YALE FOOTBALL: Defense shines, 1989 team honored at Blue-White game 

NEW HAVEN — Yale’s football future embraced its past Saturday afternoon as legendary coach Carm Cozza and his 1989 championship team were recognized following the Bulldogs’ annual Blue-White spring game.

Yale head coach Tony Reno, who will begin his second season this fall, is looking to build upon a winning tradition. And there was no better way for his 2013 squad to end its spring-practice session by taking a knee at the Yale Bowl and listening to Cozza speak about his last Ivy League championship team.

“It’s great to have the ’89 team back,” said Reno. “I think when you’re a program like this that has so much tradition and has so much success, to bring back a guy who was a Hall of Fame coach and his last championship team, and for an opportunity to put them in front of our players is something I embrace at every step.”

PHOTOS: Yale football scrimmage  

 

 UCONN FOOTBALL: Depleted Huskies still a defensive team  

EAST HARTFORD — This was a week of change in the world of UConn athletics, with the unveiling of new uniforms featuring a more ominous-looking mascot and groundbreaking on a basketball practice facility.

However, when the UConn football team took the field for its annual spring game, it looked as if some things haven’t changed. The defensive unit clearly still holds the upper hand over the offense.

During the 11-on-11 live portion of the scrimmage, the offense was unable to score a touchdown as the only scoring came on field goals of 46 and 20 yards by Bobby Puyol.

 

 SCSU FOOTBALL: Mallis hopes to be off and running for the Owls 

NEW HAVEN — Jack Mallis admitted he was a bit on edge heading into Southern Connecticut State’s annual spring football game.

Each of the past two seasons, Mallis, a junior running back, had limped off the field unable to finish the contest.

“I told my friends I felt a little weird about the game,” Mallis said. “My first year I played I pulled my hamstring. And last year I tore my PCL and my meniscus.”

But Mallis came out of Saturday’s contest injury free and hopes it’s an omen for a big season.
“It felt great to come out of this game healthy,” he said. “I think we’re headed in the right direction.”

Mallis and the Owls hope to improve on last season’s disappointing campaign when injuries and youth derailed the team’s season. There were games that Southern went as deep as its fourth-string quarterback to finish off contests.

The end result was a 3-8 mark in which the Owls were outscored 334-190.

 

 

 

 

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

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

By Chris Hunn, Register Staff
chunn@nhregister.com / Twitter: @Chris_Hunn

MADISON — Hand defensive end Pete Gerson is strong, explosive and boasts a tremendous motor.

“Pete,” Tigers coach Steve Fillippone said. ”In my opinion, and I’ll probably get him and I in trouble for this at some point during the season, I don’t think there is an offensive lineman in the state who can block him one on one.”

And just in case Gerson isn’t a big enough problem for opposing offenses to deal with, teams have to worry about inside linebacker Matt Walsh, too.

“He always finds his way to the ball, no matter what,” said Gerson of his teammate. “He reads the play so fast, and he’s so quick and agile he will get there. He’s the heart of our defense.”

Together, Gerson and Walsh are arguably the top 1-2 defensive punch in the state and are a huge reason why the Tigers are contenders to repeat as Class L champions.

Fillippone says he’s never had a defensive duo this good, pointing out that Walsh (headed to UConn to play fullback) is the first Football Bowl Subdivision player and Gerson (committed to Yale) is the third Football Championship Subdivision player in his 23 years as head coach.

If there were any doubt that the New Haven football coaches are focused on defense, just take a look at the Chargers latest recruiting class.

Out of the 19 players that UNH is bringing in, 13 of them play defense and eight of them play in the secondary.

According to coach Pete Rossomando, that was an area that the Chargers want to continue to focus on.

“We put a lot of emphasis on defense,” Rossomando said.

Read more from Henry Chisholm here.

YALE: Bulldogs unveil new class of recruits

After being hired in January as Yale’s head football coach, Tony Reno didn’t have much time to put together his first recruiting class for the Bulldogs.

“It was a sprint, but we’re excited about our incoming class,” Reno said.

Yale announced its list of 28 incoming freshmen on Thursday.

BLOG: Complete list of 28 incoming recruits 

Read more from Chris Hunn 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.