Simsbury QB Aidan Boeshans has thrown eight touchdown passes in six games for the Trojans to take on Southington on Friday night for the CCC Div. I West championship.
SIMSBURY, Oct. 30 – A championship is on the line Friday night at Fontana Field in Southington when the undefeated Simsbury High football team challenges the Blue Knights beginning at 7 p.m.
The winner captures the CCC Division I West championship. Simsbury, which comes into the game on an 11-game winning streak, is looking for their first title since 2009 when they won the CCC Division I championship.
No. 8 Southington (5-1, 2-0 CCC Div. I West), which has been in the CIAC Class LL playoffs six of the last seven seasons, is looking for their sixth consecutive CCC Div. I West pennant.
It’s been a strong start for Simsbury (6-0, 3-0 CCC Div. I West), who kicked a field goal in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter and beat Hall, 9-3 in the season-opening contest. Since then, Simsbury had pitched two shutouts and won another five straight.
First-year quarterback Aiden Boeshans has completed 53-of-88 passes for 887 yards and eight touchdown passes. Zach Gilbert has caught 13 passes for 288 yards and five TDs while Jeffrey Coleman has a team-leading 18 receptions for 348 yards and a pair of TDs.
Dan Sohn leads the Simsbury running attack with 461 yards and nine touchdowns on 75 carries. Boeshans is the team’s second-leading rusher with 355 yards and five TDs on 68 carries.
Defensively, Tommy Guilfoyle leads the team in tackles with 76 while Mohammed Haroon has 54 tackles. Brendan Gaffney has two of the team’s three interceptions.
Simsbury linebacker Tommy Guilfoyle (57) closes in on New Britain’s Payne Omary (24) in a 32-22 win over New Britain earlier this season.
Southington is notorious for throwing the football and junior Brady Lafferty has completed 66-of-108 passes for 13 touchdowns and 853 yards. He has been intercepted seven times.
Joshua Vitti has caught a team-leading six touchdown receptions along with 24 passes for 276 yards. Carter Uhlman has a team-leading 36 receptions for 394 yards and three touchdowns.
The Blue Knights can run the ball. Senior Dillon Kohl has run for 768 yards and 10 TDs on 82 carries. M.J. Bennett has rushed for 320 yards and 5 TDs on 32 carries.
Southington has won all five of their CCC contests with a 28-21 win over Hall on October 5 being their toughest challenge. The Blue Knights dropped a 24-8 decision to No. 3 Darien in September as part of the newly-formed Connecticut Football Alliance.
Southington has allowed just 13 points over the past two weeks with a 44-6 win over Manchester and a 41-7 drubbing of East Hartford last weekend. Linebacker Billy Carr leads the Blue Knights with 55 tackles and a team-leading 7.5 sacks.
Southington has dominated the recent series between the two schools. The Blue Knights have won 14 of the last 15 games with Simsbury last beating the Blue Knights in 2009, 29-26.
Southington is ranked No. 8 in the latest GameTimeCT sportswriters top 10 poll. The Knight are ranked No. 7 in the New London Day’s top 10 coaches poll.
Simsbury has been climbing in both polls the last few weeks. Simsbury is ranked No. 12 in the sportswriters poll and the coaches poll.
Hand remained No. 1 in both polls. The biggest change was Darien moving up to No. 3 after a close 27-21 win over Greenwich, who slipped to No. 4 with their first loss of the season. Cheshire joined the top 10 at No. 10 in the sportswriters poll. Sheehan is No. 10 in the coaches poll.
Lewis Mills (5-1) will host Tolland (3-3) at 2 p.m. on Saturday as the Spartans look to win for the sixth time in seven games. Mills is ranked eighth in the CIAC Class S rankings and need a win to remain in the hunt for one of the eight CIAC playoff berths.
Avon, after a bitter loss at Northwest Catholic on Saturday when they gave up a touchdown on the final play of the game in a three-point loss, look for their second win of the season Friday night. The Falcons (1-5) will travel to Sage Park in Berlin to face the Redcoats (5-1) and third in the CIAC Class L rankings.
Farmington (2-4) travels to Bristol on Friday to face Bristol Eastern (2-4) in a game at 7 p.m. at Eastern’s home field behind their high school.
Granby/Canton (4-2) looks to remain in the hunt for a Class M playoff berth. The Bears are ranked No. 10 and travel to Durham to face the Coginchaug/East Hampton/Hale Ray co-op squad (3-2) on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m.
GameTimeCT sportswriters poll
Week 8, October 28, 2019
| Team | Rec | Pts | LW | Class |
| 1. Hand (22) | 6-0 | 742 | 1 | L |
| 2. St . Joseph (3) | 6-0 | 706 | 2 | L |
| 3. Darien | 6-0 | 648 | 4 | LL |
| 4. Greenwich | 5-1 | 558 | 3 | LL |
| 5. Newtown | 6-0 | 542 | 5 | LL |
| 6. Bloomfield | 6-0 | 494 | 6 | S |
| 7. Ansonia | 6-0 | 400 | 8 | S |
| 8. Southington | 5-1 | 383 | 9 | LL |
| 9. Ridgefield | 5-1 | 298 | 7 | LL |
| 10. Cheshire | 5-1 | 271 | nr | LL |
| Others receiving votes: Sheehan (5-0) 240; Simsbury (6-0) 234; Killingly (6-0) 216; Maloney (5-1) 142; Naugatuck (5-0) 107; New Canaan (4-2) 76; Shelton (4-2) 70; Wethersfield (5-1) 62; Weston (6-0) 33; Notre Dame-West Haven (4-2) 32; Rockville (6-0) 30; Hall (4-2) 28; Woodland (6-0) 28; Fairfield Prep (3-3) 19; Newington (4-2) 16. | ||||
| 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. | ||||
The Day of New London coaches poll
Week 6, October 28, 2019
| Team | Rec. | Pts. | LW | Class |
| 1. Hand (11) | 6-0 | 386 | 1 | L |
| 2. St. Joseph (2) | 6-0 | 368 | 2 | L |
| 3. Darien | 6-0 | 336 | 4 | LL |
| 4. Newtown | 6-0 | 298 | 5 | LL |
| 5. Greenwich | 5-1 | 280 | 3 | LL |
| 6. Bloomfield | 6-0 | 262 | 6 | S |
| 7. Southington | 5-1 | 198 | 8 | LL |
| 8. Ansonia | 6-0 | 183 | 9 | S |
| 10. Sheehan | 5-0 | 171 | 10 | S |
| Others receiving votes: Cheshire (5-1), 140 points; Simsbury (6-0), 131; Killingly (6-0), 76; Shelton (4-2), 75; Naugatuck (5-0), 70; Maloney (5-1), 42; Tie, Weston (6-0) and Wethersfield (5-1), 46; Hall (4-2), 27; New Canaan (4-2), 18; Newington (4-2), 8; Rockville (6-0), 7. | ||||
| 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. | ||||
