By Dave Stewart
MaxPreps.com
NEW CANAAN, Conn. - Alex Whitten is deeply familiar with the New Canaan-Wilton boys’ lacrosse wars which date back to the 1970s and this season, the former Wilton Warrior is getting a look at things from the other side as the new head coach of the Rams.
“For me, this is a tremendous honor,” Whitten said. “The fact that I’ve been considered for this has just been a tremendous feather in my cap.
“I look forward to representing the New Canaan High School lacrosse program, New Canaan High School, the New Canaan lacrosse community and the community in New Canaan as a whole the best way I possibly can. I’ll treat that with as much honor and dignity as I possibly can,” Whitten said.
For much of the past three decades, the Rams and Warriors were the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox of Connecticut lacrosse, dominating the sport both on the field and in the minds of fans.
Whitten’s father, Guy, was a lacrosse coaching legend for the Wilton Warriors and Alex was part of three of Wilton’s State championship teams, in 1991-1993. From there, Whitten moved on to Duke University and was with the Blue Devils when they won the ACC championship in 1995 and when they reached the Final Four in 1997.
Moving to the coaching ranks, Whitten took over the Weston High School program in 2005. Weston had gone 6-10 in 2004, but Whitten turned things around in three short years, guiding the Trojans to a record of 43-14 from 2005 to 2007. Whitten was named the Class S Coach of the Year in 2006 and last spring, Weston went 18-3 and captured its first State championship.
Despite that high level of success in Weston, when the opportunity to coach in New Canaan arose, it was an offer Whitten couldn’t refuse. But it definitely wasn’t east to leave the Trojans.
“Saying good-bye to the people that I loved so much over in Weston was extremely difficult. This was an emotional decision for me — by far the most difficult decision I’ve made in my whole career and in my adult life outside of my career.”
Whitten replaces another lacrosse legend at NCHS: Howard Benedict, who coached the Ram program for 34 years. Benedict resigned the position on January 14. He was interested in reconsidering the resignation several days later, but was refused.
NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan said Whitten was the right man to lead the lacrosse program into the future.
“I think he’s a person of tremendously high character,” Egan said. “He is really in the sport for the right reasons — obviously, to help kids be successful on the field as players, individually and collectively. He’s concerned with the character development of all his players.
“There’s evidence that he’s built strong relationships in a short time in Weston, both with people in the community and with his players. That certainly bodes well for his ability to do the same thing here.”
The style of play Whitten coaches is a stark contrast to what the Rams have done in the past.
Benedict coached a slow-it-down, possession-style game, while Whitten’s game is more up-tempo.
“The really big challenge is getting the kids to buy into my style and my system,” Whitten said. “It’s very different than what it’s been like here. In the past, the intention was to slow things down. My style is to turn it up, so there are different habits the kids have and that’s OK. There’ll be a set of growing pains that happens with anything like that. So far, we’ve gotten along pretty well.”
Another change is that the Rams made cuts this season, something Whitten feels helps stimulate competition for positions and improves the program from top to bottom.
“This is the first time we’ve done evaluations and, unfortunately, I had to make a few cuts,” Whitten said. “No coach likes to do that, no coach enjoys it, but the overall program, top down from 12th grade to second grade is my big concern.
“When we do cuts, unfortunately kids get removed from the program. But on the other side of that coin, it sends a message to younger generations that playing lacrosse is not a right, it’s a privilege. You’ve really got to work for it and there will be a select number of spots that we use every year.”
New Canaan is coming off a 16-6 year in which they defeated rival Darien, 5-4, in the FCIAC semifinals, becoming the first Connecticut team in three year to knock off the Blue Wave.
The Rams’ graduated 11 players from that roster, including All-American attack Charlie Streep, long poles Stuart Knechtle, an All-Stater, Dan Neeleman, Chris Healy and Kevin Gildea, All-State attack David Hawley and All-FCIAC midfielder David Reed.
