Simsbury’s Arjun Bhamidipai (61) and Michael Schulitz (85) make a stop in Friday night’s win over New Britain. See more game photos.
Two-time defending Class L champion Hand (4-0) continues to roll in the 2019 campaign. The No. 1 Tigers, who had 15 tackles for loss in a 44-0 win over Wilbur Cross on Friday, remained the top ranked team in the latest state sportswriters top 10 football poll.
No. 2 St. Joseph remained undefeated with a bigtime 58-14 win over then-No. 9 New Canaan. Jack Wallace completed 10-of-13 passes for 236 yards and 5 TD passes. Received Will Diamantis caught four passes for 135 yards and 3 TDs (58, 20, 48 yards).
The Cadets picked up another three votes for first place but still are far behind Hand with 20.
Shelton slipped from No. 5 to No. 10 after a 24-12 loss to Cheshire, snapping a 22-game regular-season winning streak. The Rams scored twice in a span of 61 seconds in the third quarter to take control of the game. Cheshire’s Alec Frione caught a 20-yard touchdown pass and then scored on a 22-yard interception return in the span of a minute.
Bloomfield moved up one spot to No. 6 with a 47-0 win over Plainville. Warhawks QB Daron Bryden threw six TD passes and broke the school record for most career TD passes. He now has 68, which tops the record once held by Jason Manson (65).
Simsbury (4-0, 2-0), which beat New Britain on Friday night for their ninth straight win dating back to last season, received more votes in the poll and is ranked No. 19 with 36 votes.
In the state coaches top 10 poll, as compiled by the New London Day, Simsbury moved up to No. 14.
The Trojans host Conard (2-2, 0-1) on the Holden Field turf beginning at 7 p.m. in a CCC Division I West contest. Simsbury is looking to secure their best start since 2009 when they began the season with five straight wins.
Farmington (2-2) hosts Windsor in a CCC Division II East contest beginning at 6:30 p.m. Granby/Canton (3-1) visits winless Haddam-Killingworth on Friday at 4 p.m. in Haddam.
Avon (0-4) and Lewis Mills (4-0) are both idle this weekend. Avon resumes action when they host the Bulkeley/HMTCA/Weaver co-op team on Saturday, October 19 at 1 p.m. Mills will host Berlin on October 19 at noon in Burlington.
GameTimeCT Top 10 football poll
Week 5, Monday, October 7, 2019
| First-place votes in parentheses and points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis. | ||||
| Team | Record | Pts. | LW | Class |
| 1. Hand (20) | 4-0 | 718 | 1 | L |
| 2. St. Joseph (4) | 4-0 | 680 | 2 | L |
| 3. Greenwich | 4-0 | 612 | 3 | LL |
| 4. Darien | 4-0 | 590 | 4 | LL |
| 5. Newtown | 4-0 | 510 | 6 | LL |
| 6. Bloomfield | 4-0 | 446 | 7 | S |
| 7. Ridgefield | 3-0 | 433 | 8 | LL |
| 8. Ansonia | 4-0 | 317 | 10 | S |
| 9. Southington | 3-1 | 368 | nr | LL |
| 10. Shelton | 3-1 | 243 | 5 | LL |
| Others receiving votes: Maloney (4-0) 241; Cheshire (3-1) 189; Sheehan (4-0) 165; Killingly (4-0) 161; Fairfield Prep (2-1) 146; New Canaan (2-2) 88; Norwich Free Academy (3-1) 71; Naugatuck (3-0) 69; Simsbury (4-0) 36; Rockville (4-0) 30; Weston (4-0) 25; Woodland (4-0) 21; Notre Dame-West Haven (2-2) 15; Wethersfield (3-1) 15; Hall (2-2) 14; Berlin (3-1) 10; Wilton (3-1) 8. | ||||
| The following voted: Bill Bloxsom, Hearst Connecticut Media; Sean Patrick Bowley, GameTimeCT; Bryant Carpenter, Record-Journal of Meriden; Ryan Chichester, Bristol Press/New Britain Herald; Gerry deSimas Jr., Collinsville Press; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Erik Dobratz, WTNH-8; Scott Ericson, Stamford Advocate; Michael Fornabaio, Connecticut Post; Ned Griffen, The Day of New London; Mark Jaffee, Republican-American of Waterbury; Gabby Lucivero, NBC CT; Mike Madera, Walter Camp Football Foundation; Kyle Maher, Journal-Inquirer of Manchester; Shawn McFarland, Hartford Courant; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Keith O’Brien, GameDay CT Sports; Pete Paguaga, GameTimeCT; Dave Phillips, Shoreline Newspapers; John Pierson, WTNH-8; Dave Ruden, The Ruden Report; Rich Zalusky, The Chronicle of Willimantic; Jimmy Zanor, Norwich Bulletin; Joe Zone, WFSB-3. | ||||
New London Day’s state coaches top 10 football poll
Week 3, October 7, 2019
| First-place votes in parentheses and points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis. | ||||
| Team | Record | Pts. | LW | Class |
| 1. Hand (10) | 4-0 | 384 | 1 | L |
| 2. St. Joseph (2) | 4-0 | 354 | 2 | L |
| 3. Greenwich (1) | 4-0 | 352 | 3 | LL |
| 4. Darien | 4-0 | 312 | 4 | LL |
| 5. Newtown | 4-0 | 278 | 5 | LL |
| 6. Bloomfield | 4-0 | 250 | 7 | S |
| 7. Ridgefield | 4-0 | 234 | 8 | LL |
| 8. Ansonia | 4-0 | 163 | 9 | S |
| 9. Sheehan | 4-0 | 150 | nr | |
| 10. Southington | 3-1 | 145 | nr | LL |
| Others receiving votes: Shelton (3-1), 121 points; Maloney (4-0), 119; Fairfield Prep (2-1), 99; Simsbury (4-0), 94; Killingly (4-0), 81; Cheshire (3-1), 57; Naugatuck (3-0), 52; Weston (4-0), 45; Wethersfield (3-1), 9; Tie, New Canaan (2-2) and Norwich Free Academy (3-1), 8. | ||||
| The following coaches voted: Tom Brockett, Ansonia; Craig Bruno, Amity; Joe Della Vecchia, St. Joseph; Mike Drury, Southington; Mike Ellis, Fitch; Rob Fleeting, Windsor; Tanner Grove, Montville; Andy Guyon, Xavier; Tim King, Valley Regional/Old Lyme; Joe Lato, Masuk; Bryan Muller, Brookfield; Marce Petroccio, Trumbull; Jeff Roy, Shelton. | ||||
