Game Day: Week 3

Week 3 is officially here.

Many NVL games have been moved to different dates and times. Check the right sidebar for the most up-to-date game times.

Derby has a big task ahead of it in attempting to stop the Greyhounds. Holy Cross comes to town to face the young Chargers crew. Woodland at Wolcott should be another good one.

Remember, if you are at a game and have a Twitter account, please follow @NVLFOOTBALL and tweet updates to me. I will be posting scoring updates, photos, and in-game (live) video clips to Twitter from the Woodland-Wolcott (tonight), Naugatuck-Derby (Saturday), Torrington-Seymour (Saturday), and Holy Cross-Ansonia (Monday) games.

Where's everyone headed this week? If you do have any updates on additional potential postponements, let us know.

Video on Dobbs (vs. Woodland)

Here is a video clip courtesy of our buddy SPB over at the ConnPost. I have a photos of Montrell during most of these runs. Check it out.

Week 3 Predictions

Remmy took a one-game lead on Kyle by going 7-for-7 in predictions last week. We've got a couple of excellent matchups this week, but only one divisional game (St. Paul-Watertown). Divisional play returns in bulk next week.

Holy Cross at Ansonia: This one has to be the game of the week, with due respect to Woodland-Wolcott. The Chargers-Crusaders rivalry is always a good game, and like usually, there's a good bit on the line here between undefeated teams. Don't be surprised if both teams score in the 40s. It could definitely come down to which team has the ball last.
Picks: Kyle- Ansonia, 44-42. Remmy- Ansonia, 33-15.


Woodland at Wolcott: Number two in the pecking order of important games this week is Woodland-Wolcott. The Hawks didn't look as good as most of us thought they would against Kennedy, whereas Wolcott looked excellent once again. Woodland's defense played better last week, but the Eagles are a new animal.
Picks: Kyle- Wolcott, 35-21. Remmy- Wolcott, 40-28.


St. Paul at Watertown: The Falcons had a chance to win a big game last week and did not cash-in. Watertown looked suspect early against the Cats last week but regrouped and earned a solid victory.
Picks: Kyle- Watertown, 41-20. Remmy- Watertown, 35-27.


Naugatuck at Derby: Some are calling for an upset alert in this one for Naugy. Don't bet on it. The Hounds looked excellent once again against a very solid team in Torrington. If St. Paul and Sacred Heart put up over 30 points on Derby's defense, the Raiders are in trouble here.
Picks: Kyle- Naugatuck, 55-13. Remmy- Naugatuck, 49-17.


Torrington at Seymour: Another tough week for the Cats. They played the Indians tough for one half and need a lot of the same this week - for an entire four quarters. T-Town is looking for redemption after their loss at home to the Hounds.
Picks: Kyle- Torrington, 34-14. Remmy- Torrington, 45-13.


Sacred Heart at Crosby: A good passing attack versus very physical runners. Stopping Ifill and company will not be easy. The Hearts are 2-0 coming into this week with virtually no running game. The Dogs are still searching for their first win.
Picks: Kyle- Sacred Heart, 41-22. Remmy- Crosby, 28-20.


Kennedy at Wilby: Kennedy played a little better last week against Woodland, and Wilby has been fairly competitive in the first half against Holy Cross and Wolcott. Still, probably the most yawn-worthy game of the week.
Picks: Kyle- Kennedy, 24-20. Remmy- Kennedy 26-13.

Early Week 2 Recap

It's still pretty early to know exactly what happened everywhere in Week 2, but I'll point out some highlights and we'll go from there.

Naugatuck looked superb again in a big win over Torrington. Naugy's offense is the real deal, according to everyone I talked to after the game. The Hounds have to be the fastest team in the league on both sides of the ball. It was a game full of big plays on both sides. I'll be the first to give the Raiders credit, though. That's a darn good ball club. An injury to Brendon Lytton kept him out for about a quarter and a half, which didn't help their offense any. It's a good squad on both sides of the ball that just fell victim to a few too many of the Hounds' big plays. This is still a team that should win no less than 7 games this season but will need some help to get back in the Copper Division race. (More on that game here.)

All signs point to Ansonia having a great game to follow up a good one against Woodland. Montrell Dobbs went insane according to his stat line: 381 yards and 5 TD on the ground. Not too bad. We'll get some more detailed reports from this one soon, I'm sure. A big one coming up next week for the Chargers against Holy Cross.

