At some point, Maloney football coach Kevin Frederick figures, he and his team are going to figure out how to beat New Canaan.
It’s been close. Maloney lost to New Canaan 11-8 last year as the Rams scored on a field goal with no time left in the Class L semifinal. The Spartans lost to New Canaan 16-13 in the Class L championship game two years ago.
This year, instead of waiting until the end of the season, Maloney is starting off with its nemesis Friday as the Rams travel to Falcon Field in Meriden.
“I’m always optimistic,” Frederick said. “We’re excited to prove ourselves. We’re excited to host them and get after it with them. They’re the programs that’s had our number. If we want to be the best in Connecticut, we’ve got to find a way to beat the New Canaans of the world.”
Maloney returns a core group of players including senior quarterback Ethan Nedinsky, who passed for over 2,000 yards and 30 touchdowns last year, and seniors Donald Highsmith at running back and Jesus Martell at wide receiver.
Frederick said his offensive line is more experienced and hopes that will translate into success later.
“I think that was our Achilles heel last year,” he said. “We played a lot of sophomores and juniors up front. The line, to us, is the most important thing.
“Looking back at the 2021 (state championship) team, that was the strength of our team. That kind of propelled us especially later in the season when you have to run the football in those rain games and the cold weather games. I like where we are with that.”
New-ish faces in the coaching ranks
Sal Morello, who started the football program at Cromwell/Portland, is back after Randell Bennett – one of his former players – stepped down after last season. Cromwell lost 42-20 to Bloomfield in the Class S championship game last year and lost some key players but returns quarterback Jess Elfeich, receiver Vaughn Payne and Matt Gish, who does a little bit of everything. All are seniors. Cromwell hosts the Coginchaug co-op Friday.
“We’re a work in progress,” said Morello, who coached at Middletown for 12 years. “Week 1 has always worried me. You just don’t know what to expect. But they’re ready to go.”
At Southington, assistant coach Rob Levesque took over for Mike Drury, who left to spend more time with his family. The Blue Knights, who lost to Staples in the Class LL semifinal game, return a group of offensive and defensive linemen but lost their quarterback and receivers. Senior running back/linebacker Zach Findley is back and will play on both sides of the ball. Freshman Nate Pelletier will start at quarterback.
“You would never know talking to him he’s a freshman,” Levesque said. “He has a very mature way about him with the older group. We had an injury to our sophomore quarterback and he was forced to step up and he did it without even flinching.”
Steve Markie, another long-time assistant, replaces Frank Robinson, who coached for 24 years at Hall, which went 7-3 last season. Hall, which has 14 seniors, is more experienced defensively with senior Tyler Redden and junior Quinn O’Neil at linebacker.
Hall opens with Ridgefield Friday and will also play Southington, Maloney and West Haven, the Class LL runner-up.
“Our schedule is very difficult, but we hope we’re going to be competitive,” Markie said.
CCC will be competitive once again
Bloomfield, last year’s Class S champion, lost a good chunk of its explosive offense to graduation but has a group of players ready to step into those roles and returns most of its offensive line, with veterans Bradley Campbell (OL/DL) and center Kadyn Thomas leading the way. Junior lefty Cameron White will take over at quarterback.
“Our line is going to be the nucleus of our team with big Bradley and Kadyn at center,” Bloomfield coach Ty Outlaw said. “We’re going to be pretty good up front.”
Bloomfield opens at Rocky Hill Friday.
As CT high school football season approaches, here are some top area players to watch
Windsor, which lost in the Class MM semifinal game to North Haven, returns a number of key players including junior quarterback AJ Robinson (34 touchdowns 2,000 passing yards), senior running back John Manning (17 touchdowns, over 1,000 yards rushing) and senior wide receiver Cashmire Lewis.
Windsor coach Rob Fleeting said the 21-0 loss to eventual Class MM champion North Haven spurred his players to work harder in the offseason.
“We talk about it a lot,” he said. “Sometimes, I think you’re outmatched mentally, sometimes you face a group that’s more mature than you are and they’re able to overcome things throughout the game and I think that’s something we’re looking to improve on.”
Windsor will host East Hartford on Friday night. The Hornets, which went 5-5 last year, return senior quarterback Dravyn Roberts, who passed for over 1,500 yards and rushed for over 1,200 and had 39 touchdowns. Senior RB Yaxier Rivera had over 1,600 yards rushing and junior WR Isaiah Tripp had 11 touchdowns.
