For Coaches, Rain's A Pain For Preparation For Connecticut High School Football

Courtesy of the Record-Journal
Written by Bryant Carpenter
October 14, 2005

NO PLACE DRY -- Here's how the Maloney football team spent the week.

"Monday," said head coach Bob Zito, "we went out and the minute we hit the field it started pouring. That was a chilling experience, to say the least. Tuesday wasn't too bad, but the field was saturated. I think today (Wednesday) we'll head to drier climates and practice in the gym."

Such is the story of Connecticut high school football, Week 5. Deviating itineraries came only from the teams that stuck it out in the rain every day, such as Southington and Platt.

"You gotta play in it so you might as well practice in it," quipped Southington skipper Bill Mella.

Whatever the degree of saturation, area teams arrive at the same foggy port this morning. Fields are more suitable for regattas, more heavy rain is expected, game plans are in tatters.

All that seems clear are the benefits of having an artificial turf field. Trinity College, which has a new artificial surface, fielded several calls Thursday from high schools looking to move their games to the Hartford campus.

That included Bulkeley, which is scheduled to host Platt at Dillon Stadium. Platt coach Tom Ryan even called Berlin (to no avail) to see if that town's turf field at Sage Park was available.

In the SCC, calls were directed to East Haven. Last week, East Haven hosted Sheehan-Notre Dame on the new turf of Cristafi Field. Amity was thinking about relocating its game with Cheshire to East Haven on Saturday night, but the Easties need to keep the date open in case this evening's game with Lyman Hall, which includes a field dedication ceremony, has to be bumped.

Decisions, decisions: A raft load will be made this morning, even in Meriden, where the Maloney-Bristol Central game at Ceppa Field has already been postponed. The question is whether the Spartans will play Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.

Sheehan is supposed to play in New Haven against Hillhouse at 2:30 p.m., but Academics coach Eric Barbarito told Sheehan athletic director Judy Sheehan on Thursday Bowen Field was unplayable.

So, like Bowen and Ceppa, today's scholastic schedule holds little water.

"It's a shame we're all in this together," said coach Ryan. "Artificial turf could easily solve it."

The Platt coach, long an advocate of a turf field in Meriden, noted that an artificial surface would be useful and cost effective for practices on rainy weeks such as this.

"We've been out every day, but today we did a number on our practice field," Ryan said. "You can ruin a $100,000 system in two hours on grass."

By Wednesday, Maloney, Cheshire and Lyman Hall had moved their practices indoors. Their fields were mud pits and the Trojans, thanks to a lengthy practice field upgrade at Lyman Hall, have the additional burden traveling across town to West Side Field. Sheehan wanted to take its act inside, too, but was trumped by a previously scheduled volleyball practice.

Practicing football indoors has its obvious limitations. Forget working on the passing game or special teams. Contact has to be toned way down. It's ideal for working on alignments and formations, but game conditions aren't exactly being approximated.

"For us, I don't feel like we get enough done in the gym," said Cheshire coach Mark Ecke. "We'll do what we'd normally do on the field, but you don't get a true perspective on things because we're limited in space."

"Inside, you're in a more controlled environment, which helps if you want to slow things down,” said Sheehan coach John Ferrazzi. “But on a full practice day, especially on a Monday or a Tuesday, we can't be inside."

First for Jude: Former Southington coach Jude Kelly earned his first win at St. Paul's Monday when the Bristol school tagged a 12-6 upset on previously unbeaten Middletown.

"It was a huge win," said Kelly, who took over a program that hadn't won since October 2003. "There's only so many times you can tell the kids, ‘keep doing what you're doing, believe in what you're doing and good things will happen.' "

Good things materialized when Derek Chard's interception and return to the 10 led to Tom Peloquin's fourth-and-1 score early in the game. Brent Seaver scored on a 28-yard run up the gut in the second quarter.

The following day, Kelly was flooded with calls from friends and coaching colleagues. "I think I got more calls today than I got when we won state championships," said Kelly, who won three state titles at East Catholic and one at Southington.

Father & son: Tonight's Lyman Hall-East Haven game marks the third annual Marone Bowl. Dad Mike is the head coach at East Haven, son Rob is an assistant with the Trojans. Son holds a 2-0 edge.

The two haven't talked about this week's game, though they've spent plenty of time together watching Lyman Hall game films — Rob to critique, Mike to game plan.

"We sat there in silence and didn't say anything, but it was kind of funny," said Rob Marone. "But that's really the relationship we have. There are no secrets."

Before going to East Haven, the elder Marone coached at Lyman Hall for a dozen years.

"To me, he'll always be a part of the program here," said Trojans head coach Chip McKeehan.

Aches & pains: Maloney tailback ranks were thinned by last week's neck injury to Johran McCaw, who's also nursing a bruised sternum. He'll be out for the Bristol Central game as will Johrone Bunch (knee). As a result, it will be Tailback by Committee with Pat Wrenn, Jonathan Murphy and Kevin Ruiz.

The Brown brothers, linebacker Willie (knee) and defensive end Brandon (shoulder), are still out. "We have had more MRIs than touchdowns," said coach Zito.

Platt defensive end Derek Dragg, who cracked the varsity ranks last week as a freshman, is out with a groin injury. Cheshire end Pete DiGangi underwent surgery on his broken hand. His return is uncertain.

Sheehan is without center Colin McCarthy (concussion), but gets quarterback/free safety Kevin Whalen (back) and strong safety Dom Cusano (knee) back this week. Cusano, a wingback in Sheehan's option offense, will be limited to defense to ease his return.

Limited duty also will be the watchword for Trojans battling back from injury: linebackers Wes Gonzalez and Pete Allard, lineman Sagar Patidar and QB Justin Gaines.

X's and O's: The temporary loss of Dom Cusano, combined with a season-ending knee injury to Jason Mezzei, cost the Titans a bevy of speed on the perimeter. To compensate, the Titans have moved running back Anthony Gagliardi out to the wing.

"We just feel he's better (operating) in space, where he can see something, make a cut and hit it," coach Ferrazzi said of the junior back, who leads the team with 158 rushing yards.

Picks o' the week: Two games stand out on the Week 5 schedule: Greenwich (4-0) at Trumbull (3-1) in the FCIAC and West Haven (4-0) at Xavier-Middletown (4-0) in the SCC. The latter has already been rescheduled to Monday at Palmer Field at 7 p.m.

Greenwich is ranked No. 1 in both the coaches and sportswriters polls. Trumbull, after last week's 13-0 loss to No. 2 Staples-Westport, fell to No. 7 with the writers and No. 10 with the coaches. Xavier is No. 3 in both polls. West Haven is No. 4 with the coaches, No. 5 with the scribes.