
Maloney, the first Meriden school to win a state title in football, finished ranked No. 2 in the GameTime CTpoll, their best-ever finish in the sportswriters top 10 poll.
For the fourth time in last six seasons, the Darien High football team ends the season with a Class LL championship as the No. 1 ranking the state sportswriters top 10 poll and in the state coaches football poll.
Darien (12-1) picked up 21 of 22 votes in the sportswriters poll, hosted by GameTimeCT and had 11 of 12 votes in the coaches poll, hosted by the Day of New London.
The only loss of the season for Darien came on Thanksgiving in a 12-7 loss to New Canaan. But the Blue Wave beat the Rams convincingly in the Class LL semifinals, 24-10.
Maloney, which closed out the season with 12 straight wins and their first-ever state championship by winning the Class L title game, finished No. 2 in the sportswriters poll – their best finish since finishing fifth in 1961, the first year of the GameTime CT sportwriters poll, which sponsored by the New Haven Register from 1916 through 2019.
Pequot Conference champion Cromwell/Portland (13-0) won the Class S championship with a dominating win over Bloomfield and finished ninth in the sportswriters poll. It is their second top 10 appearance and the first undefeated season in team history.
GameTimeCT’s top 10 football poll as voted on by sportswriters from around the state. First-place votes in parentheses, record, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis, and last week’s ranking:
FINAL, Dec. 13, 2021
Team | Rec. | Pts. | LW | Class |
1. Darien (21) | 12-1 | 656 | 2 | LL |
2. Maloney | 12-1 | 596 | 5 | L |
3. Fairfield Prep | 11-2 | 536 | 4 | LL |
4. New Canaan | 10-2 | 498 | 1 | LL |
5. Windsor | 11-2 | 462 | 10 | L |
6. St. Joseph | 10-2 | 434 | 3 | L |
7. Killingly (1) | 12-0 | 400 | 7 | M |
8. Shelton | 9-3 | 323 | 8 | LL |
9. Cromwell/Portland | 13-0 | 299 | nr | S |
10. Greenwich | 7-4 | 279 | 6 | LL |
Also receiving votes: Hall (9-2), 162; Bloomfield (12-1), 159; Daniel Hand (7-4), 151; Rockville (10-3), 128; Masuk (9-3), 115; Southington (8-3), 94; Norwalk (7-3), 93; Wilton (7-3), 58; Staples (7-3), 38; Ansonia (10-2), 35; Trumbull (7-3), 28; New Fairfield (9-3), 26; Bristol Central (9-2), 16; Naugatuck (9-2), 15; Torrington (8-4), 9. | ||||
The following voted: Bill Bloxsom, Hearst Connecticut Media; Sean Patrick Bowley, GameTimeCT; Scott Ericson, Stamford Advocate; Michael Fornabaio, Connecticut Post; Ned Griffen, The Day of New London; Mike Dimauro, The Day of New London; Mark Jaffee, Republican-American of Waterbury; Kyle Maher, Journal-Inquirer of Manchester; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Pete Paguaga, GameTimeCT; Dave Phillips, Shoreline Newspapers; John Pierson, WTNH-8; 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; Tim Jensen, Patch Media Corps; Jeff Jacobs, GameTimeCT; Greg Lederer, Cheshire Herald. |
The Day of New London’s top 10 state football coaches poll.
First-place votes in parentheses, record, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis, and last week’s ranking:
Team (FINAL, 2021) | Rec. | Pts. | LW | Class |
1. Darien (21) | 12-1 | 388 | 3 | LL |
2. Maloney (1) | 12-1 | 366 | 5 | L |
3. New Canaan | 10-2 | 296 | 1 | LL |
4. Windsor | 11-2 | 288 | 6 | L |
5. Fairfield Prep | 11-2 | 276 | 4 | LL |
6. St. Joseph | 10-2 | 262 | 6 | L |
7. Killingly | 12-0 | 239 | 9 | M |
8. Cromwell/Portland | 13-0 | 225 | nr | S |
9. Greenwich | 7-4 | 134 | 7 | LL |
10. Shelton | 9-3 | 131 | 10 | L |
Also receiving votes: Hand (7-4), 127 points; Bloomfield (12-1), 109; Southington (8-3), 104; Norwalk (7-3), 68; Masuk (9-3), 59; Naugatuck (9-2), 45; Hall (9-2), 44; Rockville (10-3), 39; Wilton (7-3), 38; Staples (7-3), 26; New Fairfield (9-3) and Trumbull (7-3), 17; Bristol Central (9-2), 9; Ansonia (10-2), 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; Andy Guyon, Xavier; Joe Lato, Woodland; Brian Mazzone, Stafford/East Windsor/Somers; Bryan Muller, Brookfield; Chad Neal, Killingly; Bob Pattison, Newtown; Marce Petroccio, Trumbull. |
Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.


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