Coach Bennie Fulse III has shored up his defense, which gave up an average of 41 points a game last year, and hopes the Hornets are able to gain a little more respect.
“We have one of the hardest schedules in the state, we’ve got Windsor, North Haven, Shelton, Maloney, Southington – either they made the playoffs, or just missed the playoffs,” said Fulse III, in his second year as coach. “But you’ve got to play that type of schedule if you want to be recognized.
“Our program doesn’t have the respect of the state as a good opponent. I want the kids to feel how it feels to win.”
Berlin, which lost by a point to Rockville in the Class M quarterfinal, returns senior quarterback CJ Riccitelli and senior running back Kyle Melville, who is completely healthy after playing injured last year. The linebacking corps took a hit due to graduation and junior linebacker Ryan Lavender, who also plays baseball, is out for the season after having Tommy John surgery. Riccitelli is expected to play linebacker as well as quarterback.
Berlin’s Kyle Melville fends off Rockville’s Hason Green, left, for a 40-yard run in the first half of the Redcoats victory over Rockville in the Class M semifinals.
“We knew it was coming and planned ahead for it,” Berlin coach Joe Aresimowicz said. “We had a lot of guys in starting roles play a lot of varsity downs last year so I don’t think we’ll see much of a difference.”
Berlin opens at Branford Friday night.
Big news at Stafford, big losses at Rockville
Stafford/Somers/East Windsor coach Brian Mazzone, whose team went 5-5 last season, has hope for improvement after freshman Joel Budd showed up. Budd is 6-8, 335 pounds and is one of the biggest kids Mazzone has ever coached.
Budd injured his foot early in preseason and will start on offensive line but will eventually play on the d-line too.
“I like my team a lot,” Mazzone said. “We really struggled last year offensively, we averaged 5-9, 175 (pounds) on the offensive line. We have Joel now and Giovanni Carter, who is 6-foot, 295 (pounds) – he’s an East Windsor kid who moved from New York.
“We went from being a really small line to a really big line which is awesome.”
Stafford will play the CREC Co-op Friday night.
In Rockville, coach Erick Knickerbocker was hoping to be able to build on last season’s success after advancing to the Class M state championship game, where the Rams lost to Hand, but he lost a few key players. RB Amir Knighton transferred to Loomis Chaffee for his senior year and Rockville’s top linebacker Nate Palmer re-tore his ACL (after tearing it in the first game last year) and is out for the season.
“It’s not the team we thought,” Knickerbocker said. “We made a really nice run last year and we thought this would be a better team. We kind of had to start over.”
Rockville brings back senior QB Brady Ramsdell, who has passed for over 4,000 yards the last two years, and senior OL Jonathan Kasamba.
Rockville kicker Molly Wilson (65) celebrates her extra point with teammate Jonathan Kasamba (67) during a football game against Cromwell at Rockville High School on Oct. 6. (Jessica Hill/Special to the Courant)
“We have some kids that are stuck in the ‘We need to go to the state championship because we’ve been to the state championship’ and we have brand new kids that are like, ‘I don’t even know what this is,’” Knickerbocker said. “It’s an interesting dynamic on the team.
“We have some good young talent who can play at the varsity level, we’ll just see how quickly we can get there.”
Rockville will start its season at Coventry Friday night.
Granby/Canton, which lost in the Class SS quarterfinal last year, lost a top player in Will Attianese but brings back seniors QB Vinnie Forte, RB Hayes Horst and WR Carter Chambers.
“It’s definitely a big loss, but the good thing is we’ve got basically everyone else back,” coach Erik Shortell said. “Basically, all of our skill guys are seniors and 2-3 year starters. The other extreme is my offensive and defensive lines are freshmen and sophomores.
“Overall, as long as the core guys stay healthy, I think we should have another very good year.”
Granby/Canton faces SMSA Friday.
Xavier has everybody back
Xavier, which went 7-3 and just missed the playoffs last year, has 16 starters back but a tough schedule awaits the Falcons, who open Friday with Bunnell and will face seven playoff teams during the season.
QB Sam Andrea is in his third year starting and junior RB Ean Pringle had almost 900 yards rushing last year.
“We feel pretty good about where we are,” coach Andy Guyon said. “But we have a real difficult schedule and we’re going to have to play really well to win those games.”
