football week 3

A lot of local teams hit the road this weekend, so we'll get to see what they're made of mentally against an unfriendly crowd.
I will be at New Britain/Platt, so I won't be choosing that one.
Let's get straight to the games, and my picks.
Friday:
Bristol Central at Southington: The Knights had a statement game last weekend against Bloomfield, but cannot relax with the always tough Rams on their schedule. Central was handled by New Britain two weeks ago, and Southington has looked very strong. I think Southington will be 3-0.
Newington at Manchester: Newington has been equally impressive so far and from their results Manchester doesn't look to be as potent as in the past. It will be interesting to see how Newington does in its first road game, but I look for them to win the battle of the Indians.
Wethersfield at Bristol Eastern: Can the surprise Eagles keep the magic going? I don't know much about the Lancers, but they've beaten up on two cupcakes so far. They might be due for a loss. I'm going to go out on a limb here and pick the Eagles to be the one that comes out of this unbeaten.
Plainville at Berlin: I've seen both of these rivals thus far and I can say that Berlin is clearly superior. Despite Plainville's improvement offensively (a lot to do with being healthy this year), I can't imagine them topping the Redcoats.
Rocky Hill at East Catholic: Like many people, I thought East would drop back a bit this year being on its own, but I didn't expect the school to take such a beating at the hands of Farmington last week. The Terriers could confuse the Eagles to no end with their offense, and I think they'll come out with a convincing win.
Saturday:
Farmington at Enfield: Looks like the Indians mean business. Enfield has traditionally given up a lot through the air, something I think Farmington could capitalize on. I think the Indians will be 3-0 as well.
Northwest Catholic at St. Paul/Goodwin/Mills: This could get ugly when the physical NWC team shows up. It's gonna be a long season for SPGTLM, which is largely made up of Goodwin students.
STATE GAME TO WATCH:
Tolland at Cromwell, Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
Let's give some love to a couple small schools, both 2-0. This could have playoff implications for both Class SS and Class S. The Cromwell Panthers have fast developed a very good program thanks to a long-running youth program. In under a decade the Panthers are perennial playoff contenders. They've also pounded a pair of opponents so far. This will be tougher, but look for them to win again.

keep your thoughts coming

It was great to see a few comments this week from readers. Thanks for writing in.
Not that I think I have the best opinion, but I'd love to get some questions for a mailbag feature, particularly regarding local high school stuff. As the weeks go by I'm getting a better feel for our local soccer, football and volleyball teams and can see things shaping up. If there's any team you guys would like to get my opinion on, feel free to ask.
I will always try to remain positive when talking about high school athletes. I see a lot of improvement on some local teams.
To get things started here are the teams that have impressed me the most for their improvements so far in each sport. These aren't necessarily the best teams in each sport, but have exceeded expectations so far.
Boys soccer: I love what new coach Tim Brown is doing at Plainville. He has this team relevant with a very tough defense. That's good news for the Northwest Conference which has had only a few premiere teams in recent years.
Girls soccer: I admittedly haven't seen much of this yet, but the Plainville girls have been on top of things so far as well. Wethersfield seems to be playing very well (haven't seen them in person yet) too.
Football: Vast improvements for Newington, Farmington and Wethersfield, all of which I've talked about so far. I hope I get to see each Indians squad soon, but it doesn't look like I'll get the chance this week.
Volleyball: I'm very impressed with the way coach George McKinnon has kept Rocky Hill in the mix, even though I saw them lose a tough five-setter to Northwest Catholic. I'll admit to being among those who wondered if last year's success was a one-hit-wonder situation. Not the case.

first volleyball thoughts

I've seen a couple of CCC North volleyball teams this week and I can say this should be an exciting race this season.
It was hard for me to gauge Southington's talent against a struggling Wethersfield team, but the Knights look solid. I love Liz Piper's play, both for her leadership and talent.
Glastonbury and New Britain played one of those matches that make me excited to get to cover sports. Both teams, flawed but very good, left what they had on the court, diving after balls, making great shots and better saves and putting together many thrilling rallies. I only wish more fans had been there.
While the Tomahawks looked like the better team and came out on top in three close games, I will say New Britain has a lot of talent and some fun players to watch.
Cassandra Bell is a fan and coach's dream. She's a true leader on the floor, plays with a smile, does not seem to get down on herself after a bad play, shows intensity and energy after big plays and is a very good player on top of it.
Bell has a knack for making the most out of the least. In other words, she can take a mediocre set and still find a way to contort her body and get a good deep hit on it. It's tough to rate that as a skill.
Meanwhile, sisters Athalia and Chantaul Smith are intimidating at the net and it seems like they barely have to swing to hit the ball through somebody. Kelsey Newberg has a very good flat serve and as this team matures they should be tough to beat.

where to find me

Nothing official yet, but it appears I will be covering the New Britain at Platt football game Friday night.
I'll be back Thursday with a look at this week's high school football games.

