Sal Morello returned to the high school football program he started in Cromwell 23 years ago, and he saw with the passing of a generation, something had changed.
“The biggest thing, when we started in 2001, the kids just knew this way, it was my way,” Morello said. “None of them ever played high school football, the buy-in was easier. Now, coming back after 10, 11 years, these kids don’t know me from a hole in the wall, and that trust, that buy-in took a little longer than I thought.”
Morello, 55, did what he always does, he adjusted, he coached the kids, more than the game, and he led the Cromwell-Portland program back to familiar territory, the CIAC playoffs, and home matchup with Woodland in the Class S quarterfinal round Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. One of Morello’s players, Randall Bennett, coached with distinction at Cromwell, a 52-17 record, winning the championship in 2021. Morello, who won Cromwell’s first title in 2008, left for Middletown High in 2010 and was head coach there for 11 seasons. Feeling a little burned out, he gave up the head coaching spot in ’21, but continued to help out as an assistant. It stayed in his blood.
When Bennett stepped away after last season, Morello felt a need to go back.
“They were looking for a coach and the program is very dear to me,” Morello said. “I was there at the very beginning when the program started in 2001. I just had to figure out the proper balance with my life and family. It was an opportunity I didn’t want to pass by. I wanted to give it one more shot.”
Morello, a phys ed teacher at Middletown High, is a throw-back to the days when high school coaches were not limited to one sport, but had an impact on nearly every student at a school, or in his case, multiple schools. He still coaches girls basketball at Cromwell, and the softball team at Middletown. He’s the type who could pick a sport, read a couple of books on it cover-to-cover, then go out and coach it.
“I teach, I’m in the ‘kids business,'” Morello said. “The girls basketball is therapeutic for me, and softball I really enjoy. I think the football piece, what burned me out first time around, was the weight room, the seven-on-seven (in the summer), the year-round stuff. I’ve just learned to delegate. You learn to surround yourself with good people. You just can’t do it all.”
When he started again at Cromwell in August, Morello was working with players who were not yet born when he became the father of football at their school. He set out to building new relationships. Maybe he had to explain why he wanted something done a certain way, but he and his players soon caught on to each other.
“We’ve improved in a lot of ways,” Morello said. “The kids have done a great job of preparing every week. They’ve really been flexible. They’re not stuck on one thing, we’re able to throw the ball when we need to, we’re pretty decent at it; we’ve been able to run the ball, we’re pretty decent at it. The football IQ has been really good, so I’ve been able to mix it up a little bit. It’s a senior-oriented team, so they’ve been there. The comradery on the team has been excellent.”
Morello lauds senior quarterback Jess Elfrich for his leadership and unselfishness. Matt Gish has been “a warrior,” playing nearly every snap on both sides of the ball. Junior Logan Quick has been a mainstay on both lines. Jack Nolan, Vaughn Payne have been keys in the passing game.
“For me, it’s just about seeing the kids turn the corner,” Morello said. “Where we were in August, and where we are now. That’s the stuff I missed. I missed being part of a team, the stuff football provides, the comradery with the kids, the togetherness, the family atmosphere. I missed that. I’ve been part of a team since I was 8 years old.”
Cromwell-Portland (9-1) has outscored opponents 284-36, losing only to undefeated Capital Prep during the season. They are the No. 3 seed in Class S, which includes Hartford-area schools Cap Prep, Bloomfield and East Catholic. With six divisions and eight entries in each, there’s a place for upstate schools as well as the state’s traditional Naugatuck Valley and downstate hotbeds.
Glastonbury, Manchester and New Britain are in the Class LL quarterfinals, Maloney-Meriden in L, Windsor, which is No.1 in the polls, Newington and Wethersfield, who play each other, and Bristol Central in MM, Rockville and Berlin, who face off in Class M, and Ellington, Windham, Granby-Canton in SS.
“There’s been a definite improvement overall, and it’s good to see more balance in the state,” Morello said. “There are some good teams up here. Windsor can play with anybody, Glastonbury has the kind of team that can play with anybody, Newington has bounced back, Wethersfield, Maloney.”
