By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
Each year brings questions about the fairness of the CIAC's football playoff point system and each year the answers emerge on the playing field.
There are sure to be those who will comment negatively that three 9-1 teams (Newington, Avon, Jonathan Law-Milford) did not make the playoff field but a 7-3 team (North Haven) did. To exacerbate the situation, North Haven lost to Law during the regular season and one of Avon's wins was over an 8-2 Tolland club which made the postseason as well.
But in the long run, the teams which gained playoff berths earned them.
Many races were close and not decided until Thanksgiving, and even for some teams which had clinched berths in advance, there was some shuffling.
In Class LL, Greenwich recovered from a loss at Naples, Fla., to beat Staples and earn the top spot in Class LL. The Cardinals, 9-1-0, finished with 1380 points for an 138.00 average. They were scheduled to play Bridgeport Central (8-1-0, 1070, 118.89) in a semifinal game Nov. 27 (after press time). Greenwich and Central met during the regular season with Greenwich coming away a 21-12 win during the opening weekend of the season.
Shelton (9-1-0, 1300, 130.00) defeated Derby to clinch its spot and will host Southington (9-1-0, 1250, 125.00), which was upended by Cheshire, 35-19 on Thursday. Fairfield Prep (8-2-0, 1165, 116.50) needed to get some outside help after it beat West Haven, but that didn't happen and the Jesuits finished fifth. Last year's final four was Greenwich, Southington, Shelton and Prep.
In Class L, Newington was one of the three 9-1 teams to stay home, even after a Thanksgiving win over Wethersfield. Bunnell (10-0-0, 1490, 149.00 for playoff purposes but 11-0-0 overall), led the field and will host Staples-Westport (8-1-0, 1110, 123.33), which lost to Greenwich but still made the final four.
Conard-West Hartford (9-1-0, 1270, 127.00) had Thanksgiving off after clinching its berth the weekend before with a win over cross-town rival William Hall, took over second place and will host third-place finisher Masuk-Monroe (9-1-0, 1250, 125.00), a winner over Newtown Thanksgiving. Bunnell is the defending champ, having beaten Staples in last year's final, 28-26.
Masuk also was a semifinalist last year with West Haven as the fourth team.
The Class MM race was very tight at the end. Hand-Madison (10-0-0, 1545, 154.50) had clinched a spot several weeks ago and had wrapped up a home game before its Thanksgiving Eve win over Guilford, 33-26. The Tigers were set to host North Haven (7-3-0, 920, 92.00), which eeked out fourth despite losing to Amity, 36-24, also Thanksgiving Eve.
Maloney-Meriden (7-3-0, 900, 90.00) had a chance to catch up after defeating cross-town foe Platt, but got little help from beaten opponents. Only one of Maloney's five possible bonus game teams got a win - Bulkeley-Hartford over Sports and Medical Sciences-Hartford. North Haven also only got one (Cheshire over Southington), but that was enough.
Middletown (8-2-0, 1160, 120.00) upset Xavier-Middletown, 12-0, to assure itself a spot and New Canaan (8-2-0, 1200, 120.00) hung on to nip Darien by a point, 19-18, to take second place and a home game against the Blue Dragons. New Canaan won the title last year, 53-21, over Maloney with Berlin and Coventry rounding out the final four.
Berlin is back, this time as a Class M team. The Redcoats (9-1-0, 1350, 135.00) took down fourth place over the other two 9-1 teams, Avon (1240 points, 124.00 average) and Law (1230 points, 123.00 average). Berlin was slated to play Tuesday night at Bristol Eastern (10-0-0, 1470, 147.00) while in the other game Ledyard (8-1-0, 1310, 145.56) hosted Weaver-Hartford (9-1-0, 1420, 142.00). Ledyard was in the field a year ago along with state champion Hillhouse-New Haven, Windham and St. Bernard/Norwich Tech. Hillhouse stopped Windham in the final, 28-6.
Three of the four teams in the Class SS field are different from last year. Seymour (9-1-0, 1350, 135.00) got the top spot by beating Woodland-Beacon Falls, 36-35, Wednesday night. The reward? A return match with Woodland, Tuesday. The Hawks (8-2-0, 1140, 114.00) finished fourth in the division, just ahead of Stratford (8-2-0, 1100, 110.00), which lost to Bunnell, 22-12, Thursday.
In the other semifinal, Bullard Havens Tech-Bridgeport (8-1-0, 1100, 122.22) got its first-ever trip to the playoffs and faced Tolland (8-2-0, 1230, 123.00). Playing in the new state-wide tech school conference, Bullard Havens didn't face an imposing schedule, but won all the games it had to. Tolland, meanwhile, earned its berth with a Thanksgiving win over Ellington, 38-0. Ellington had been a Class M contender until it lost its last two games of the season, to Avon and then Tolland.
A year ago, Holy Cross won the title, 40-0 over Stratford. Griswold was the other semi-finalist.
In Class S, three of the four spots had been decided before Thanksgiving and Northwest Catholic-West Hartford, wrapped up the final berth with its 36-12 decision over Plainville. The drama came with the rest of the seedings. Ansonia and Cromwell finished with identical 10-0-0 records, 1550 points and 155.00 averages.
Step one of the CIAC's tie-breaker process, head-to-head competition, did not come into play. In step two, each team had 98 tie-breaker points (two points per win, one point per tie by all opponents). Step three is supposed to be eliminating the team which was most recently in the playoffs. Both were there a year ago and, in fact, you have to go back to 2002 to find a year where one team made it (Ansonia) and the other did not. So a computerized coin flip was the answer with Ansonia winning and getting the top spot and a game with Northwest while Cromwell hosts the state's other unbeaten, New London (10-0-0, 1530, 153.00).
Last year, Ansonia beat Bloomfield, 34-12, for the championship.