Ansonia’s Shykeem Harmon runs in for one of three touchdowns against Watertown Thursday, October 4, 2018, at Jarvis Stadium in Ansonia. The Ansonia Chargers won, 49-7. (Catherine Avalone, Hearst Connecticut Media)
[Vitals]
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COACH — TOM BROCKETT (14th year, 159-12)
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CONFERENCE — NVL Copper
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PLAYOFF CLASS — S (351 boys enrollment)
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HOME — Jarvis Stadium, at Nolan Athletic Complex, Ansonia
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2018 RECORD — 11-1 (Lost to Bloomfield in Class S semifinal)
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2019 OPENER — Sept. 12 vs. WCA, 6 p.m.
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TEAM WEBSITES — AnsoniaFootball.com, Maxpreps | TWITTER — @AnsoniaFootball
[Top Players]
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GARRETT CAFARO, Sr. TE/DE (6-1, 235)
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TYLER CAFARO, Sr. RB/LB (6-0, 195)
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SHYKEEM HARMON, Sr. RB/DB (5-8, 178)
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LUIS SANTIAGO, Sr OL (5-11, 245)
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SHELDON SCHULER, Jr. QB (6-3, 232)
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NOAH WAGNBLAS, Sr. WR/DB (6-2, 191)
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TROY SANDERS, Jr. LB (5-9, 185)
[Key Losses]
RB/OLB Darwin Amaya, OT Martin Antoine, OT/DL Luca Belenchia, OL/DE Terjuan Burney, QB/RB/DB John Picheco, LB Tyler Navarro
Outlook
No one in the NVL will cry for Ansonia, looking to replace the injured and the graduated. The Chargers have done it before. They’re trying to do it again.
“It’s starting to get later in the preseason and we still have a lot of question marks, guys battling for jobs,” coach Tom Brockett said Thursday, a week before the season begins at Nolan Field against Waterbury Career Academy.
“There’s not a lot of time to figure it out, two weeks to piece it all together. Everybody’s in the same boat.”
If you’d expect any program to get it figured out, it’s Ansonia, whose only regular-season defeat in the past eight seasons was a non-league game against Newtown, a Class LL school, in 2014.
Its last loss to an NVL team came to Naugatuck on Thanksgiving Day 2010. That’s the same year the Chargers began a run of eight consecutive appearances in the CIAC finals, one shy of the state record.
Bloomfield, the eventual Class S champion, ended that streak in last year’s semifinals.
“Losing that game makes us (want to) get back there and win it,” senior lineman Luis Santiago said.
A few cornerstones remain. Shykeem Harmon rushed for 2,100 yards last season as a junior. Sheldon Schuler stepped in at quarterback as a sophomore and stood out. The Cafaro brothers, Garrett and Tyler, “are tough, hard-nosed kids who can play anywhere and play it well,” Brockett said.
Ansonia quarterback Sheldon Schuler takes on Bloomfield defenders Michael Raiford, left, and Alfonzo Stokes in the first half of the Chargers’ 26-19 loss to Bloomfield in the state playoffs at Jarvis Stadium in Ansonia, Conn. on Sunday, December 2, 2018.
The Chargers will greatly miss Jalen Johnson, their top receiver and placekicker as well as a basketball standout, who’s expected to miss his junior year. “Non-contact injury,” Brockett said, “just a huge, huge loss for us.”
That’s just one absence they’ll have to overcome. Only two offensive linemen return, for instance; with all-state linemen Luca Belenchia and Terjuan Burney graduated.
“We’ve got a lot of younger guys,” Garrett Cafaro said. “They’re going to have to play a bigger role. You can say they don’t have experience, but the way they’ve practiced, the way they played in the scrimmage, I think they’ll be fine.”
“A lot of them played backup roles, but they’ve paid attention,” Tyler Cafaro said. “They know what they’re doing.”
Santiago said he sees a group that’s more united than in the past. It’s not that he thought past teams or players were selfish at all, he stressed, just that these Chargers are a hard-working, unified team.
“We don’t really joke around a lot. Everyone’s nice to each other, really, as a group,” Santiago said.
“It’s not just seniors. The whole team is together.”
Oxford, Derby, Kennedy and Woodland also visit Jarvis Stadium this year before the Chargers finish the regular season on the road at Seymour, then at Naugatuck on Thanksgiving.
The expectation every year is that Ansonia will have another game five days later. The players say they aren’t taking anybody lightly as they try to erase the memory of a state-semifinal exit, which, for some programs, would be a banner year.
“It definitely burns. It’s hard. The bar is set real, real high,” Brockett said. “We don’t hide from it. The kids understand the expectation on them.”
[2019 Schedule]
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Sept. 12 — WCA*, 6 p.m.
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Sept. 21 — at Holy Cross*, 1 p.m.
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Sept. 27 — OXFORD**, 7 p.m.
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Oct. 4 — at St. Paul*, 7 p.m.
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Oct. 11 — at Watertown*, 7 p.m.
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Oct. 25 — DERBY**, 7 p.m.
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Nov. 1 — KENNEDY*, 6 p.m.
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Nov. 8 — WOODLAND**, 6 p.m.
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Nov. 14 — at Seymour**, 6 p.m.
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Nov. 28 — at Naugatuck*, 10:30 a.m.
