BRISTOL >> The Central Connecticut Conference officially announced Monday afternoon a major realignment of its divisions for all sports for the 2015-2016 school year, as reported in The Middletown Press during the summer and again Monday.
For boys and girls soccer, boys and girls cross-country, girls volleyball, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls outdoor track, boys and girls tennis and boys golf, there are three regions: the North, Central and South.
Each region will be divided into two divisions, the Blue division of six schools and White Division of five schools.
Middletown High will be in the South Region’s White Division, along with Berlin, Maloney, Plainville, Platt of Meriden and Rocky Hill. The South Region’s Blue Division will be Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, New Britain, Newington and Wethersfield.
Each school will, according to the CCC press release, play every school in its region at least once. In both boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball, that means that Middletown would play teams in the White Division twice and teams in the Blue Division once.
Football has three divisions based on school enrollment. Each division has two subdivisions.
Middletown has been placed in Division II East along with Windsor, Bulkeley, South Windsor, E.O. Smith, and RHAM.
Other than Windsor, the other four teams are among the CCC’s least successful with a combined 2014 record of 5-19.
The remaining games will be filled by the CCC by Nov. 1, according to the league’s schedule chief David Greenleaf of Bristol Central High School.
Teams in Division II West include the two Bristol schools, Maloney, Platt, Wethersfield, Newington and Avon.
In girls swimming, Middletown will be in the South Region’s Blue Division with Plainville, Maloney/Platt co-op, and the two Bristol schools.
In boys swimming, MHS is in the South/Blue with Berlin, the Bristol co-op, Bulkeley, Plainville and the Maloney/Platt co-op.
In girls golf, Middletown is in the South Region with Berlin, New Britain, Newington and Plainville.
In wrestling, the Blue Dragons will compete in the South Region with Berlin, Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, Maloney, Plainville and Platt.
It is only in football that there are significant schedule changes.
Sources say that Wethersfield and Avon will be among the schools added to the Middletown schedule, but that would still leave three spots to be filled by the self-imposed deadline of Nov. 1.
The new alignments for the CCC are listed below.
For boys and girls soccer, boys and girls cross country, girls volleyball, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls outdoor track, boys and girls tennis and boys golf:
North Region
Blue Division: East Catholic, East Hartford, Hartford Public, South Windsor, Manchester
White Division: Bloomfield, EO Smith, Fermi, RHAM, Rockville, Tolland
Central Region
Blue Division: Conard, Hall, Glastonbury, Simsbury, Southington
White Division: Avon, Bulkeley, Farmington, Northwest Catholic, Weaver, Windsor
South Region
Blue Division: Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, New Britain, Newington, Wethersfield
White Division: Berlin, Maloney, Middletown, Plainville, Platt, Rocky Hill
FIELD HOCKEY:
North Region – East Catholic, E.O. Smith, Fermi, Maloney, Southington, South Windsor, Wethersfield, Windsor
South Region – Avon, Conard, Farmington, Glastonbury, Hall, Newington, Northwest Catholic, Simsbury
FOOTBALL:
Division I – East – Glastonbury, Hartford Public, Farmington, Manchester, East Hartford
Division I – West – Southington, Simsbury, Hall, Conard, New Britain
Division II – East – South Windsor, Middletown, Windsor, Bulkeley, RHAM, EO Smith
Division II – West – Avon, Newington, Wethersfield, Platt, Maloney, Bristol Eastern, Bristol Central
Division III – East – Berlin, Fermi, Rocky Hill, Rockville, Tolland
Division III – West – Bloomfield, NWC, East Catholic, Plainville, Weaver
GIRLS SWIM:
North Region
Blue Division: East Catholic, East Hartford, E.O. Smith, Glastonbury, South Windsor, Manchester
White Division: Fermi, HPHS/Bulkeley, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Windsor
South Region
Blue Division: Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, Maloney/Platt, Middletown, Plainville
White Division: Berlin, Conard, Farmington, Hall, Newington, Southington
BOYS ICE HOCKEY:
North Region – Conard, East Catholic, Glastonbury, Northwest Catholic, Simsbury, South Windsor
South Region – E.O. Smith/Tolland/Windham, Hall/Southington, Newington/Berlin/Manchester/Middletown, Wethersfield, Rockville/Bolton/Coventry/Lyman Memorial/RHAM, Fermi, Farmington/Avon/Windsor
BOYS SWIM:
North Region
Blue Division: East Hartford, East Catholic, Glastonbury, Manchester, South Windsor, Windsor
White Division: HPHS, Newington, Rocky Hill, EO Smith/Tolland, Wethersfield, Avon
South Region
Blue Division: Berlin, Bristol, Bulkeley, Middletown, Plainville, Platt/Maloney.