hot topic

I'm sure by now many of you have been paying attention to the situation involving a rant by Oklahoma St. coach Mike Gundy regarding the column written by The Oklahoman's Jenni Carlson.
For those unaware, you can read Carlson's column here.
http://newsok.com/article/3131543
Gundy's reaction can be seen at espn.com among other places.
I support Gundy standing up for his players, as the article in question was a column criticizing the makeup of his quarterback. However, I disagree with Gundy's stance that Bobby Reid is a child, and therefore should not be criticized. I also take with a grain of salt anybody who says that college athletes should not be criticized because they are amateurs. The fact is Division I athletes usually receive a full scholarship to school, the approximate value of which is often above $100,000 over four years. It may not be a large "salary" but the fact is these players are paid, to an extent. Besides, they know what they are getting into when they accept that scholarship from a major program such as OSU. There is a lot of scrutiny.
With that said, Carlson's column, while an opinion piece, came off as stupid and a cheap attack. Her central point, insinuating that Reid's allowing his mother to feed him chicken outside the team bus after last week's loss represents some sort of character deficiency, is childish and lacks substance. I can't blame Gundy for getting upset that she would make such a statement.
Reading the article, it appears that Carlson decided she was going to rip Reid, and give her opinion that he does not have the right attitude to be a quarterback. She then needed an angle to take in the article, and jumped when she saw him being fed by his mother. But how she felt that connection was logical, relevant or appropriate I cannot understand.
It is too bad. Most of Carlson's article is acceptable, even if it is based largely on heresay and rumor. She never says that she is basing things on comments made on the record. She makes an opinion clear and should have allowed readers to decide whether or not they agree with her. It may not be a great argument on her part without specific examples to back her up, but other than the chicken comments, it should not have been an offensive one.
But she was too zealous in her approach, and now many readers reacting to it are categorizing the media in general based on her work.
One responder to the Oklahoman actually made it a political issue, by calling Carlson something to the extent of "another liberal reporter". I can't see how chicken eating has a side of the aisle, or for that matter criticizing a quarterback. If anything, Carlson's real-men-don't-get-fed-by-their-mommy's approach could be classified as somewhat conservative. But I think that's a stretch too.
In either case, I am disappointed that Carlson's unprofessional decision will make other sports reporters look bad, and I give Gundy credit for standing up to it the way he did, though I think his premise is a little off as well.
I'm curious what you think. Please comment, or e-mail. I really would love to start a dialogue here.

week 2 in review

So it was not my best performance this past week regarding local picks, but for a few teams I could not be happier.
I went 3-4 bringing my record for the season to 9-6 overall. A couple results really surprised me, others just a little bit.
I was most surprised at New Britain's disappointing loss at Windsor, after two consecutive narrow wins over the Warriors the past two seasons. New Britain could not pull off a late-game win this year.
It's probably not appropriate to be talking playoffs for this team yet. A consistent performance would be needed first. But I see the talent on this squad and I just hope this loss doesn't prove costly.
On the opposite end, Wethersfield and Farmington both pulled off exciting wins. These are probably the two most improved teams in the area at this point. The Eagles got one of those wins which catapults a team to bigger and better things, hanging with an opponent that has handled them in recent years and pulling out a close game in the end the way good teams do.
Looks like Lamb and Murphy splitting time is working, but let's hope it doesn't have to keep happening due to injuries.
By the way, the score of the Farmington/East Catholic game was in fact 39-14 Indians, as reported by The Herald's Matt Straub. It was not listed that way on the CIAC website and in at least one other state publication.
I'm not sure whether to be more impressed with Farmington's play or surprised at how much East has fallen off since the end of its co-op with Cheney Tech. Either way, Farmington seems to have dramatically changed the complexion of the middle tier of the Nutmeg. But I don't think Northwest Catholic and Berlin need to worry all that much about them ... for now.
I picked Southington in a close one over Bloomfield, touting it as a great matchup. Knights running back Savino Melluzzo said it all to Herald correspondent Ryan Cote.
"We proved to the whole state that we're still a force."
Melluzzo (5 TDs) also made my prediction look somewhat foolish, though at least it goes as a win in my column too. Inadvertantly, Southington helped out a lot of Class S contenders.
Rocky Hill, Berlin and Newington coasted in wins over outmatched opponents, so no surprises there. Meanwhile the real game of the week was Thursday night in Plainville as the Middletown Blue Dragons snuck away with a 35-28 win.
It was fun to see every other team coaching staff in the Nutmeg at that game to scout, fighting for position in the endzones and outside the press box. Several coaches I talked to were impressed with the improvement from the Devils despite the loss.
Also, as one of those scouts pointed out, Middletown's front seven is creating far bigger holes for its running backs than last year. Even if those backs aren't quite as fast as their predecessors, that's a dangerous weapon.
Two weeks gone and six local teams are unbeaten. There could be a lot going on come late November and December.

upcoming week

I'll probably get into discussing my horrible performance in high school predictions for this week tomorrow. I will say it was a pleasant surprise for a couple local teams.

I wanted to let you guys know where I'll be this coming week, so you know what to look for in the paper.
This is my tentative schedule for the week:
Monday: East Hartford at Southington girls soccer, 3:45
Tuesday: Wethersfield at Southington volleyball, 6 p.m.
Wednesday: Glastonbury at New Britain volleyball, 5 p.m.
Friday/Saturday: Football games, still undetermined. I'll let you know when I know.

I'm excited because this will be my first chance of the year to see some volleyball action, and it's a couple of our better teams, too. For those unaware, volleyball, both boys in the spring and girls in the fall, is an exciting sport to watch with frequent action and more opportunities than most sports for spectacular plays. Check it out, particularly if you root for one of many local towns with good programs.