Simsbury linebacker Mohamme Haroon (1) celebrates after the Trojans stopped Newtown’s Miles Ricks (11) in the 2019 night’s Class LL semifinal in Newtown.
There hasn’t been a high school football game played in Connecticut in 20 months.
The last time we saw players who are seniors on this fall’s high school football teams, they were sophomores. Those juniors on the field in this weekend’s starting lineups were freshmen in 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of the 2020 campaign in Connecticut. Several coaches have said it is like starting over. There are few upperclassmen to pass along those spoken and unspoken traditions. A select, few players in certain towns played some football last fall in independent leagues before the state shut them down for health reasons.
It really is a new start. So, how can a group of sportswriters select the No. 1 team in the state a few days before opening day?
Take a wild guess. And don’t be surprised if there is plenty of movement of teams in and out of the poll throughout the fall.
In GameTimeCT’s first top 10 high school football poll of the season, five teams earned No. 1 votes led by Darien with seven first place votes. The Blue Wave was named the top team in the preseason poll. St. Joseph-Trumbull, with five first place votes, came in at No. 2.
Hand, Greenwich and Newtown rounded out the top five with Hand picking up three first place votes, Greenwich securing a pair of No. 1 votes and Newtown grabbing four first-place votes. Thirty-four teams got at least one vote.
The only Farmington Valley team in the poll is Simsbury, ranked No. 22 with 63 votes. The Trojans finished the 2019 season at No. 11 in the final GameTimeCT poll after being eliminated by eventual state champion Newtown in the Class LL semifinals. The Trojans did finish No. 9 in New London Day’s state coaches poll.
Southington is the top team from the Central Connecticut Conference at No. 7.
Bloomfield, Maloney, Berlin and Windsor are ranked No. 17, 18, 19 and 20th, respectively. In the realigned CCC this fall, Southington, Simsbury and Maloney are in CCC Division I with Berlin and Windsor in CCC Division II and Bloomfield in CCC Division III.
2021 GameTimeCT top 10 high school football poll
PRESEASON
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 | 2019 rec | Pts | 2019 final | Class |
| 1. Darien (7) | 11-2 | 588 | 4 | LL |
| 2. St. Joseph (5) | 13-0 | 552 | 1 | L |
| 3. Hand (3) | 12-1 | 540 | 3 | L |
| 4. Greenwich (2) | 9-2 | 472 | 8 | LL |
| 5. Newtown (4) | 13-0 | 389 | 2 | LL |
| 6. New Canaan | 9-3 | 260 | 10 | L |
| 7. Southington | 10-2 | 342 | 6 | LL |
| 8. Xavier | 5-5 | 208 | nr | L |
| 9. Ansonia | 11-1 | 185 | nr | S |
| 10. Killingly | 11-2 | 181 | nr | M |
| Also receiving votes: Trumbull, 164; Notre Dame-West Haven, 139; Cheshire 135; Fairfield Prep, 135; Sheehan, 131; Norwich Free Academy, 114; Bloomfield, 105; Maloney, 96; Berlin, 95; Windsor, 85; Shelton, 68; Simsbury, 63; Fitch, 58; Weston, 58; North Haven, 32; Bristol Central, 18; Masuk, 18; Naugatuck, 18; Ridgefield, 18; Wilton, 15; Brookfield, 9; Newington, 8; Valley Regional/Old Lyme, 7; Holy Cross, 7 | ||||
| Voters: Bill Bloxsom, Hearst Connecticut Media; Sean Patrick Bowley, GameTimeCT; 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; Kyle Maher, Journal-Inquirer of Manchester; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; 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; Mike Madera, Walter Camp Football Foundation; Gerry deSimas Jr., Collinsville Press; Will Aldam, News Times; Jeff Jacobs, GameTimeCT; Greg Lederer, Cheshire Herald; Mark Jaffee, Republican-American of Waterbury. | ||||
