week 5 picks

I'm really sorry to be so late with these, just a few hours before game time. My cable internet unexpectedly quit on me last night, and I couldn't access anything.
So without further ado, I give you my thoughts on this week's local football games. I'll be covering Windsor at Wethersfield on Saturday afternoon, so no call on that one.
Friday:
New Britain at East Hartford: The Hurricanes seem to be rolling along again after their loss to Windsor three weeks ago. East Hartford has some weapons, and nearly pulled off a miraculous win at the end against Wethersfield last week. But the New Britain offense, if it stays penalty free, is FAR too good for the Hornets to handle, and the New Britain defense, sparked by some younger guys stepping in, is solid too.
New Britain should win easily.
Newington at Bulkeley: I've seen Bulkeley play, and I can say the Bulldogs will not be able to stop the Newington rushing attack. Newington will win easily, unless the Indians forget to show up. Pagan, Leupold and company will keep rolling along.
Farmington at Berlin: Farmington's big win over East Catholic looks less and less impressive every week, and Berlin seems to clearly be the class of the Nutmeg, despite a relatively close call against Enfield. In fact, that says a lot about these Redcoats. They won by a mere 13 points on the road and it seemed shockingly close.
Can anybody trip up Capodice's bunch? Not this week. Berlin wins easily, and I sense a pattern for the whole weekend.
Saturday:
Southington at Simsbury: Simsbury may be the best 0-4 team in the state, having played a very tough schedule so far, and been close against Conard and Maloney. Their schedule doesn't get any easier here, as the Knights defense was as good as any I've seen against Rockville a week ago.
Southington quarterback Elliott Turek is still learning the position, but he puts a lot of balls on the mark that are mishandled by his receivers. Unlike against Rockville, I would guess the Knights can get Savino Melluzzo running, and win again. Southington doesn't have the hardest schedule in the CCC, but three years in a row undefeated would be impressive nonetheless. Still too early to talk about that.
Enfield at SP/GT/LM: The Raiders must have had things going offensively against Berlin to put up 34 points. They must have some weapons in general.
Meanwhile, St. Paul earned the first win for the school this fall last week ... in any sport. Enfield will put an end to the Falcons hot streak.
Plainville at East Catholic: I've said enough about the Eagles struggles over the past few weeks. And Plainville is past the majority of its toughest games (although Rocky Hill and NWC still remain). The Blue Devils should be able to get a little momentum going and win this one.
Rocky Hill at Middletown: This appears to be the only competitive game on the schedule this week (but that's why they play the games on the field, not on paper). Each year people around the Nutmeg suggest that the Terriers could have trouble handling the Dragons speed and athleticism, and for the past two seasons Rocky Hill has rolled over the opponent nonetheless. Rocky Hill is thinking playoffs again, and after a big win at Northwest Catholic, it is well within reach. This is arguably the most critical game remaining for them. While they are a favorite in this one, they will not be against Berlin in two weeks. The Terriers can't slip up here.
I think Rocky Hill's offense, led by Dan Carducci, will be sharp as it has been the last two years, and will win this one to close out the first half of the season undefeated.
State pick of the week:
Weaver at Conard, Saturday, 1 p.m.: Neither of these teams are on the state radar, but both are very good and undefeated, so we'll stay somewhat local with this game. Conard has not fed on weak competition yet, either, with a big win over Maloney last week (even if the Spartans aren't nearly as good as last year).
Weaver has not only won, it handled a couple of weaker opponents (Bulkeley, Platt) for two weeks before a bye week.
Both of these teams are probably looking at a potential playoff spot, but if that's going to happen to either, it will have to be whoever wins this game. Their schedules just get much tougher as the season goes on.
Conard's at home, and I think the Chieftains should take this one.

So that's it. Interesting trend locally. At this point in the season I would argue that the three best local offensive players are all at the running back position: Nate Pagan (Newington), B.J. Aponte (New Britain) and Dan Carducci (Rocky Hill). There are also a number of other really good backs like Melluzzo (Southington), Dave Soltis (Plainville), Jack Cooper (Berlin) and Tebucky Jones, Jr. (Farmington). Maybe it just seems that way because rushing dominates the high school game and guys like Jim Connolly at Berlin don't get as many chances to show off what they can do with their arms. But rushing does dominate, and these guys explain why local teams have had so much success so far.

My records: Overall 21-10, 3-1 in state games.