By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
The Walter Camp Football Foundation All-America weekend featured the usual group of college gridiron stars and notables of the past as major award recipients.
An innovation this year was the high school breakfast of champions Saturday at Anthony's Oceanside.
"This is a good way to reach out to the high schools," said Al Carbone, commissioner of the Southern Connecticut Conference and the public relations point man for the WCFF.
"We have the Kelly award for the top team (Ansonia this year). But our high school committee met earlier this year and suggested something more. This breakfast is a way to honor all six CIAC state champs. We have sold out all our high school tickets for the dinner. We are trying to reach out to the football community."
The breakfast was run by Dan Orlovsky's foundation, which honored a state player of the year (Alex Thomas of Ansonia) and coach of the year (Craig Bruno of Bunnell-Stratford).
The awards were voted on by state high school coaches, of whom 86 returned ballots.
The other finalists were Jonathan Myers of Greenwich and Eric Kuraczea of Ansonia as players of the year and Tom Brockett (Ansonia) and Lou Marinelli (new Canaan) as coach of the year. In addition, a special award for lifetime achievement went to the late Rob Szymaszek of Maloney-Meriden and was accepted by his widow, Diane.
Orlovsky, the former Shelton and University of Connecticut quarterback, now with the Detroit Lions, was the Walter Camp Connecticut college player of the year twice, an honor won this year by Yale's record-setting running back, Mike McLeod of New Britain.
Teams honored at the breakfast included Greenwich (Class LL), Bunnell-Stratford (Class L0, New Canaan (Class mm), Ledyard (Class M), Seymour (Class SS) and Ansonia (Class S).
Ansonia won the Kelly Award, which goes annually to the top-ranked team in the state as voted my members of the New Haven Register media poll. Chargers' coach Brockett accepted the award at the black tie dinner at Yale Commons and noted 103 people from Ansonia (at $275 a pop) were in attendance.
Rough Week for Academics
Not on only did Hillhouse-New Haven lose to cross-town rival Wilbur Cross last week, it also lost at Xavier-Middletown, 55-50.
The results dropped the Academics from No. 1 to No. 9 in the New Haven Register media poll. Cross is the new poll leader, followed by 11-0 Windsor, 10-1 Trinity Catholic, 10-1 New London and 11-1 Holy Cross-Waterbury.
The second five includes Crosby-Waterbury (10-1), St. Joseph-Trumbull (10-1), Xavier (10-1), Hillhouse (9-2) and East Catholic-Manchester (8-1). Wilbur Cross and Windsor are two of five remaining unbeatens in the state. The others are Newtown (11-0) and Coventry and Old Saybrook (both 10-0).
Wilbur Cross and Xavier play Tuesday in Middletown. Cross won the first game between the two (Xavier's lone loss). Hillhouse also plays both Cross and Xavier again in February.
Meanwhile, Torrington's run through Waterbury (wins over Holy Cross and Sacred Heart) ended with a 98-89 loss to Crosby. In the process, Crosby's 6-foot-5 guard B.J. Montiero, became the school's career scoring leader. Montiero, considered by some to be the best college prospect in the state, had 1,496 points as of the weekend.
Charlie Bentley, the long-time coach at Warren Harding-Bridgeport and the school's Dean of Students, remains on suspension after allegations that he slapped a female student came to light.
The school said it had insufficient evidence to pursue the matter but the student's mother went to Bridgeport police, who are investigating the allegation, according to published reports. Bentley has missed three games during which Harding (9-2 overall) went 2-1.
Unbeaten Holy Cross-Waterbury continues to lead the Register's girls' poll of media and coaches. The Crusaders, who have a 40-game win streak, are 14-0.
The state record for consecutive wins was set by Westbrook (1984-1986) and tied by Seymour (1996-1999).
New Britain, 12-1, is second in the poll, followed by Career-New Haven (12-1), Bulkeley-Hartford (11-1), Mercy-Middletown (12-2), Trinity Catholic-Stamford (12-1), Lauralton Hall-Milford (12-1), Kolbe Cathedral-Bridgeport (9-2), Plainville (11-1) and Notre Dame-Fairfield (11-2).
Lyme-Old Lyme senior guard Callie Coffee is within 16 points of the school scoring record set by Nicole Faniola (1,416 points set in 1998). Coffee was expected to break the mark at home Thursday night against Hyde-New Haven. The Bowdoin-bound Coffee has 198 three-point goals in her first three seasons-plus.