Players from New Canaan, left, and Ansonia, right, celebrate winning state championships Saturday at Central Connecticut State University.
State champion Greenwich didn’t go into the postseason on a happy note. The Cardinals dropped a 39-38 decision to Staples-Westport on Thanksgiving morning.
But in the CIAC Class LL tournament, the Cardinals were a machine. In three games, Greenwich (11-2) outscored their opponents by more than 100 points, 126-24 as the Cardinals beat Fairfield Prep, 37-17 for the state championship.
It was impressive enough to be voted the No. 1 team in both final top 10 football polls on Monday – the New Haven Register/GameTimeCT’s poll of sportswriters and broadcasters and The Day of New London’s poll of state football coaches.
Greenwich is the first team with two losses to be voted No. 1 in the state since the sportswriters poll began in 1961 with the New Haven Register.
Class L champion New Canaan (12-1) finished No. 2 in both polls. Greenwich and New Canaan did not face each other this season.
Maloney, which lost a hard-fought 16-13 decision to New Canaan in the finals, was No. 3 in the GameTimeCT poll and No. 4 in the Day poll. North Haven grabbed the No. 3 spot in the coaches poll.
The coaches poll was run by the Hartford Courant from 1985-through 2000. The Day of New London began hosting the coaches poll in 2003.
The last time there was multiple poll champions was in 2010. The New Haven Register poll and the Day poll voted Xavier No. 1 but a second sportswriters poll conducted by the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance selected Masuk as their No. 1 team.
SPORTS WRITERS AND BROADCASTERS
The final New Haven Register/GameTimeCT high school top 10 football poll as voted by state sportswriters and broadcasters. 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.
Monday, Dec. 12, 2022
| Team | Rec. | Pts. | LW | Class |
| 1. Greenwich (17) | 11-2 | 706 | 7 | LL |
| 2. New Canaan (5) | 12-1 | 670 | 4 | LL |
| 3. Maloney | 11-2 | 540 | 3 | L |
| 4. Fairfield Prep | 9-4 | 514 | 10 | LL |
| 5. Ansonia (2) | 13-0 | 440 | 8 | S |
| 6. Notre Dame-WH | 10-3 | 424 | nr | M |
| 7. North Haven | 11-2 | 414 | nr | MM |
| 8. St. Joseph | 9-2 | 337 | 2 | L |
| 9. Southington | 9-2 | 327 | 1 | LL |
| 10. Staples | 9-2 | 320 | 6 | LL |
| Others receiving votes: West Haven (9-2) 200; Joel Barlow (11-2) 192; Killingly (11-2) 176; Berlin (12-1) 145; Trumbull (8-4) 143; Newtown (9-2) 124; Bloomfield (10-3) 111; Cheshire (7-5) 75; Glastonbury (9-3) 69; Shelton (7-5) 68; Law (10-2) 49; Hamden (8-3) 28; Valley Regional/Old Lyme (11-2) 17; Naugatuck (8-3) 16; Holy Cross (9-3) 8; Cromwell/Portland (10-2) 7. | ||||
| The following voted: Cameron Beall, New Britain Herald; Adam Betz, Journal-Inquirer of Manchester; Serenity Bishop, Bristol Press; Sean Patrick Bowley, GameTimeCT; Kels Dayton, Hartford Courant; Gerry deSimas Jr., Collinsville Press; Justin DeVellis, News 12 Connecticut; 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; Tim Jensen, Patch Media Corp.; Greg Lederer, Cheshire Herald; Gabby Lucivero, NBC CT; Mike Madera, Walter Camp Football Foundation; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Pete Paguaga, GameTimeCT; Dave Phillips, Shoreline Newspapers; Dave Ruden, The Ruden Report; Richard Zalusky, The Chronicle of Willimantic; Jimmy Zanor, Norwich Bulletin; Joe Zone, WFSB-3. | ||||
COACHES POLL
The final The Day of New London high school top 10 football poll as voted by state coaches. First-place votes in parentheses, final record, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis, and previous ranking.
Monday, December 12, 2022
| Team | Rec. | Pts. | LW | Class |
| 1. Greenwich (8) | 11-2 | 374 | 8 | LL |
| 2. New Canaan (2) | 12-1 | 368 | 3 | LL |
| 3. North Haven | 11-2 | 302 | nr | MM |
| 4. Maloney | 11-2 | 294 | 4 | L |
| 5. Notre Dame-WH | 10-3 | 274 | nr | M |
| 6. Ansonia (3) | 13-0 | 258 | 10 | S |
| 7. Fairfield Prep | 9-4 | 240 | 7 | LL |
| 8. Joel Barlow | 11-2 | 176 | nr | SS |
| 9. St. Joseph | 9-2 | 141 | 1 | L |
| 10. Southington | 9-2 | 139 | 2 | LL |
| Also receiving votes: Killingly (11-2), 125 points; Staples (9-2), 95; Berlin (12-1), 89; Trumbull (8-4), 86; Bloomfield (10-3), 83; Cheshire (7-5), 67; Newtown (9-2), 64; Shelton (7-5), 41; Glastonbury (9-3), 28; West Haven (9-2), 21; Cromwell/Portland (10-2), 17; Tie, Hamden (8-3) and Jonathan Law (10-2), 9; Masuk (8-4), 8; Valley Regional/Old Lyme (11-2), 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; Joe Lato, Woodland; Brian Mazzone, Stafford/East Windsor/Somers; Bryan Muller, Brookfield; Bob Pattison, Newtown; Marce Petroccio, Trumbull. | ||||
