Cold temperatures expected for Thanksgiving week contests; Darien remains No. 1

Get out the winter coats, your favorite gloves and your most comfortable wool cap. The high school football season in the Farmington Valley ends this week with four Thanksgiving week contests but it will be chilly in the grandstands.

Temperatures are expected to be in near freezing on Tuesday night when Avon (2-7) travels to Simsbury (4-5) to take on the Trojans in the fourth annual Valley Gridiron Classic at Holden Field beginning at 6 p.m. It won’t be much warmed on Wednesday night when Canton (1-8, 0-7 Pequot Uncas) hosts Granby (6-3, 5-2 Pequot Uncas) in the annual battle for the old red milk jug at Canton’s turf field.

On Thanksgiving morning, Farmington (5-4) will host Plainville (6-3) for the Old Canal Cup beginning at 10 a.m. at FHS with temperatures expected to be in the mid-20s.

The state sportswriters top 10 poll remained consistent as it has for the last several weeks. Nine of the 10 teams in last week’s poll returned. Berlin (9-1) slipped to No. 11 after losing to New Britain, 33-14, in their regular season finale Saturday night at Sage Park.

That opened up a spot for Ansonia to move into the top 10 at No. 10.

The Chargers will be facing arch-rival No. 9 Naugatuck on Thursday morning at 10 a.m. at Jarvis Field in Ansonia. The Chargers have won 84 consecutive Naugatuck Valley League contests. The last NVL team to beat Ansonia was Naugatuck in 2010.

Darien, Greenwich, Hand, Shelton and St. Joseph are the top five teams, respectively. Darien is No. 1 for the tenth consecutive week.

Week 12, November 19, 2018

GameTimeCT/New Haven Register top 10 sportswriters football poll. First place votes in parentheses and points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-9-8-7 basis.

Others receiving votes: Middletown (9-0), 300; Fairfield Prep (8-1), 263; New Canaan (7-2), 213; Berlin (8-1), 182; Bloomfield (8-1), 87; Killingly (8-1), 83; Staples (7-2), 45; North Haven (7-2) and Sheehan (8-1), 39; Maloney (8-1), 30; Stafford/Somers/East Windsor (9-0), 26; Bullard-Havens (9-0), 12; Bunnell (8-1), 10; Woodland (8-1), 8; East Hartford (7-2) and RHAM (7-2), 7.

The following voted: Bob Barton, New Haven Register; Nate Brown, Fox61; Bill Bloxsom, Hersam Acorn Newspapers; Sean Patrick Bowley, GameTimeCT; Kyle Brennan, Freelance; Doug Bonjour, Connecticut Post; Gerry deSimas Jr., Collinsville Press; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Erik Dobratz, WTNH-8; Scott Ericson, Stamford Advocate; Ned Griffen, The Day of New London; Shelby Iava, New Britain Herald; Mark Jaffee, Republican-American of Waterbury; Pete Paguaga, GameTimeCT; John Pierson, WTNH-8; Noah Finz, CT Sports Now; Mike Madera, Walter Camp Football Foundation; Shawn McFarland, Hartford Courant; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Keith O’Brien, GameDay CT Sports; Dave Phillips, Shoreline Newspapers; Marc Robbins, CT Sports Now; Dave Ruden, The Ruden Report; Mike Suppe, Freelance; Rich Zalusky, The Chronicle of Willimantic; Jimmy Zanor, Norwich Bulletin; Joe Zone, WFSB-3.
Did Not Vote: Ryan Lacey, Danbury News-Times; Kyle Maher, Journal-Inquirer of Manchester.