White Division: Conard, Farmington, Hall, Northwest Catholic, Simsbury, Southington.
GYMNASTICS: (One division)
D1: Southington, Glastonbury, Conard, Farmington, Wethersfield, RHAM and Hall
BOYS LACROSSE:
Central: Avon, Conard, Hall, Glastonbury, Simsbury, Southington
North: Farmington, Newington, Northwest Catholic, RHAM, South Windsor, East Catholic
South: Berlin, Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, Rockville, Rocky Hill, Tolland, Windsor
GIRLS LACROSSE:
North Region: Avon, Conard, Farmington, Glastonbury, Hall, Southington, South Windsor, Simsbury
South Region: Berlin, Bristol, East Catholic, Newington, NWC, RHAM, Rocky Hill,Tolland, Windsor
BOYS VOLLEYBALL:
North Region: Bloomfield, East Hartford, Fermi, Rockville, South Windsor
Central Region: Bulkeley/HPHS, Glastonbury, Maloney, Newington, Southington
South Region: Conard, Farmington, Hall, Simsbury, Wethersfield
GIRLS GOLF:
North Region: East Catholic, East Hartford, Glastonbury, Manchester, Wethersfield
Central Region: Avon, Conard, Farmington, Hall, Northwest Catholic, Simsbury
South Region: Berlin, Middletown, New Britain, Newington, Plainville
WRESTLING:
North Region – East Catholic, East Hartford, Glastonbury, Manchester, Wethersfield, South Windsor and Windsor
East Region – Avon, E.O. Smith, Fermi, HPHS/Weaver, RHAM, Rockville and Rocky Hill
West Region – Conard, Farmington, Hall, New Britain, Newington, Simsbury and Southington
South Region – Berlin, Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, Maloney, Middletown, Plainville and Platt
From a girls basketball standpoint I would’ve loved to see that Central Region White Divison play out this year: Weaver, Farmington, Avon and Northwest…loaded (all Top 15-20ish teams in the state IMO). D1 Talent on all four teams.
Finally!! The juggernaut CCC North for boys basketball is fixed. 3 teams in the State championship last year just from that division (Windsor, Weaver, East Catholic) with two winning it (Windsor and East Catholic) and weaver losing to East.
Football is a little uneven with Division 2 East having only two teams with winning records (Windsor and Middletown) while Division 2 West only has two teams without a winning record.
And Berlin maybe got the easiest football conference ever… Yet again
Would love to know who worked to realign, was told from an athletic Director that some ADs asked to be on the committee and they were told “NO”. How you don’t allow a willing AD to be on the committee is unfair and doesn’t allow all schools a voice
With 33 teams, it’s going to be difficult to make any claims about how good this conference is in any sport. I made a post last year while some CCC teams were bragging about how great the conference was but, when you look at statistically, they are probably one of the lesser conferences. With so many teams, just to be an “average” conference, you need to put a team in the state championship nearly every year. Also will be tough for the lesser teams to ever make the conference tournaments, even when they have good seasons.
You bring up a good point that many coaches in the conference have brought up as well. Many of the schools in the CCC right now aren’t even able to provide JV teams for most of the main sports, let alone quality varsity programs; which is a major problem. The conference is too large and teams should’ve been eliminated from the conference a while ago. The CCC is a Varsity/JV/Freshmen conference, however there are a number of teams in Major sports like Football, Soccer (B&G), Baseball, & Softball, that can’t even field a Varsity team. The CCC should move forward with L and LL teams only, let the M and S schools create their own conference similar to the Pequot, or join the Pequot for that matter.