Week 1 Football Fine Performances / Week 2 Games to Watch

Fine performances

Oh my.
Watch
This.
Jordan Berrios rips this pass away and takes it EIGHTY EIGHT yards for a West Have touchdown.

13-7 Westies. 3rd #cthsfb pic.twitter.com/pICXMmwgZy

— Sean Patrick Bowley (@SPBowley) September 14, 2019

Ryan Bakken, Waterford: Five touchdown passes in a 33-13 win over Plainfield.

Jordan Berrios, West Haven: Had an 88-yard interception return for a touchdown and got West Haven’s offense going early in a 21-13 loss to Shelton.

Terrence Bogan, Sheehan: Ran for 222 yards and three touchdowns in a 50-0 win over Wilbur Cross.

Ryan Carlson, Tolland: Forced two fumbles and rushed 19 times for 79 yards in the Eagles’ 14-8 loss at Berlin.

Cyrus Cotto, Bullard-Havens: Completed 19 of 32 passes for 347 yards and five touchdowns in a 39-6 win over Cheney Tech.

Tyriq Deveaux, Stamford: Two touchdown catches in the Black Knights’ emotional 14-13 upset over Staples.

Aaron Faiella, Coginchaug/Hale-Ray/East Hampton: Threw for four touchdowns and ran for another in a 41-20 win over Old Saybrook/Westbrook.

John Fassett, Notre Dame-Fairfield: Threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more in a 41-25 win over Stratford.

Kyle Gordon, Norwalk: Three touchdown passes and a touchdown run in a 48-30 win over Trinity Catholic/Wright Tech.

Owen Henry, Pomperaug: Three touchdown runs in a 34-7 win over Bethel.

Shakur Hill, Bloomfield: Ran back the opening kick for a touchdown, then ran for another score in the Warhawks’ 54-0 win over Avon.

Corey Hooks, North Haven: 145 yards on 27 carries in a 14-7 loss to Fairfield Prep.

Zach LaPolice, New Canaan: Caught three touchdown passes to help the Rams put away a 32-6 win at New London.

James Laubstein, Hamden Hall: Threw for 198 yards and ran for 98 in his first start for the Hornets, an 18-16 win over Rivers (Mass.).

Adam Liberda, Berlin: Interception set up his own touchdown run in the Redcoats’ 14-8 win over Tolland.

Josh Martinotti, Lewis Mills: Scored two touchdowns and threw a two-point conversion pass as the Spartans entered the CCC with a 46-0 win over Bulkeley/HMTCA/Weaver.

Jake McAlinden, Cheshire: Ran for 85 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-14 win over Hillhouse.

Colin McCabe, Hand: On 20 carries, ran for 328 yards and two touchdowns, also catching a touchdown pass in a 49-14 win over Notre Dame-West Haven.

Max McGillicuddy, Fairfield Prep: Caught five passes for 83 yards in a 14-7 win over North Haven.

Jeff Nugent, Masuk: Ran for two touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass in a 43-12 win over New Fairfield.

Jason Palmieri, Woodland: Two interceptions and 160 yards of total offense in an 18-8 win over Torrington.

Matthew Pepe, Cromwell/Portland: His 25-yard field goal was all the scoring in a 3-0 win over Haddam-Killingworth.

Xavier Powell, Watertown: Quarterback was in on five touchdowns in a 55-20 win over Derby.

Shakespeare Rodriguez, Lyman Hall: Four touchdown catches (10 catches for 199 yards in all) helped the Trojans nearly erase a 30-point deficit in a 50-40 loss at Law.

Jackson Rome, Granby/Canton: Fourth touchdown, in overtime, plus Sam Attinese’s point-after kick lifted the new co-op past Stafford/Somers/East Windsor 27-26 in overtime.

Noe Ruelas, Hall: Kicked a 56-yard field goal, setting a state record, in a 9-3 overtime loss to Simsbury.

Sheldon Schuler, Ansonia: Threw for 151 yards and three touchdowns in the first half of a 49-12 win over Waterbury Career Academy.

James Tarver, Maloney: Ran for 206 yards and four touchdowns in a 53-13 win over Farmington.

Charles Walcott, Guilford: Ran for 208 yards on 21 carries in a 20-19 win over Branford.

Jack Wallace, St. Joseph: In his first start, junior threw five first-half touchdown passes in a 45-0 win over McMahon.

Sam Wilson, Darien: Interception return for a touchdown gave the Blue Wave a big halftime lead on the way to a 42-0 win over Fairfield Ludlowe.

Games to watch

Friday

Newtown at Fairfield Prep, 6 p.m.: Thanks to Windsor’s Week 1 loss to Newington and the voters’ elevating the Jesuits to take their spot, this becomes the first (by 30 minutes) Top 10 matchup of the season, No. 10 hosting No. 7 in the GameTimeCT poll. It’ll be the first meeting between two typically solid programs.

New Fairfield at Sheehan, 6:30 p.m.: There are a few interesting mid-tier, which-way-are-they-going games on the schedule this week (thanks, Scheduling Alliance), including this one. The visiting Rebels came into the year hoping to build on last year’s strong finish but lost handily to Masuk. The Titans rolled over Wilbur Cross but get a bigger test in this one.

Masuk at Windsor, 7 p.m.: Here’s another. The Warriors were well-regarded coming into the season, went to Newington and dropped a 30-22 decision. They’ll welcome Masuk, coming off that 43-12 win.

Brookfield at East Haven, 7 p.m.: And another. East Haven put together a solid win at Foran to open the season Friday night, coming back off last year’s 7-3 season, just 60 points shy of a Class M playoff spot. Here come the Bobcats, a Class M playoff team last season who got it handed to them by Weston in Week 1.

Middletown at Hand, 7 p.m.: And another. Who is Hand, exactly? Are they… OK, never mind. The No. 1 Tigers handled Notre Dame-West Haven for openers and move on to Middletown, a team that has drawn some mild support in the No. 14-15 range in the first couple of weeks of the GameTimeCT poll.

New Canaan at Ridgefield, 7 p.m.: Maybe the first big game of the FCIAC season. If there’s a Big Four of Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan and St. Joseph right now, Ridgefield was seen by some in the preseason as a team to head that next tier. A smattering of poll support the past couple of weeks reflects that. The teams meet for just the third time since 2008 and the first since 2016; Ridgefield’s last win was in 2006, though that’s a four-game Rams winning streak.

Southington at Darien, 7 p.m.: The Scheduling Alliance bestows this Top 10 matchup on us as well. In fact, five of the past six years, both of these teams have been in the final GameTimeCT or New Haven Register Top 10; before Greenwich topped the final poll last year, it had been Darien’s honor the three previous years, then Southington’s the year before that. Both graduated some big names but have some standout talent returning.

Saturday

Notre Dame-West Haven at St. Joseph, 1:30 p.m.: The schedule says Notre Dame visits Platt next week, but this has to be a mistake. The Green Knights played No. 1 Hand on Friday night and visit No. 2 St. Joseph this coming Saturday. No. 3 New Canaan has to be next, no? (No.)

New Britain at Staples, 6 p.m.: You schedule this one and you think, wow, two premier state programs. Then the day comes and, remarkably, it’ll be a battle to avoid an 0-2 start. New Britain comes in off a loss to South Windsor. Staples fell to Stamford at Boyle Stadium on an emotional night as the Black Knights honored two young men, one an alumnus and one a senior, who died in a car crash last month.