Saying “heavy online ticket sales” led to concerns about a single venue accommodating two high-attendance games, the organization that oversees high school sports in Connecticut announced Wednesday that the widely anticipated New Canaan-Greenwich state football championship will be played in Stamford.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL final will be played at 10 a.m. at Boyle Stadium.
CIAC Executive Director Glenn Lungarini said in a statement that the organization’s policy “remains to not alter championship predetermined venues or schedules based on the geography or requests of the participants, but in this instance the circumstances of having a predetermined site change late in the process and another venue becoming available led to the decision to make this change.”
“As always, the focus is on providing the best and most appropriate championship experience possible for the qualifying teams, and we believe this decision provides that opportunity and we are grateful for those facilities that have offered their sites for our championship contests.”
Originally, the game was to be played at Shelton High School.
Officials from both New Canaan High School and Greenwich High School had requested the change of venue, noting that Boyle was available and saying it would better serve local students and their families, as well as each team’s legions of fans.
This year’s final is unusual in that it pits New Canaan head coach Lou Marinelli’s Rams against his son John’s Cardinals for the first time in the postseason. John Marinelli, a NCHS graduate and varsity football team alumnus who later worked as its offensive coordinator under his father, was named head coach of Greenwich in 2015. Each team has won two games in four regular-season contests.