Holy Cross let St. Paul stick around for about a half and then pulled away. Again, hopefully some of our bloggers can help fill us in on what happened in the new holy war. I was expecting the Falcons to compete a little more than it sounds like they did. Again, should be real interesting next week for the Crusaders and Chargers.

How about Sacred Heart being 2-0? It sounded like another instance of letting a team hang around, but the Hearts finally put away Derby in the second half. Hopefully we get a report from oldschool on this one? I'd have to imagine Rohan Ifill had another excellent game. You've gotta wonder how far Sacred Heart's passing game can take it.

Watertown had some trouble with Seymour, which sounds like it played a lot better than it did against Naugatuck. Our Seymour correspondents will give us the skinny on this one and let us know what to expect from the Indians for the rest of the season.

Woodland didn't blow Kennedy out of the water, although from what I hear, it was never a very competitive game. I was expecting the Hawks' offense to score a lot more than 21 points. Sounds like the defense got well back on track after a horrendous performance against Ansonia. Should be an interesting one against Wolcott next week, although that offense will need to play better than it did tonight.

Wolcott did what we expected Wolcott to do--blow out Wilby. All signs point to the Eagles taking care of business and heading into their first real test of the season against Woodland on the turf.

Fill in everything I missed, guys. We've got a couple new polls up in the sidebar, too.

Game Day: Week 2

It seems like it's been a really long week. Anyway, we're finally at Friday, and all seven NVL matchups are tonight at 7 p.m. We've got three Brass Division games, three Copper Division tilts, and the Sacred Heart-Derby inter-division clash. Not to say we're going to get much in the way of separation in the divisions, but there definitely are a few games that will have an impact.

Obviously, the number-one game of the week is up in Torrington when Naugatuck heads up north. This one will show us the team to beat in the Copper. There's been plenty of talk all week about the explosive Naugatuck athletes meeting the physical Torrington players. We'll have to see whether finesse or force wins this one.

The other big ones include St. Paul-Holy Cross and Ansonia-Crosby. Wolcott, Watertown, and Woodland shouldn't have too much trouble, but who knows? Sacred Heart also has a chance to start a rare 2-0 when the Hearts face the Jacob Tomczak-less Derby squad.

So, which games will everyone be at? I'll be at Naugatuck-Torrington tweeting some updates to @NVLFOOTBALL. WATR will be broadcasting the St. Paul-Holy Cross game while my boys at WRHS Media will be showing the Woodland-Kennedy contest.

Final thoughts? If you're at a game, feel free to tweet your updates (if possible) and give us your reports here after the game.

Check out all my previews for NVL and other area games on the Red Zone blog.

VOTE!!!

NBC Connecticut Game of the Week

Click on the link above. Ansonia and Crosby is the only NVL match-up on the slate. I'd like to see this game on TV because I won't be able to attend in person (that's my excuse). Now, vote...for the NVL!

Week 2 Predictions

To end the bitter arguments of threads past, Remmy and Kyle present to you our Week 2 predictions.

Naugatuck at Torrington: The battle of the week. On paper, the Hounds look good. However, in person, they looked like a shoo-in for the NVL championship with the skill players they have. With what everyone saw by Berger, Freeney, and company, I'm not so sure this team can be stopped. Contained--now that's another question.

Picks: Kyle- Naugatuck, 40-14. Remmy- Naugatuck, 36-28.

St. Paul at Holy Cross: Probably the second-most important game of the week in the NVL. St. Paul surprised me in how good the Falcons looked on offense and how well they seemed to replace some heavy graduation losses. The Crusaders will need strong contributions from DiClementi and DiGiorgi as well as good defense to win this one.

Picks: Kyle- St. Paul, 34-28. Remmy- Holy Cross, 30-21.

Seymour at Watertown: Seymour's QB Luke Grabowski has the potential to be a big-time player. But it doesn't look like he has the athletes around him to make this team score points. Watertown is a contender. This would be the upset of the week if the Cats are able to pull it off.

Picks: Kyle- Watertown, 48-13. Remmy- Watertown, 40-12.

Sacred Heart at Derby: Derby had a rough week up in Bristol. I think this week only gets rougher for the Raiders, as they will be without their star, Tomczak, for the second-straight week. The home crowd will not like this one.

Picks: Kyle- Sacred Heart, 42-20. Remmy- Sacred Heart, 45-27.

Wilby at Wolcott: This one could get ugly in a hurry. Wolcott looked as strong as ever according to reports from Killingly, especially with Bonvillian's five touchdowns. The defense was stingy yet again. This should be another warm-up for the Eagles before their first real test of the season against Woodland next week.

