The Collinsville Press is a diverse community site that covers sports, news and more.

Our main focus is sports in the Connecticut towns of Avon and Canton, high school football from the Farmington Valley and regional items of interest such as the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship golf tournament in Cromwell, national team soccer in Connecticut, the Hartford Athletic pro soccer team, the Hartford Yard Goats baseball team and UConn athletics.

The Collinsville Press website is produced by the Collinsville Publishing Company, which produces several sports information websites including:
Connecticut Wrestling Online
and
Connecticut Sports Online (historical, inactive)
Avon Football Online (historical, inactive)
Canton Wrestling (historical, inactive)
Canton Football Online (historical, inactive)
Hartford Football Online (historical, inactive)
St. Paul Football Online (historical, inactive)
Farmington Girls Lacrosse (historical, inactive)

Contact Collinsville Publishing Company with questions about our websites by e-mail at [email protected].

Suggestions, contributions and information are always welcome.

The editor and founder of Collinsville Publishing Company is Gerry deSimas, Jr., an award-winning Connecticut sportswriter and photographer. He was sports editor of the New Britain Herald and The Herald Press Sunday newspaper from 1995-98, Torrington Register Citizen from 1989-95 and Farmington Valley Herald from 1985-86.

He is a former beat writer for University of Connecticut men’s basketball, New Britain Rock Cats, Connecticut Wolves pro soccer team and New England Blizzard women’s basketball team. He has covered the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun and New York Liberty for several national publications. He covered the United Football League’s  Hartford Colonials for the UFL website and Fanhouse. In 2018, he was the first Connecticut journalist to be inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame.

He is the co-editor of the Connecticut High School Football Record Book and the editor and founder of the Connecticut High School Wrestling Record Book.

Original content of Collinsville Publishing Company is copyrighted and may not be used without permission.

Recognition

Journalistic excellence

The Collinsville Press was recognized by the the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists with first place awards in its 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022 contests for online sports columns, online sports feature, online sports news and photography.  The Collinsville Press has earned 19 awards since 2012. 

In 2012, the sports news story discusses how Canton High’s Matt Graziano won the New England title in discus after a friend mistakingly took his discus and equipment home just before the event. The sports feature is about the leadership shown by Avon’s Robby Brisco with the boys soccer team despite his recent surgeries for cancer and the sports column is about the influence of the Hartford Whalers 15 years after their departure to North Carolina. 

In 2014,  a story on East Windsor outlasting Granby in overtime to win the NCCC Tournament in boys basketball was selected as the top sports news story in the online category.

In 2016, the Collinsville Press received two first place awards in the sports column and sports news categories in the hyperlocal competition. A story on an Avon mother and daughter sharing the school record in the 100 meters for a few weeks was recognized with a first place award in the sports column competition.

A story on Simsbury senior wide receiver Danny Deitz catching a touchdown pass in a football game against Enfield High a little over one year after receiving a heart transplant was recognized with a first place award in the sports news competition.

In 2017, the Collinsville Press won two first place awards for a sports column and sports news story. A column about a fundraising walk in May 2017 to honor the memory of a Canton Middle School student Ally Doyle, who passed away in a tragic backyard accident, was recognized.

A sports news category for a story about the first basketball game after Canton High students taunted students from Classical Magnet in Hartford in March 2017 was also recognized with a first place award.

in 2018. the Collinsville Press won two first place awards. One award was for a story on the season-long growth of the Avon High football team in 2018 that ended in a loss to Simsbury in the Valley Gridiron Classic in the sports news category. A second award was for a photo of players and fans celebrating after the Simsbury Major Division Little League baseball team beat Avon in a tournament game in extra innings.

In 2020, the Collinsville Press won two first place awards for sports news and sports feature in the hyperlocal division that includes primarily news websites across Connecticut.  The story on area baseball players hitting the diamond for the first time in June after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports and many facets of normal life in March was recognized in the sports feature category. In the sports news category, the story on Canton’s championship win over Granby at the NCCC boys basketball tournament was honored.

In 2021, the Collinsville Press won a first place award for sports news in hyperlocal for the story on the Avon High football team winning a Central Connecticut Conference Tier 4 title last fall. The site also won a second place award for sports news for the story on the Avon American Legion baseball team winning their first state championship and a second place award for sports feature for the story on the five overtime win by the Newington High boys hockey team in February 2021 in the CCC South tournament.

In 2022, the Collinsville Press won two first place awards for sports news. The site won first place in Regional B, which includes smaller newspapers and larger websites from around the state, for the story on the Connecticut Sun rallying to beat the Chicago Sky in game 5 and earn a spot in the 2022 WNBA finals. The site also won first place in the hyperlocal category for the story on the Avon High football team forcing a turnover and scoring a touchdown in the final three minutes to beat Lewis Mills, 26-25.