Darien, New Canaan, and Greenwich are ranked 3-through-5 in the two current state football polls and they are ranked very high in their respective CIAC state class rankings which decide the eight teams in each class who will qualify for the state playoffs.
Those three lead a group of seven FCIAC teams ranked among the top eight in three separate classes.
Darien and defending state champion New Canaan are ranked 1-2 in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class L rankings while Greenwich is ranked second in Class LL. They all have 5-1 records heading into this weekend’s schedule.
Staples is also 5-1 and is ranked fourth in Class LL as the defending state champion. The Wreckers are ranked sixth in one state poll and seventh in the other.
The GameTimeCT Top 10 Football Poll voted on by the media and the Hartford Courant Top 10 State Football Coaches’ Poll have the same top five teams in the same order. The difference is at No. 6, where the Hartford Courant coaches’ poll has Staples ranked as the fourth FCIAC team among its top six. Staples is No. 7 in the GameTimeCT media poll.
Undefeated Newtown is No. 6 in the GameTimeCT poll, and the 7-0 Nighthawks received the 11th most polling points in the Hartford Courant poll to drop down two spots from being No. 9 in the previous poll. One reason being theorized why the Nighthawks slid down a bit in that coaches’ poll was that their previous seven opponents had a combined record of 7-35.
The FCIAC has five teams in the Top 10 of both polls as St. Joseph’s Cadets remained at No. 10 in the media poll and they jumped up to No. 9 in the coaches’ poll after being unranked in the previous poll.
Windsor and Daniel Hand are both undefeated at 6-0 and ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in both polls. Windsor received nine first-place votes and Hand got the other four in the Courant’s coaches’ poll while Windsor got 24 of the 25 first-place votes in the GameTimeCT media poll, with Hand getting the other one.
Darien’s only loss this year was at top-ranked Windsor, 41-35, on Sept. 27. On that same Friday night New Canaan’s Rams suffered their only loss of the year at home when they were shut out, 14-0, by a Masuk team now ranked eighth in the media poll and 10th in the coaches’ poll. Going into those two games in the third week of the season, New Canaan, Darien, Greenwich, and Staples were ranked 1-4 in the GameTimeCT poll.
The top 10 teams this week in order with their records in parenthesis in the Hartford Courant Top 10 State Football Coaches’ Poll are: Windsor (6-0), Daniel Hand (6-0), Darien (5-1), New Canaan (5-1), Greenwich (5-1), No. 6 Staples (5-1), Brookfield (6-0) and West Haven (5-1) in a tie for No. 7, and followed by No. 9 St. Joseph (5-1) and Masuk (5-1).
The top 10 teams in the GameTimeCT Top 10 Football Poll are: Windsor, Daniel Hand, Darien, New Canaan, Greenwich, No. 6 Newtown, Staples, Masuk, Brookfield, and No. 10 St. Joseph.
West Haven got the 11th most polling points as the first of 13 teams in the Others Receiving Votes group in that media poll. Wilton (3-3) received the 20th most polling points as the only FCIAC team in that group. The conference was not represented among the dozen teams in the Also Receiving Votes group in the coaches’ poll.
St. Joseph, Trumbull, and Fairfield Ludlowe are the three other FCIAC teams ranked among the top eight in their respective classes in the rankings for the state class playoffs along with Darien, New Canaan, Greenwich, and Staples.
In addition to Greenwich being ranked second and Staples fourth in the Class LL rankings to determine the eventual playoff seedings, Trumbull (3-3) is No. 8. Just behind Trumbull’s Eagles is FCIAC member Brien McMahon (3-3) at No. 9. Westhill, another FCIAC team with a 3-3 record, is ranked 11th in Class LL.
Fairfield Ludlowe (4-2) is No. 5 in the Class L rankings.
St. Joseph is No. 4 in the Class M rankings behind undefeated teams Daniel Hand, Brookfield, and Rockville.
The 3-3 Wilton Warriors, who have a 20-17 victory at Greenwich among their three wins, are ranked 13th in Class MM.
Darien’s 14-0 home victory over St. Joseph on Oct. 18 was the season’s first showdown involving two of the five FCIAC teams currently ranked in the Top 10 of both state polls. The second such matchup was the next day when New Canaan’s host Rams defeated Staples, 23-10, in handing Staples its lone loss of the year.
St. Joseph’s Cadets are involved in another big game this Friday night when they travel down to Greenwich for a 6 o’clock kickoff.
Three more games looming which will be vital toward state playoff seedings are those huge Thanksgiving Day rivalry games on Nov. 28 – Greenwich at Staples, New Canaan at Darien, and Trumbull at St. Joseph.
The state playoffs quarterfinal games are scheduled for Dec. 3 on a Tuesday. The Sunday semifinals are Dec. 8, and the Saturday championship games are Dec. 14.
