Hand and Oct. 14 against Wilbur Cross.

Athletic director Steve Trifone is extremely happy the turf project is moving forward but no official decision on a rescheduled site has been made on the Oct. 6 or Oct. 14 games.

One source said school officials will take it one game at a time, depending on the progress of the project.

Should St. Joseph (Class S) and Trumbull (Class LL) both win championships this weekend, it'll
mark just the second time since the inception of the CIAC playoffs in 1976 that two schools from the same town have won titles in the same year.

Wallingford schools Lyman Hall and Sheehan accomplished that feat in 1985. In 1981, St Joseph won in Class S-I, but Trumbull was defeated in Class L-I.

Stratford (Bunnell and Stratford High) had two teams make the final in 2006 but only Bunnell emerged victorious, which was the last time two schools from the same city reached the final.

"The (Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference) is one of the best leagues," St. Joseph running back Tyler Matakevich said. "Both of us are both very talented football teams. It really does say a lot, not only about the league, but about (the city of) Trumbull."

Trumbull rallied for a 38-27 victory over St. Joseph on Thanksgiving Eve.

St. Joseph (9-3) plays Ansonia (11-1) for the Class S title on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Trumbull (11-2) squares off against Xavier (12-0) in the Class LL title game on Friday at 7 p.m.

Bunnell 55, Barlow 19: Quarterback Bryan Castelot threw three touchdown passes and Kevin Hernandez added a 59-yard touchdown run to lead Bunnell to its SWC interdivision win at Stratford.
Castelot completed 11-of-15 passes for 225 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown pass to Bryan Camille, 11-yard touchdown pass to Josh Diaz and 17-yard touchdown pass to Jibril Chisholm.

Woodland 21, Kennedy 6: Jack DeBiase ran for 153 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries and also intercepted two passes for Woodland in its NVL victory.

Shelton 38, Sheehan 11: Shaq Holman scored a pair of touchdowns, including a 99-yard kickoff return, and Jonathan Groth threw for a pair of scores to lead the victory in Shelton.

Amity 44, East Haven 6: Kyle Kalanta rushed for 201 yards and three touchdowns as Amity gained 447 yards of total offense in the rout at Amity.

Notre Dame of West Haven 52, Branford 20: Ahmir Vess rushed for 206 yards and two touchdowns as Notre Dame crushed Branford.

North Haven 13, Hamden 2: Joe Schwab rushed 25 times for 151 yards for the visiting Indians in this SCC interdivision contest at Hamden.

Valley Regional/Old Lyme 40, Lewis Mills 0: Quarterback Jimmy Fairfield-Sonn had touchdown runs of 74, 13 and 43 yards and added a touchdown pass to lead the Warriors to their Pequot Sassacus win in Deep River.

Haddam-Killingworth 36, Old Saybrook 3: At Haddam, Dan Milardo ran for 113 yards on seven carries, including a 73-yard touchdown, to lead H-K to its victory.

Sacred Heart 38, Derby 19: Ray Kreiger passed for two touchdowns and ran for another in Derby’s NVL home loss.

It’s crossover week in the SCC, when teams from Division I compete against opponents from Division II. Below are some interesting tidbits released by SCC commissioner Al Carbone.

There are three match ups being played for the first time since the inception of the SCC in 1994 (Foran at Xavier, Law at Wilbur Cross and Hillhouse at Cheshire).
In addition, there are six games being contested for the first time in a number of years.

*Branford at Notre Dame (first meeting since 1997, a 20-0 Notre Dame win).

*Guilford at West Haven (first meeting since 1997, when West Haven won 42-7).

*East Haven at Amity (first meeting since 1999, when Amity won 21-12).

*North Haven at Hamden (first meeting since 1999, a 27-8 Hamden victory).

*Lyman Hall at Hand. Hand won the last meeting, 27-19, in 2001.

*Sheehan at Shelton. The former Housatonic League (pre-1994) and former SCC Housatonic Division (from 1994-2003) rivals meet for the first time since 2003, when Shelton emerged with a 52-7 victory.

Chris Turner ran for a 65-yard touchdown and Harold Cooper scored on a 17-yard run as the Hillhouse football team defeated North Haven 12-0 Friday night in Southern Connecticut Conference interdivision play at North Haven.

The first half was played Thursday before lightning and heavy rain postponed the second half to Friday.

Ansonia 41, Woodland 36: Elliot Chudwick threw for three touchdowns and Montrell Dobbs rushed for three touchdowns as the Chargers edged the Hawks in Naugatuck Valley League play at Beacon Falls.

Dobbs rushed for 213 yards on 35 carries. Chudwick threw for 138 yards for Ansonia (1-0). Jack DeBiase threw for 146 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns for Woodland (0-1).

Cheshire 27, Hamden 0: Quarterback Max Slade rushed for two touchdowns and added a touchdown pass to lead the visiting Rams, ranked seventh in the Register Top 10 poll, to their SCC Division I win at Hamden.

Bunnell 54, Bethel 27: Quarterback Brian Castelot completed 22 for 32 passes for 408 yards and four touchdowns to lead host Bunnell to its South-West Conference win at Stratford.

Sheehan 37, Law 30: Sheehan quarterback Bill Gannon rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown and threw for two more scores to help Sheehan hold off Law in a SCC Division II interdivision game at Wallingford.

Oxford 41, Barlow 26: Nick Donofrio scored five touchdowns to lead the Wolverines to their SWC Patriot win in Redding.

Lyman Hall 39, Platt Tech 0: Zac Falconeri rushed for 74 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries for Lyman Hall in a non-conference win at Wallingford.

On Wednesday, I did video interviews with Notre Dame-West Haven's Rob Bowman and Sheehan's Brett Biestek moments after they signed National Letters of Intent.


Due to technical difficulties (the video camera ran out of batteries), the Bowman interview was cut short. Bowman will play at New Hampshire. Biestek will play at Fordham.

Go to http://www.nhregister.com/ and scroll down the right side of the page until you find our video section.

The following SCC teams have bye weeks for the 2010-2011 season. These teams have the option of scheduling non-conference opponents for the next two seasons.

Week 1 Lyman Hall
Week 2 Fairfield Prep
Week 3 Law
Week 4 Wilbur Cross
Week 5 Foran
Week 6 East Haven
Week 7 North Haven
Week 8 Sheehan
Week 9 Branford


Athletic directors in the Southern Connecticut Conference recently approved several changes to the league’s football scheduling format, SCC commissioner Al Carbone confirmed Thursday.

The actual schedule has not yet been approved, but the new format will used for both the 2010 and 2011 season. The current four-division set-up will remain the same.

However, teams can now play crossover games against opponents in the three other divisions, instead of crossing over to just two divisions, as was the case in 2009.

There are nine teams who currently have an open week. Those teams have the option of scheduling non-conference opponents as part of the new two-year cycle.

Also, a team can request a division change as long as they follow proper league policy. The request will then be reviewed and voted upon by the ADs.

Carbone also confirmed that Hyde declined an invitation to join the league next season. Carbone said that since Derby defected the SCC for the Naugatuck Valley League last winter, the SCC offered invitations to Masuk, North Branford and St. Joseph. All three declined.

Sheehan will host defending Class SS champion New London on Friday Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. in Wallingford.

With that game set, all nine teams who were supposed to play Derby this season have found an opponent. Derby bolted from the Southern Connecticut Conference last spring to join the Naugatuck Valley League.