News

‘There’s No Better Ending’: New Canaan Football Overcomes Darien to Win Class L-Large State Title

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On Thanksgiving Day, the Darien Blue Wave stunned the New Canaan Rams, turning a two-score halftime deficit into a 28-21 win to steal the FCIAC Championship. Two and a half weeks later it was the Rams who turned the tables on Darien. Trailing Darien 20-7 at halftime on Saturday morning, New Canaan scored 14 unanswered points in the second half en route to a 21-20 win to capture the Class L-Large state championship at West Haven High School’s Ken Strong Stadium. The win marked the second consecutive state title for the Rams, and the 10th for head coach Lou Marinelli, who handed the previously unbeaten Blue Wave (12-1) their first loss of the season. “It doesn’t get any better than this,” Marinelli told NewCanaanite.com on a windswept field packed with jubilant New Canaanites, moments after the big win.

Around Town

Turkey Bowl Essentials: A Breakdown of the New Canaan-Darien FCIAC Championship

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If Thursday’s FCIAC Championship between New Canaan and Darien is indeed the final conference title game, you couldn’t dream up a more fitting coda to what was once the centerpiece of the Connecticut football world. From the inaugural game in 1966, to the classic New Canaan-Stamford games of the late ’60s-mid ‘70s, right on up through the dominance of Greenwich in the ’80s there was no bigger game in the state—save Harvard-Yale—than the FCIAC Championship when it was played on Thanksgiving at Boyle Stadium. The game would lose some of its luster when the league decreed Thanksgiving to be a day of “rivalry” games in 1994. But for most of us who grew up in the area, the real Turkey Bowl was the FCIAC Championship of old. Now a scheduling mandate from the CIAC might do away with the contest altogether.

News

New Canaan Football Places Eight Players, One Coach on All-FCIAC First Team

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As the FCIAC regular season came to a close last weekend, the New Canaan Rams stood atop the league with a perfect 9-0 record heading into Thursday’s conference championship against Darien. So it comes as no surprise that the Rams lead all schools by having eight players named to the 2014 All-FCIAC first team. QB Michael Collins, WR Alex LaPolice and offensive linemen Jim Keneally and Lucas Niang were named to the first team on offense. The defensive first team honorees were linebacker Zach Allen, defensive backs Michael Kraus and Sterling O’Hara and lineman Malaki Holan. Also receiving a postseason honor was defensive coordinator Chris Silvestri who was named FCIAC Assistant Coach of the Year.

News

New Canaan, a ‘20,000-Member Family’: Classmates, Community To Honor Mikey Czech on Friday

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“My mom sped to the Emergency Room of Norwalk Hospital to see what a brain tumor was. The doctors did many thorough tests to determine what was wrong with me. I was worried and frustrated to be at the hospital on my birthday. When the tests were over, my dad came into the building from church. When he entered the room, I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him to death. Later that morning I called my sister to break the news to her.

News

New Canaan Football Wrecks Staples, Improves to 6-0

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The big question for the New Canaan Rams heading into Friday night’s matchup against Staples was how would they come out of the gate after a bye week. It was a question that took all of two minutes to answer. First, senior co-captain Zach Allen recovered a Staples fumble at midfield on the fourth play of the game. Then–on New Canaan’s first offensive play from scrimmage–junior quarterback Mike Collins hit classmate Matt Cognetta on a 48-yard bomb, setting up a 1-yard Frank Cognetta touchdown. Before most fans had settled into the Dunning Field stands, the Rams had a 6-0 lead, well on their way to a 35-2 shellacking of the Wreckers.