Picks: Kyle- Wolcott, 55-6. Remmy- Wolcott, 44-8.

Kennedy at Woodland: Woodland looked better on offense than expected in last week's barnburner of a loss to Ansonia. Kennedy was disappointing on both sides of the ball in a loss to Watertown. The loser of this one is probably out of the Copper Division race.

Picks: Kyle- Woodland, 42-24. Remmy- Woodland, 31-18.

Ansonia at Crosby: Crosby made a bit of a comeback in the second half of the loss to St. Joseph last week, so maybe the Bulldogs have a little momentum heading into this one against Ansonia. Frankly, the Chargers didn't look quite as good as some expected last week against Woodland, showing a very vulnerable defense.

Picks: Kyle- Ansonia, 41-27. Remmy- Ansonia, 32-26.

Week 1 Recap and Looking Ahead

That was a darn good first week of football.

Naugy's Shawn Freeney stretching during a timeout vs. Seymour 9/17/2010

It all got started with Sacred Heart's solid win over Cheney Tech and the two-day battle between Ansonia and Woodland, and ended with a few shootouts on Saturday, including wins by Holy Cross, St. Paul, and Wolcott.

Just some quick thoughts on a few of these games for some discussion before we look ahead to next week's action:

Sacred Heart, Naugatuck, Ansonia, Woodland, Holy Cross, St. Paul, and Wolcott all showcased excellent offenses by scoring over 30 points. Is it a trend of bad defense, or are the offenses really that good? Time will tell, but I think it's a little bit of both.

In my opinion, Wolcott and Naugatuck established themselves as the Brass and Copper Division favorites, respectively. Wolcott sounds like it played as advertised: Rough and tough with a heavy ground attack and stifling defense. Naugatuck looked incredible in a blowout of Seymour, showcasing the running and passing games along with an unexpectedly solid defense.

Having said that, it was only the first week of the season and we've got a lot to look forward to, namely the Naugatuck-Torrington showdown way up north. Ansonia-Crosby and St. Paul-Holy Cross also have the potential to be excellent games, but the Hounds and Raiders will take center stage.

Remmy and I will have predictions coming mid-week. We'll be keeping track of them in the right sidebar.

Check out my latest post on the Red Zone blog, featuring a look at the area's high-powered offenses displayed in week one. I've taken charge of the Rep-Am's Red Zone blog to make it into another source of discussion, not just about the NVL, but about other area schools and the rest of the state, at times.

Postponed: Ansonia vs. Woodland

AHS and WRHS will continue their game tomorrow, September 17th, at 4pm over in the Woods.

The first half was an exciting one, with three lead changes.

Woodland got on the board first. Ansonia answered with a TD, but were still down, 7-6. The Chargers went up 13-7 before Woodland scored again to take the lead, 14-13. The Chargers went up yet again to make it 19-13, but the Hawks answered with their final TD of the first half. And we went into halftime at 21-19 - Woodland up.

After this game, we will be headed to Naugy to watch the Cats and Dogs get it on.....

Here's a short clip I uploaded during the game to Twitter of a kick return by Dobbs.

http://www.twitvid.com/OTIJG

GAME PHOTOS: Ansonia vs Woodland http://bit.ly/9xkh0U

NVL action begins tonight!

Who's going where this week(end)?

I'll be at Woodland, Naugy, and St. Joe's.

And remember, if you are at a game and have a mobile phone with Twitter on it, send some scores to @NVLFOOTBALL. I'll be manning the account and will provide live scoring updates during each game.

Week 1 and League Predictions

Ansonia at Woodland – This one’s the premier league matchup in week one. Both teams are awfully young and inexperienced but led by an excellent player on both sides of the ball—Ansonia’s Montrell Dobbs and Woodland’s Jack DeBiase. Both of those guys will probably have their usual solid performances, so it will come down to their supporting casts and defenses. It should be interesting to see how both teams use the passing game; it might be more than we’re used to.

Picks: Kyle- Ansonia, 27-20. Remmy- Ansonia, 22-8.

Torrington at East Lyme – The Raiders boast a powerful running attack and have a stingy defense. East Lyme, from the ECC, posted a 10-2 record last season after being bounced from the Class MM playoffs by New Canaan. This will be a good road match-up for the Raiders, especially after having a tough time last season away from home.

Picks: Kyle- Torrington, 33-14. Remmy- Torrington, 27-26.

