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Farmington Valley football previews: Week 3

football graphicFive of the six Farmington Valley football teams are in action this weekend with Simsbury (1-1) traveling to No. 5 Southington on Friday night to face the undefeated Blue Knights in a CCC Division I West contest. Southington has a dynamic offense led by Yale-bound QB Stephen Barmore and a stout defense led by State Open wrestling champion Zach Maxwell. 

Farmington (2-0), which is receiving some votes in the top 10 high school football polls, heads to Meriden to challenge Maloney on Friday night while Granby (0-2) hosts Hyde-New Haven for its first-ever night football game at Granby High. 

On Saturday, Canton (1-0) looks to get back to work after its thrilling week 1 win over Avon by hosting Housatonic/Wamogo at the high school at 1 p.m. And Avon looks to win its second straight as they host Nonnewaug-Woodbury. Lewis Mills (0-2), which had four starters hurt in a loss to Avon last week, has the week off. 

Friday, Sept. 27

Simsbury (1-1, 0-0 CCC Div. I West) at No. 5 Southington (2-0, 0-0 CCC Div. I West), 7 p.m.
Outlook: Simsbury gets a huge challenge in week 3 as they face defending CCC Division I West champion Southington on the road at Fontana Field. The Blue Knights gained a bit of revenge for its Class LL quarterfinal loss to Glastonbury last December with a 16-9 in the season opening contest thanks to a 57-yard TD run from Tyler Hyde (16-131) with 5:04 left. Southington QB Stephen Barmore is headed to Yale and threw for nearly 2,500 yards and 31 TDs a year ago. He also ran for 13 TDs. Last week in a 41-8 win over Manchester, Barmore completed 17-of-25 passes for 321 yards and 5 TDs. Barmore is joined in the backfield by RB Jarrid Grimmett, who ran for nearly 1,000 yards and 12 TDs. Defensively, the Blue Knights are excellent led by State Open wrestling champion Zach Maxwell (10 sacks in 2012) and Zack Jamele.

Simsbury earned its first victory a week ago with a thrilling 23-20 come-from-behind win over East Hartford thanks to a last-minute 33-yard FG from Kyle Dougherty. Rallying from a 13-point deficit against Southington may be a bit more difficult. Look for a big game from LB/RB Brad Helmkamp, who is averaging 182 yards rushing a game on the ground and 14 tackles on defense. QB James Hermsen will be running the triple-option veer for the Trojans.
Series: Began 1910. Southington leads, 31-11-5 

Farmington (2-0, 0-0 CCC Div. II West) at Maloney (1-0, 0-0 CCC Div. II West), 6:30 p.m.
Outlook: The Indians are looking for their fifth straight win against a rebuilding Maloney program with an outstanding sophomore at running back. Jason Cogdell ran for 225 yards and 3 TDs a week ago in a 39-7 win at Fermi in Enfield in the debut of new Maloney coach Pierce Brennan. Tyler Angilette (17-73, 2 TDs) played well along with QB Mike Gulino, who had a 36-yard TD pass to Kris Carlson. Look for Farmington to establish its running game with Ivan Guadalupe, who had 144 yards and 2 TDs on 10 carries a week ago in a 38-7 win over RHAM. QB Jeremy Buck completed 10-of-15 passes for 112 yards against RHAM and ran for a pair of TDs on his own. Receivers Anthony Carpenter and Kenny Jones are scoring threats for FHS. The Indians defense has looked good in two games led by Jason Martin (17 tackles), Jack Sucato (16) and Colin Gratton (15).
Series: Began 2011. Farmington leads, 2-0 

Hyde (1-1) at Granby (0-2), 7 p.m.
Outlook: Granby faces a challenging foe as they search for their first victory. Last week, Granby had to contend with the athletic Tony Ortiz and John Lippincott from Gilbert/Northwestern in a 48-21 loss. This week, they get another athletic team in Hyde. After getting blanked by Valley Regional/Old Lyme on opening day, the Howling Wolves rebounded with a 27-0 win over Old Saybrook/Westbrook. The Bears will face QB Dwayne Hunter-Parker, who ran for 157 yards and 2 TDs last week. He also completed 6-of-12 passes for 147 yards. Hyde forced five turnovers (2 interceptions, 3 fumbles) against OSW. Granby QB Curtis Field threw for over 200 yards for the second week in a row against Gilbert, completing 12-of-31 passes for 235 yards, 2 TDs and an interception. Ian Downey (7-70, 1 TD) was the main target with Dom Pagano catching three passes for 47 yards. Pagano (18-89, 1 TD) will be the main threat on the ground. … It will be the first night game at Granby High on the new artificial turf field recently installed at the school.
Series: First meeting 

Saturday, Sept. 28

Housatonic/Wamogo (0-2, 0-0 Pequot West) at Canton (1-0, 1-0 Pequot West), 1 p.m.
Outlook: After a historic and thrilling 16-13 win over Avon on the final play in the season opener, the Warriors face the task of trying to focus again on football. The Warrior defense forced three key turnovers that helped Canton beat Avon for the first time. Dan Delos, Henry Bonini and Sebastian Gumbs (1 interception, 2 fumble recoveries) looked sharp in week 1. They’ll face a Housatonic team that runs the single wing offense, a run-oriented attack based on deception. Look for Nick Camardi, Tyler Sebben and Jeremy Stiewing on the ground for the Mountaineers. Chance Oniel had 84 yards on six kick returns last week in a 48-8 loss to Morgan. Offensively, look for Canton to run the ball with Delos (17-101 vs. Avon) and Terrance Briphy (10-39). … The Warriors were off last week.
Series: Began 1953. Housatonic leads, 10-4 