As for Cromwell-Portland, the coach who started it all is back on the scene, and everyone involved has benefitted. It’s playoff time, and Sal Morello is open for business — the “kids business.”
“I just said to myself to just stay true to who I am,” Morello said. “Just hammering home the details, earning their trust that way and being very prepared every day in film, in practice. I really made it a point to make connections with these kids. They don’t care about what went on in the past. Just be consistent with them, be fair, firm and consistent.”
More for your Sunday Read:
Time for Tyrese
Have to feel good for former UConn men’s standout Tyrese Martin, who after years of toiling mostly in the developmental G League, hooked on with Brooklyn and scored an 30 points in a win over Phoenix this week.
“I just felt like (the Suns) didn’t know who I was,” Martin told reporters. “So they’re probably not going to pay a lot of attention to you on the defensive end. Betcha they know who I am now.”
So do the Nets, who, with a couple of guys missing, gave Martin his first NBA start on Friday night, at shooting guard against Orlando at Barclays Center, where he played 26 minutes, getting eight points (3 for 6, including 2 for 4 on threes), two rebounds and an assist. It is significant for Martin, 25, to be getting this kind of opportunity this early in a season with a team on the edge of contention, rather than late in the season for a noncontender.
Dom Amore: UConn’s Dan Hurley needs to reel it in, for his sake and his team’s
Sunday short takes
*Winning championships is hard, especially three in a row. For the UConn men to three-peat is a monumental ask, but I certainly didn’t have NIT on my bingo card. I don’t think that’s going to happen, either. The skill sets don’t look like they fit together right now, but there’s plenty of season left for Dan Hurley and his staff to figure things out.
*Shouting out UConn radio guys Mike Crispino and Wayne Norman, who flew back from Hawaii to do double duty, football at UMass then men’s basketball in Hartford, on Saturday. Must be nice to be young and have that much energy.
*A reporter in Charlotte asked Kemba Walker, now a coach with the Hornets, what was wrong with the UConn. “Nothing’s wrong. We have two straight national championships,” he said.
*We’ve gotten our first indication that Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd finally playing together is as much fun as we’ve long anticipated. Their postgame pressers may be nearly as entertaining as the games. Worth the wait.
*CCSU’s Adam Lechtenberg was the NEC’s football coach of he year. Finishing first when picked to finish last will do that.
*Also at CCSU, Pat Sellers has another promising men’s basketball season for conference play. The Blue Devils lost by four at Providence to start the season, and beat St. Joe’s, which later beat Villanova. Remember, Sacred Heart and Merrimack are no longer in the NEC.
*How did the Rangers unravel this quickly? Things do unravel quickly in the NHL, but didn’t see that coming.
*A reader correctly reminded me this week that, even though coaches scream “over the back” on very rebound, and announcers often reference it, there is no such foul in the rulebook. It’s the pushing or bumping that creates advantage that is supposed to be called as a foul.
*If Juan Soto is really judging suitors by which ones will likely put good players around him year over year, based on the last few years, they’d have to be ranked Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Blue Jays. If it’s about who has the best farm system, which sometimes does, sometimes doesn’t translate to future championships, the Red Sox would be No.1.
*Fun baseball fact you may not know. Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Lemon, who later managed the Yankees to the 1978 World Series championship, played a small part in “The Winning Team,” the 1952 film starring Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander. Lemon showed Reagan how to wind up and throw to pull off the on-the-mound scenes. A Hall of Famer teaching a president to throw like another Hall of Famer – and yet the Oscar went to “An American in Paris!”
Dom Amore: Dan Toatley has triumphed over adversity for playoff-bound CCSU football
Last word
Tanking to get the No.1 draft pick with half a season to go sounds like a great plan on social media, podcasts or talk radio, but once veteran NFL players decide they’re not going to risk getting maimed when nobody wants to win, it looks as ugly as what we’re seeing from the area’s franchises, most particularly the Giants. And it’s got to be darn near impossible for the same coaches to get the locker room back the following season.