Those player losses are huge, but New Canaan has a couple of exceptional goalies in All-Stater Fergus Campbell and Paul Dubas, both co-captains.
“They present a good problem,” Whitten said. “If you have a great goalie, you start off on the right foot and we have two of them. That’s a good thing to have to worry about. If you have a hot goalie, it can make all the difference,” Whitten said.
Stepping in at defense are seniors Richie McGinniss, George Powell, Chris Guynn and Bryan Whiting.
At midfield, Chip Murray, a co-captain, is back and will again take face-offs for the Rams, with seniors Max Shaw, Jason Filatov, junior Mark Simone and sophomore Alex Garrison also seeing time.
Senior co-captain Teddy Citrin is the top veteran on offense, which also includes seniors Charlie Stanton and Conor Donovan.
The Rams have a tough first couple of weeks, with defending FCIAC champion Greenwich and Darien on tap. New Canaan opens at home against Fairfield-Ludlowe at 4 p.m. Wednesday and will play at Greenwich at 1 p.m. Saturday. In week two, the Rams host Staples at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, before playing at Darien at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 12.
“You could look at it both ways,” Whitten said of playing those teams early. “You’re going to have to play them at some point so it might as well be sooner rather than later. I want to put together the toughest schedule I can year in and year out so the guys are playing the best possible competition.”
Offense Rules at 33rd All-Star Festival
The 33rd Annual CHSCA All-Star Festival spotlighted offense, offense and more offense as Connecticut’s high school boys’ basketball season wrapped up March 19 at Maloney High School in Meriden.
The doubleheader saw the East beat the West 129-104 in the Class S/M contest, while the West topped the East 163-139 in the Class L/LL nightcap.
The Class L/LL game featured four FCIAC players on the West squad, with Greenwich’s Russ Rosenband putting on a 3-point shooting clinic. Rosenband nailed seven treys and scored 31 points — the most for any player in the Festival’s two games.
Crosby’s BJ Montiero scored 19 points, New Canaan’s Will Hanley and Xavier’s Brian Fitzpatrick each knocked down 15, and Notre Dame-West Haven’s Greg Mangano scored 14.
The West team also featured Cornelius Brown of Harding and Drew Billington of Fairfield-Ludlowe from the FCIAC, and Steve Zazuri of Masuk from the SWC.
For the East squad, RJ Evans of NFA led with 23 points, while Chris Prescott of Northwest Catholic scored 20, and Nick Greenbacker of East Catholic scored 19.
In the Class S/M game, a pair of SWC stars on the West team, Andrae Beckford of Kolbe Cathedral and Kolin Ebron of Stratford, combined to score 36 points — Beckford with 19 and Ebron with 17. Bryant Corcoran of Sacred Heart also hit double digits with 16 points.
For the East team, Killingly’s Shane Gibson scored a game-high 27 points, Coventry’s Jamie Kohn scored 22, Stonington’s Kevin Donahue had 17 and Bloomfield’s Marcus Cooper had 15.
Connecticut-Rhode Island Governor’s Cup football game June 28
The Nutmeg State will look to make it six consecutive victories at this year’s Governor’s Cup football game against Rhode Island. The game will be played at Rentschler Field in East Hartford at 7 p.m. on June 28.
Among the senior Connecticut players involved are six SWC and five FCIAC stars. The SWC players are Torrey Mack (RB) and Octavias McKoy (LB) of Stratford; Jonathan Jackson (DB) and Mike Easley (WR) of Bunnell; Matt Walker (DL) of Pomperaug; and Bill Romaniello (DL) of Masuk.
Representing the FCIAC are Kyle Duncan (OL) of New Canaan; Josh Maignan (WR) of Stamford; Mike Escobar (DB) of Danbury; Trevardo Williams (LB) and Dwayne Guscott (OL) of Bridgeport Central.
Dave Stewart, the Sports Editor of the New Canaan (Conn.) Advertiser, is a MaxPreps.com writer and photographer. He may be reached at 203-966-9541 or at sports@ncadvertiser.com.