Seymour at Naugatuck – We know Naugy brings some speed to the table this year with a plethora of skill players sharing time on the field. Seymour is really down this season. The Cats are young and will not be playing with any pressure. If this game gets ugly, we can only imagine what will happen at New Canaan next month.

Picks: Kyle- Naugatuck, 28-13. Remmy- Naugatuck, 42-12.

Sacred Heart at Cheney Tech – NOT Sacred Heart at Pomperaug (Pomperaug would win that one). The NVL hopes to God that the Hearts don't lose to a tech school in order to save face in the non-conference.

Picks: Kyle- Sacred Heart, 50-12. Remmy- Sacred Heart, 62-14.

Holy Cross at Wilby – We have no official word yet on Holy Cross quarterback Zach Brown’s injury in last week’s scrimmage, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be playing in this one, at least. The talk on the Crusaders in the preseason has been their small size up front to pave the way for a two-headed running game with Brandon DiClemente and Dave DiGorgi. Wilby lost its best player in running back Devon Pruden, so we’ll have to see if the cupboard was left empty for the Wildcats.

Picks: Kyle- Holy Cross, 21-6. Remmy- Holy Cross, 18-0.

Kennedy at Watertown – This game will give us an indication of how good Watertown will turn-out this season. Kennedy won the Jamboree this past weekend, but that doesn’t really tell us much because the city schools aren’t close to being powerhouses - or are they?. One thing, though; Kennedy was without their best player.

Picks: Kyle- Watertown, 28-12. Remmy- Watertown, 34-20.

Derby at St. Paul – We’ve heard plenty about Derby in the preseason, but now will be the time to start showing that it can be an above-.500 team. The Raiders bring back quarterback Ray Kreiger and some good two-way players in Zach Salazar, Jonathan Haydu, Rashawn Hendricks, and Jacob Tomczak. St. Paul lost a lot from last year’s squad, but I’ve been told by some to look out for the Falcons as a sleeper.

Picks: Kyle- Derby, 21-14. Remmy- St. Paul, 30-13.

Crosby at St. Joe’s – The Bulldogs travel to Trumbull this year to face the reigning class S champs. The only difference this year is the Cadets will be without their all-state RB/LB, Tyler Matakevich, as he is still nursing a foot injury. Many feel the Cadets will still clean-house with the Bulldogs despite their loss.

Picks: Kyle- St. Joseph, 42-20. Remmy- Crosby, 19-17.

Wolcott at Killingly – Wolcott is nearly everybody’s preseason favorite to win the league championship. The Eagles bring back a heck of a lot from last year’s Brass Division champion, including quarterback Dom Gambino and most of its skill and line players. Could this finally be the year when Wolcott comes through on its potential?

Picks: Kyle- Wolcott, 48-7. Remmy- Wolcott, 51-0. No, really.

League Predictions

Kyle

Brass Division

1. Wolcott (10-0, 6-0)

2. Watertown (8-2, 5-1)

3. Ansonia (7-3, 4-2)

4. Derby (4-6, 3-3)

5. Crosby (5-5, 2-4)

6. Seymour (1-9, 1-5)

7. Wilby (0-10, 0-6)

Copper Division

1. Woodland (8-2, 6-0)

2. Naugatuck (9-1, 5-1)

3. Torrington (6-4, 4-2)

4. Holy Cross (5-5, 3-3)

5. Sacred Heart (4-6, 2-4)

6. St. Paul (1-9, 1-5)

7. Kennedy (1-9, 0-6)

NVL Championship: Wolcott over Woodland

Remmy

Brass Division

1. Wolcott (9-1, 5-1)

2. Watertown (8-2, 4-2)

3. Ansonia (7-3, 4-2)

4. Crosby (5-5, 3-3)

5. Derby (3-7, 2-4)

6. Seymour (2-8, 2-4)

7. Wilby (1-9, 1-5)

Copper Division

1. Naugatuck (8-2, 5-1)

2. Torrington (8-2, 4-2)

3. Holy Cross (6-4, 4-2)

4. Woodland (5-5, 3-3)

5. Kennedy (4-6, 3-3)

6. St. Paul (3-7, 1-5)

7. Sacred Heart (2-8, 1-5)

NVL Championship: Wolcott over Naugatuck

New Scrimmage Reports

Since the last thread was well past our record number of comments, we've gotta move things to a new post.