Nonnewaug (1-0, 0-0 Pequot West) at Avon (1-1, 1-1 Pequot West), 1 p.m.
Outlook: After a tough loss to Canton on opening day, the Falcons got back to business with a dominating 35-0 decision over Lewis Mills. RB/LB Jimmy Murphy scored 3 TDs and ran for a game-high 93 yards on 10 carries. He also recovered a fumble. Murphy had a sack and forced a fumble that was run into the end zone but both plays were negated by penalties. Noah Hahn also had two TD passes wiped out by penalties. Avon faces a young Chief program that won its first season opening game with a 26-6 win over Haddam-Killingworth. Nick Bordierre scored 2 TDs for Nonnewaug while Trevor Scappatura ran back a punt 65 yards for a touchdown. The Chiefs intercepted three passes led by middle linebacker. R.J. Burke, who had an interception and 10 tackles. Nonnewaug, which won just three varsity games in its brief five-year history, has won two in a row. They closed out the 2012 campaign with a 20-0 win over Lewis Mills.
Series: First meeting  

SPORTSWRITERS
The New Haven Register’s top 10 sportswriters high school football poll. First-place votes in parentheses, record, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7, and last season’s final ranking:

Week 3, Sept. 23, 2013
Team                         Rec.        Pts.       LW
1. Ansonia (24)         2-0          882          1
2. New Canaan (5)    2-0          834          3
3. NFA (1)                 1-0          754          4
4. Middletown            2-0          634          5
5. Southington           2-0          626         6
6. St. Joseph             2-0          579          7
7. Newtown                2-0          446          8
8. Masuk                   2-0          411         10
9. Xavier                   1-1          365           2
10. Windsor              2-0          362          nr
Others receiving votes: 11. Shelton (2-0), 356; 12. North Haven (2-0), 332; 13. Darien (2-0), 330; 14. West Haven (1-1), 212; 15. Naugatuck (2-0), 87; 16. Greenwich (1-1), 67; 17. Capital/Classical/Achievement (2-0), 64; 18. Valley Regional/Old Lyme (2-0), 44; 19. Glastonbury (1-1), 38; 20. New London (1-1), 37; 21. Fairfield Prep (1-1), 29; 22. Farmington (2-0), 28; 23. Ledyard (2-0), 26; 24. Hand (1-1), 18; T25. Gilbert/NW Regional (2-0) and Staples (1-1), 15; 27. Woodland (2-0), 12; 28. Platt High (2-0), 9.
The following voted: Mary Albl, Fairfield Minuteman; Marc Allard, Norwich Bulletin; Bob Barton, New Haven Register; Bill Bloxsom, Hersam-Acorn; Doug Bonjour, Connecticut Post; Sean Patrick Bowley, New Haven Register; Don Boyle, SportingNewsCT; Jim Bransfield, Middletown Press; Kyle Brennan, Waterbury Republican-American; Chris Brodeur, Danbury News-Times; George DeMaio, WELI; Gerry deSimas, The Collinsville Press; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Scott Ericson, Stamford Advocate; Tom Evans, Norwalk Hour; Francesco Graziano, CPTV Sports; Ned Griffen, The Day of New London; John Holt, WFSB-3; Mark Jaffee, Waterbury Republican-American; Ken Lipshez, Meriden-Record Journal; Mike Madera, Elm City Newspapers; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Kevin Nathan, WVIT-30; Pete Paguaga, Torrington Register Citizen; Dave Phillips, Shore Line Newspapers; Mike Pucci, New Haven Register; Kevin Roberts, Bristol Press; Dave Ruden, The Ruden Report; Tom Yantz, Hartford Courant; Jimmy Zanor, Middletown Press

COACHES

The Day of New London Top 10 state coaches’ football poll. First-place votes in parentheses, record, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7, and last season’s final ranking:

Week 2, Sept. 23, 2013
Team                        Rec.      Pts.        LW
t1. Ansonia (6)           2-0       370           2
t1. New Canaan (5)    2-0       370          3
3. NFA (2)                 1-0       301           4
4. St. Joseph             2-0       278          5
5. Southington          2-0       230           7
6. North Haven          2-0        208          nr
7. Darien                   2-0        190          nr
8. Middletown           2-0        176           8
t9. Windsor               2-0       140            9
t9. Shelton                 2-0       140           nr
Also receiving votes: Masuk-Monroe (2-0), 132 points; Tie, Newtown (2-0) and Xavier (1-1), 124; West Haven (1-1), 106; Ledyard (2-0), 73; Farmington (2-0), 56; Naugatuck (2-0), 47; Staples-Westport (1-1), 43; Fairfield Prep (1-1), 42; Capital/Classical/Achievement (2-0), 41; Platt-Meriden (2-0), 32; Glastonbury (1-1), 20; Valley Regional/Old Lyme (2-0), 15; Barlow-Redding (2-0), 14; Tie, Ridgefield (2-0), 10; Rocky Hill (2-0) and Woodland-Beacon Falls (2-0), 9; Notre Dame-W.H. (1-1), 8; Hand-Madison (1-1), 7.
The following coaches voted: Tom Brockett, Ansonia; Jim Buonocore, Ledyard; Craig Bruno, Naugatuck; Scott Daniels, Glastonbury; Joe DellaVecchia, St. Joseph-Trumbull; Steve Filippone, Hand-Madison; Rob Fleeting, Windsor; Steve George, Newtown; Tanner Grove, Montville; Tim King, Valley Regional-Deep River; Sean Marinan, Xavier-Middletown; John Murphy, New Milford; Marce Petroccio, Staples-Westport.

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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