Week 3 football

Oh, Mother Nature has decided to play her tricks on us this weekend, and it didn't take long for that to effect the high school slate.
Before I even knew the game had been rescheduled (with Thursday being my day out of the office), the New Britain Golden Hurricanes had put a second-half hurting on Bloomfield for a 58-26 win after trailing at the break.
I guess I don't get to predict that game, but I would have guessed New Britain would win, just not by so many.
With a frequently muddy field to worry about, Northwest Catholic moved its game with Rocky Hill from Saturday to Monday. Here's hoping the field is in decent shape to play and not the mudbowl I've seen it be in the past when I cover that one.
So far everything else is on as scheduled, so as much as I can tell I will be out at Sage Park Friday night for a big matchup between Middletown and Berlin. It's a Nutmeg weekend for me, with two big conference matchups that should clear up the questions of who's on top this year.
I may also be called into action on Saturday to cover Newington's trip to Weaver. So, for now, I won't make any call on that game, but if plans change I will be back to make a pick.
On to the rest of them, and here's hoping we all can stay relatively dry this weekend.
Friday:
Platt at Farmington, 7 p.m.: I guess the schedule makers were nice to the Indians early on in the season, as they have another winnable game here. However, their blowout loss to Fermi last week does not bode well for them.
I'm guessing Platt is of a similar talent level to Fermi, and I think it will be another Farmington loss.
Wethersfield at Bulkeley, 7 p.m.: These Eagles sure know how to take care of business against lesser opponents. There was no messing around as they pounced all over E.O. Smith by halftime and the starters didn't have to take a snap in the second half.
Expect more of the same this week at Dillon Stadium. Wethersfield wins big.
Saturday:
Southington at Hartford Public, 12 p.m.: The Knights are back to their old ways, and Public doesn't seem quite as strong as it has been in recent years. I actually don't think Southington will have much trouble in this one. What will be interesting is to see who steps up for the Knights. It seems like a different person each game, and each season.
Look out if rain kills the air raid. But the Knights are less one-dimensional than they used to be, mostly because QB Josh Lamson can tuck and run.
Somebody will step up, and Southington should win.
Plainville at RHAM/Lyman Memorial, 11 a.m.: At the start of the season I thought Plainville would be the cellar-dwellers in the Nutmeg, simply because of their overall youth. But they've been better than I expected, and RHAM has been worse.
Now, I think Plainville will get a second win in this one, so long as the weather doesn't make it messy, in which case anything could happen. I'm still taking the Devils.
St. Paul/GT/LM at East Catholic, 1 p.m.: It's back-to-back Catholic school weeks for St. Paul after a big win over Northwest last week. This is simple. If you can beat Northwest, East is no problem.
If St. Paul loses this one, it would be the second week in a row they shock me.
STATE PICK OF THE WEEK
Danbury at New Canaan, Saturday, 2 p.m.: Score one for CT as Danbury took it to Rutland, VT last week. Things don't get easier when they return to the shoreline to take on defending MM champ New Canaan, which I suspect may just be the best team the state has to offer. It's a shame I don't get to see these teams during the regular season. I only know what I get to hear from others.
Well, like I said, I think New Canaan is the best team in the state based on what I'm seeing, so I'm going to pick them to win this, particularly at home. But Danbury must be playing with confidence.
I also will have my eyes on Darien at Ridgefield, because after the Blue Wave topped Greenwich last week, they got themselves on the state radar.


OK, let's do this. Get your rain gear ready, and just accept the mud. It will be more fun that way.

excitement at Willow Brook

Have you noticed there's a very good team playing on the beautiful turf at Willow Brook Park these days.
No, I don't mean the Hurricanes football team. I'm talking about the boys soccer team coached by Matt Denecour.
For several years Denecour has struggled to find players willing to put in the time and effort to play and also with the skills to compete in one of the toughest soccer conferences in the state. Well, it arrived this year.
With the addition of some key underclassmen and the maturation of several players who have been on the team for a couple years now, Denecour's squad is making even the mightiest sweat it out, most recently forcing top-ranked Glastonbury to overtime before falling 1-0. That would have been one of the biggest upsets of the year in any sport.
Last week the 'Canes tied Simsbury, and ties seem to be their specialty so far this year. That will have to change if they want to get to the postseason. With the difficulty of their schedule (Simsbury, Glastonbury, Southington, East Hartford and Manchester twice each) they will need to get wins against their weaker opponents.
But I have a feeling they will get the job done and could be very battle tested and poised for an upset in the state tournament.
Suffice it to say, this is the most interesting story line I am seeing in the quickly moving season. I'll be following it closely.

week 2 in review

Things are heating up, and not just in football. I've been busy watching soccer and volleyball this week and didn't get around to summing up week 2 in football.
As expected, some things became clearer, some more confused.
I thought I might have my first ever perfect week picking games and then... boom, a big upset (at least for now) and I'm back to dreaming about that perfection.
I must admit, with as much as I was wondering if the Northwest Catholic team was down a bit from past years, I never expected them to lose to St. Paul. Now I can't decide whether it says more about NWC or the Falcons. Is one not as good as expected, or is the other much better than expected?
The answer is usually somewhere in the middle. This week should go a long way in determining that as NWC faces Rocky Hill.
What we did find out, as I suspected, is that Newington seems to be a legitimate contender despite losing to New Britain. That game was every bit as close as I thought it would be. We learned, as expected, that Southington is once again very dangerous after plowing through Weaver. We learned that Wethersfield has a knack for beating up on weak competition, but we'll have to wait a few weeks to see what the Eagles do against a good team.
And sadly we learned that first-week wins by Farmington and Plainville may have been illusions.
Oh, and still waiting on the first points allowed by Rocky Hill, which has looked very good in two wins to start the year.
The players that most impressed me and others this week were Matt Roncaioli at Southington, Tyler Murphy at Wethersfield, and a rare recognition of a kicker, New Britain's Juan Duque.
I am now 11-4 overall and 1-1 in state games in my picks.
I'll be back tomorrow with the picks for Week 3.