If anybody is attending scrimmages from now until the end of the weekend, post your reports here. We know the Wolcott-Torrington and Ansonia-Shelton scrimmages should be a good ones and there should be plenty of you guys there. Hopefully we get a good idea of who's who from that scrimmage. I assume the city jamboree is this weekend, too?

Scrimmages this weekend:

9/9:Holy Cross vs. Hillhouse

9/9: Derby at Branford

9/9: Oxford at Seymour

9/10: Shelton at Ansonia

9/10: Torrington at Wolcott

9/10: Woodland vs. Bristol Eastern

9/11: St. Paul at Haddam-Killingworth

Next week, Remmy and I will be posting our predictions for this season and we'll be sure to create an official predictions thread starting Monday. Until then, it's business as usual. Remember, if posts start getting into the area of personal attacks, extremely poor taste, or nothing to do with anything going on in our football world, we'll have to start deleting some posts. We don't want to do that, but for the sake of keeping this a respectable arena for NVL football discussion as we hit the season, we'll do it if necessary.

Enjoy the final week before the season begins Thursday night in the Woods.

West Haven vs. Ansonia

Went to check-out some football at Nolan Field before I began my Labor Day festivities.

By the time I had arrived, West Haven was up 12-0 on the Chargers. West Haven intercepted a Chudwick pass and started their drive at the Ansonia 6 yard line, punching-it-in for their second...and last TD of the contest.

On a third-and-long, Ansonia scored their first TD on a WR screen from Chudwick to Newsome. Newsome took the 40 yards down the Ansonia sideline for the score. Then Dobbs began to do some work. He rushed for roughly 200 yards.

Dobbs scored on a 4 yard rush to tie the score at 12. He had 50-60 yards rushing on the drive alone. Chudwick then connected with Matos on a 50-yard pass to put Ansonia up 20-12 after the 2pt conversion.

West Haven kept struggling to get anything going on offense.

Ansonia had possession, once again, and drove down the field on several runs by Dobbs. Dobbs then scored on a 3-yard run to put Ansonia up 28-12. On the ensuing possession, Dobbs took the hand-off and was in the end zone 81 yards later. He broke 4 tackles and almost ran over the West Haven coaching staff on his way to the end zone.

The final was 34-12.

We all know West Haven isn't the ND-WH team Ansonia saw last week. However, Ansonia did seem to put it together today, from what I witnessed.

The Ansonia defense looked a lot better this afternoon. They were hitting very hard all morning and the offense looked like it had developed some much-needed confidence.

I need a report from that Derby/Torrington scrimmage. Let's hear it, boys.

If anyone is interested in viewing some pictures of the scrimmage, you may take a look here:

West Haven vs. Ansonia photos

Hamden Hall at Derby - Scrimmage

The Red Raiiiiiiiiiiiiders [Chris Berman voice] hosted the Hornets this blazing hot afternoon.

Derby began the scrimmage on offense. They surprised me. Then again, this was my first time seeing Hamden Hall in action and they did not look like a very good squad. Anyhow, Derby's RB, Rashawn Hendricks came out of the gate racking-up some good yardage on the ground. He had two nice runs to the outside on the first drive. I was just waiting for Tomczak to do some work (we'll get to that in a bit).

Derby had three nice plays to start the series before fumbling the ball on a slant pattern. The drive went for about 45 yards.

Ray Kreiger, the Derby QB, certainly did not look bad today. I caught a glimpse of him during Derby's spring game and he didn't look too good. He had just come off of baseball, though.


And then there's Tomczak. He caught a five yard bullet from Kreiger for a TD. Derby had two plays remaining after this score. Krieger and Tomczak hooked-up for a 65-yd score down the Derby sideline on the very next play. On the final play of the drive, Derby's "other" receiver (his name escapes me) caught a 35-yard strike from Kreiger. This kid has some size and ran over two Hamden Hall defenders after catching a pass.


The "hogs" were busy having their way with the Hornets. Derby's O and D lines were impressive. They were playing with very high intensity. I felt it as soon as I walked onto the field. Parents screaming, kids cheering-on their teammates, and the hits they were putting on the Hamden Hall backs and receivers - I must say Derby impressed me a bit. Their secondary played very well - not allowing any big plays despite HH spreading Derby out...sometimes five-wide.

HH did manage to put up a score on a three yard pass.

The future looks bright for this group over in Derby. I already see a change in the way these kids go out there and compete compared to last season.

Oldschool...I couldn't quite see you, but I heard you out there. hahahahaha