The final Hartford Courant Top 10 state high school football coaches’ poll of the season is also the craziest.
New Canaan finishes as the state’s No. 1 team after winning its third straight CIAC Class L championship on Saturday, 35-21, over rival Darien.
The Rams (12-1) received 12 of 13 first place votes.
Fourth-ranked and Class SS champion Killingly (13-0), which finished as the state’s only unbeaten team, received the other first-place vote.
New Canaan was No. 3 prior to states. It got its shot to finish number one because Windsor and Hand, which were ranked first and second, respectively, for most of the season, were both upset in the playoffs.
St. Joseph beat Hand, 17-10, in the Class M semifinals on Dec. 8.
Masuk edged Windsor, 24-21, in last Friday’s Class MM final.
That Masuk’s win opened the door for New Canaan to finish No. 1 is ironic because it was the only team that beat the Rams (14-0, Sept. 27).
New Canaan won its final seven regular season games by an average of 29 points. It beat the likes of Class LL semifinalist Staples (23-10, Oct. 19) and Darien (34-0, Nov. 28) during that run. It also downed then-unbeaten Newtown, 35-20, in the Class L finals (Dec. 8 — and more on Newtown shortly.)
The poll gets wilder from there because No. 2 Greenwich (11-2), No. 3 Masuk (10-3) and No. 5 St. Joseph (10-3) were all unranked prior to states.
Greenwich dropped out of the poll after losing to Staples on Thanksgiving, 27-0. It avenged that loss by beating Staples in the semifinals (14-0, Dec. 8).
The Cardinals shut down West Haven on Saturday, 14-0, to win their second CIAC Class LL title in three seasons.
Masuk had an odd season. It was shutout by Bunnell, 21-0, a week after beating New Canaan. It ended the regular season with losses to Brookfield (28-14, Nov. 15) and Newtown (35-18, Nov. 27).
The Panthers got their pound of flesh by routing Bunnell, 41-13, in the Class M semifinals and went on to beat Windsor for their fourth CIAC state title.
St. Joseph (10-3) lost to three of the state’s top teams during the regular season — Darien, Greenwich, Staples — despite giving up a combined five offensive touchdowns to that trio.
The Cadets would’ve missed states if it hadn’t rally to score 14 unanswered points in the final one minute, 8 seconds to beat Trumbull, 22-14, on Thanksgiving.
St. Joseph knocked off two unbeaten teams in succession, Hand and Brookfield, in the playoffs. It stopped the latter on its 2-point conversion attempt with 1:02 left to win Saturday’s Class M final, 21-20.
Windsor (12-1) is sixth, followed by Class S champion Ansonia (12-1), Darien (10-3), West Haven (10-3) and Brookfield (12-1).
Lastly, there’s this — when the CIAC expanded the playoffs from 32 to 48 teams in 2022 by adding two divisions, it made finishing in the season-ending Top 10 even more difficult.
Voters almost always rank all the state champions in the Top 10, regardless of the team’s record or division.
Expansion has increased the number of state champs from four to six, so if a coach ranked all of them in their Top 10, then they’d have just four places left for everyone else instead of six.
Hand plummeted from No. 2 to No. 11 following its only loss of the season.
Staples (10-2) gave Greenwich its first shutout loss since 2006 on Thanksgiving. Its semifinal loss to the Cardinals dropped it from No. 4 to No. 12.
Newtown (11-1) was unbeaten before losing to New Canaan in the Class L semifinals. It also routed Masuk by 18 points less than three weeks ago, but its loss to a three-time state champion resulted in it falling seven spots to No. 13.
Hartford Courant Top 10 State Football Coaches’ Poll
First place points in parentheses, final record, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis, last week’s ranking and CIAC classification:
1. New Canaan 12-1 388 3 L
KNOW THIS: Senior Luke Robinson completed 17 of 24 passes for 238 yards and three touchdowns in the Class L final while junior Andrew Esposito had eight catches for 120 yards and a touchdown and scored on a 55-yard run. The Rams have also won 13 of their 15 CIAC state titles since 2001.
