Newtown quarterback Luke Melillo throws the ball during a game against NFA on Saturday. Photo: Ryan Lacey / Hearst Connecticut Media
It was an eventful Week 6, despite only a third of the state playing games while the remaining leagues took their mandated bye weeks. Bristol Central upset Maloney and North Haven rallied to beat Brookfield in an SCC-SWC clash of unbeatens.
But none of the three Top 10 teams that played last week lost and, predictably, there were few changes in the GameTimeCT / New Haven Register Top 10 Football Poll heading into Week 7.
No. 1 Darien continued to hold a slim, 10-point lead over No. 2 Greenwich. The Blue Wave retained their 15 first-place votes and Greenwich held onto its 12 first-place votes. Hand, which wiped out West Haven, 46-7, stayed at No. 3 with four first-place votes.
The WEEK 6 High School Football Scoreboard | WEEK 7 Schedule
The only change in rankings came lower down the list as Newtown, which crushed Norwich Free Academy, 51-14, flipped over idle Southington to reclaim the No. 7 spot by 13 points.
Idle Bloomfield held on to No. 10 despite a challenge from North Haven, which pulled to within 10 points of being ranked heading into its SCC unbeaten showdown vs. No. 5 Shelton at Vanacore Field.
We’re back to our full compliment of games for the next month as the season’s second half gets underway.
Here’s what’s what in the Top 10.
The WEEK 7 GameTimeCT / NH Register Top 10
TEAM (1st place votes) | REC | PTS | LAST | CLASS |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1. DARIEN (15) | 5-0 | 892 | 1 | LL |
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| Last Week: Idle. This Week: at Warde (3-2), Friday, 6 p.m. The Bottom Line: The Blue Wave’s defense has allowed a mere 20 points in the season’s first half. |
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 | 2. GREENWICH (12) | 4-0 | 882 | 2 | LL |
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| Last Week: Idle This Week: at Westhill (1-4), Saturday, 2 p.m. The Bottom Line: The Cardinals’ defense has allowed a mere 21 points through their four, first-half games. |
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 | 3. HAND (4) | 5-0 | 828 | 3 | L |
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| Last Week: def. West Haven 47-6 This Week: at Foran (1-4), Friday, 7 p.m. The Bottom Line: Phoenix Billings accounted for 300 yards of offense and the Hand defense held Tier I West Haven to negative-2 yards over the first three quarters of their statement victory at the Surf Club. |
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 | 4. ST. JOSEPH | 4-1 | 692 | 4 | M |
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| Last Week: Idle This Week: vs. Stamford (1-4), Saturday, 1:30 p.m. The Bottom Line: St. Joseph’s defense has allowed a mere 28 points through five games. Their next two opponents (Stamford and Bridgeport Central) aren’t quite scoring machines. |
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 | 5. SHELTON | 5-0 | 678 | 5 | LL |
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| Last Week: def. Masuk 38-10 This Week: at North Haven (5-0), Friday, 7 p.m. The Bottom Line: The Gaels took their time, but eventually overwhelmed neighboring Masuk. Next up, the a showdown with unbeaten Tier I foe North Haven at Vanacore Field. |
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 | 6. EAST HARTFORD | 5-0 | 576 | 6 | LL |
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| Last Week: Idle. This Week: at Enfield (3-2), Friday, 7 p.m. The Bottom Line: After an eventful first half, Raquan Tompkins and the Hornets got a needed bye week before tackling their toughest stretch of the year. After Enfield, Southington and New Britain loom. |
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 | 7. NEWTOWN | 5-0 | 493 | 8 | LL |
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| Last Week: def. Norwich Free Academy 51-14 This Week: vs. Pomperaug (3-2), Friday, 7 p.m. The Bottom Line: The Nighthawks turned on the jets and scored 34-unanswered points second half of their Class LL showdown with NFA. They face three of the SWC’s best teams over the next three weeks: Pomperaug, Bunnell and Brookfield. |
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 | 8. SOUTHINGTON | 5-0 | 480 | 7 | LL |
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| Last Week: Idle. This Week: vs. Conard (2-3), Friday, 7 p.m. The Bottom Line: The Blue Knights, still flying high after their Week 5 win over New Britain must get past pesky Conard to set up another showdown, this time with No. 6 East Hartford. |
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 | 9. NAUGATUCK | 5-0 | 371 | 9 | L |
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| Last Week: Idle. This Week: at Kennedy (3-2), Friday, 7 p.m. The Bottom Line: The Greyhounds’ defense allowed just 19 points all year. They’ll be looking for their fourth shutout of the season when they face Kennedy. |
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 | 10. BLOOMFIELD | 5-0 | 340 | 10 | S |
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| Last Week: Idle. This Week: at Avon (0-5), Saturday, 1 p.m. The Bottom Line: The Warhawks’ defense has allowed a state-best 13 points all season. Then again, their opponents are a combined 8-17 so far. A showdown with Berlin, however, is just a few weeks away… |
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| Dropped out: None. First-place votes in parentheses and points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis. |
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| Others receiving votes: North Haven (5-0), 330; Ansonia (5-0), 294; New Canaan (3-2), 220; Berlin (5-0), 219; Middletown (5-0), 210; New Britain (4-1), 97; Fairfield Prep (4-1), 74; Staples (4-1), 68; Killingly (4-1), 50; Maloney (4-1), 18; RHAM (5-0), 17; Bunnell (5-0), 16; East Haven (5-0), 15; Brookfield (4-1), Woodland (5-0) and Windsor (4-1), 8; Bristol Central (2-3), Cromwell/Portland (5-0) and Sheehan (4-1), 7 | ||||||||
| The following voted: Bob Barton, New Haven Register; Nate Brown, Fox61; Bill Bloxsom, Hersam Acorn Newspapers; Sean Patrick Bowley, GameTimeCT; Kyle Brennan, Freelance; Doug Bonjour, Connecticut Post; Gerry deSimas Jr., Collinsville Press; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Erik Dobratz, WTNH-8; Scott Ericson, Stamford Advocate; Ned Griffen, The Day of New London; Shelby Iava, New Britain Herald; Mark Jaffee, Republican-American of Waterbury; Ryan Lacey, Danbury News-Times; Kyle Maher, Journal-Inquirer of Manchester; Pete Paguaga, GameTimeCT; John Pierson, WTNH-8; Noah Finz, CT Sports Now; Mike Madera, Walter Camp Football Foundation; Shawn McFarland, Hartford Courant; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; John Nash, The Hour of Norwalk; Keith O’Brien, GameDay CT Sports; Dan Orencole, Bristol Press; Dave Phillips, Shoreline Newspapers; Marc Robbins, CT Sports Now; Dave Ruden, The Ruden Report; Mike Suppe, Hersam-Acorn Newspapers; Rich Zalusky, The Chronicle of Willimantic; Jimmy Zanor, Norwich Bulletin; Joe Zone, WFSB-3. | ||||||||
