Simsbury looks to continue success in coming season

Simsbury races onto the field prior to the 2019 Class LL quarterfinals against Cheshire.

One of the most unique high school football seasons opens Friday for schools across Connecticut.

For most teams, there was no football season a year ago thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. A handful of schools had players that joined independent teams before the state shut down that activity but for most high school players, it was a series of non-contact drills and conditioning.

Usually, the strength of a high school football team are the seniors and juniors. Today’s seniors last played as sophomores and a few got some playing time at the varsity level but many were at the junior varsity level. Today’s juniors were freshmen when they last played.

Still, Simsbury is hoping to reignite the momentum generated by the end of the 2019 campaign. The Trojans were 10-2 and won their first-ever CIAC tournament game with a win over Cheshire before falling to eventual state champion Newtown, 17-0, in the Class LL semifinals.

“It’s very much like you are starting over, which is fine,” Simsbury’s seventh-year head coach Dave Masters said. “But you wish you could carry the momentum (from the previous season).”

It will be a different type of football season in 2021. There will be a lot of learning going on throughout the season.

“We try to win that first game and build off that,” Masters said. “But we’ll try to get better every day. We will have a lot of ups and downs. There are just too many unknowns. You can’t overlook anything this year. We are really teaching football and not only football but how we do things.

“You can’t be overwhelmed with a defeat or you can’t be overjoyed with a win,” he said. “We just have to be patient and do the best we can day to day. We can’t count on the kid’s experience to guide them (thanks to minimal experience at the varsity level). We will have to guide them.”

Evan Wallace, a 5-foot-11 senior, is set to start at quarterback. “He is a strong runner and has a strong arm. He has a lot of the stuff we look for in a quarterback,” Masters said. “The only thing that is missing is game experience.”

John Mairano, who played on the 2019 team, is set to return at running back and defensive back. He will be running behind a strong but untested line of James Love (6-0, 225), Lucas Sanborn-Burch (6-2, 220), Begench Kulyyev (6-3, 260), Dayanch Kulyyev (6-3, 260) and Jac Garrity (6-1, 220).

Wallace will have receivers Nolan Conderino, Teddy Morgan and tight end Issac Rivera to throw to.

“I couldn’t give you a prediction if I wanted to,” Masters said. “I don’t know what we will see until we get on the field.”

The Trojans did scrimmage but they are controlled, he said.

Simsbury did scrimmage against St. Joseph-Trumbull. “We did well,” he said. “(Simsbury) showed a lot of intensity and they battled hard.”

Simsbury was hoping to open the season Friday at Holden Field against New Britain but heavy rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded the artificial turf surface. The game was moved to Saturday at 2 p.m.in Granby.

The Central Connecticut Conference realigned their football divisions going from six divisions to four with Simsbury being placed in Division I with Conard, East Hartford, Glastonbury, Hall, Maloney, New Britain and Southington.

The end-of-season game with Avon has been discontinued because of the competitive imbalance between the two programs so Simsbury will close out the regular season with a game against Bloomfield on Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Simsbury High
Head coach: Dave Masters, 7th season, 28-24
Nickname: Trojans
Conference: CCC Division I
Last season: 10-2, 4-1 CCC Div. I West. Lost to Newtown in Class LL semifinals, 17-0
Last winning season: 10-2 in 2019
Playoff appearances: 5, (1-5)
Last CIAC playoff appearance: 2019
League championships: 17. Most recent title: 2009 CCC Division I (shared)
Opening day record: 53-49-3. Last win: 2019, Simsbury 9, Hall 3, OT
Social media: Twitter — @masters_coach
Team website: https://www.simsburygridiron.org/
Of note: Simsbury won their first CIAC playoff game in school history with a quarterfinal win over Cheshire in the 2019 Class LL quarterfinals

Simsbury
Saturday, Sept. 11: vs. New Britain at Granby, 2 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 17: @Hall, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 24: @Maloney, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 1: Glastonbury, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 8: @Enfield, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 22: @Windsor, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 29: @Conard, 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 5: Southington, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 12: East Hartford, 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 23: @Bloomfield, 7 p.m.

2021 CCC divisions for football
Division I (8 teams): Conard, East Hartford, Glastonbury, Hall, Maloney, New Britain, Simsbury, Southington
Division II (8 teams): Berlin, Enfield, Manchester, Middletown, Newington, Platt High, Wethersfield, Windsor
Division III (8 teams): Bloomfield, Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, E.O. Smith, Farmington, Plainville, RHAM, South Windsor
Division IV (7 teams): Avon, East Catholic, Hartford Public, Lewis Mills, NW Catholic, Rocky Hill, Tolland