2. Greenwich 11-2 356 NR LL
KNOW THIS: The Cardinals won the program’s 10th CIAC state title the way they won four decades ago — with a strong running game and defense. Senior quarterback MJ D’Angelo ran 18 times for 202 yards and two touchdowns in the LL final while the defense gave West Haven its only shutout loss of the season.
3. Masuk 10-3 314 NR L
KNOW THIS: Panthers’ senior Shane Walker scored his team’s first touchdown and set up their second on a long catch to give his team a halftime lead. His twin brother, Gavin, began Masuk’s final drive by taking direct snaps and running on eight of the team’s first 10 plays for 41 yards to set up the game-winning field goal.
4. Killingly 13-0 289 9 SS
KNOW THIS: Junior Hayden Allard ran 36 times for 267 yards and four touchdowns and scored on an 81-yard kickoff return to propel Killingly to its fifth CIAC state title. It has a good shot to win No. 6 next season because most of the team are underclassmen.
5. St. Joseph 10-3 288 NR M
KNOW THIS: The Cadets’ defense was their lifeblood this season. It scored on either a fumble or interception in three of their final four games, including their wins over Hand and Brookfield.
6. Windsor 12-1 227 1 MM
KNOW THIS: Senior John Manning was terrific in defeat for the Warriors. He ran an astounding 40 times for 225 yards and two touchdowns, ran for a conversion also caught two passes in the Class MM final. In all, he touched the ball on 42 of Windsor’s 57 plays.
7. Ansonia 12-1 207 NR LL
KNOW THIS: Senior Quintez Whittle ran 18 times for 198 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday as the Chargers routed Bloomfield, 58-12, to win the Class S title, its record 22nd CIAC state championship.
8. Darien 10-3 186 8 L
KNOW THIS: The fourth and final FCIAC team in the Top 10. The Blue Wave’s losses were to Windsor (41-35, double OT, Sept. 27) and New Canaan twice.
9. West Haven 10-3 182 2 M
KNOW THIS: The Blue Devils had forever been a running team before Nick Conlan arrived. He was a four-year starter at quarterback and finished his Westies career with 5,994 career passing yards and 69 passing touchdowns.
10. Brookfield 12-1 173 5 M
KNOW THIS: The Bobcats came up a yard short on their 2-point conversion attempt with 1:02 remaining in their loss to St. Joseph. Michael Walters ran 19 times for 76 yards and a touchdown for Brookfield and Nyzir Torres added nine carries for 79 yards and a score.
Dropped out: Hand (2), Staples (4), Newtown (6), Fairfield Prep (7).
Also receiving votes: Hand (11-1), 163 points; Staples (10-2), 150; Newtown (11-1), 110; Fairfield Prep (10-2), 103; Sheehan (10-3), 77; Glastonbury (8-3), 31; Maloney (6-5), 17; Bunnell (9-3), 16; Notre Dame-West Haven (7-5), 10; Tied, Bloomfield (10-3), Fairfield Ludlowe (8-3), Naugatuck (9-2) and Woodland (8-4), 7.
Voters: Erik Becker, Hand; Tom Brockett; Ansonia; Joe Della Vecchia; St. Joseph; Mike Ellis; Fitch; Rob Fleeting; Windsor; Kevin Frederick, Maloney; Tanner Grove; Montville; Andy Guyon; Xavier; Joe Lato; Woodland; Brian Mazzone; Stafford/East Windsor/Somers; Bryan Muller; Brookfield; Marce Petroccio; Trumbull; Nathan Tyler, Stratford.
Ned Griffen has obsessively covered state high school football since the mid-nineties, back when Dan Orlovsky was just a wiry teenager at Shelton High School. He was born in Texas thus he was genetically hardwired to love the sport. He enjoys heavy metal, pro wrestling, Jennifer Walters and being adored by cats and dogs everywhere.