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Darien versus New Canaan. Thanksgiving. Two heated rivals going head-to-head in front of a huge crowd at a historic venue. Wisps of snow in the air adding to the ambience. A tense, close game filled with excitement, drama and momentum shifts.
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.
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.
Though his team’s 47-16 win over the Trinity Catholic Crusaders on Saturday capped an undefeated regular season, the first thing New Canaan Football head coach Lou Marinelli said afterwards was that the final score belied a mistake-laden effort that the Rams must address before taking to the gridiron for the FCIAC final and states. The second thing he said was that Trinity head coach Don Panapada and his players—notably standout seniors Randy Polonia and Thomas Costigan, a captain, both of whom Marinelli said gave him “agita” all game—“made a tremendous effort and really played their hearts out.”
“I have all respect for Donnie and these kids—just a heartfelt, tremendous job by them,” Marinelli said. The Rams overcame an early deficit and five penalties for 47 yards, including a fourth-down off-sides call at the end of the first quarter, up just 14-7 at the time, that gave new life to a gutsy Crusaders team led by quarterback Anthony Lombardi, in perhaps the best QB performance against New Canaan all season. New Canaan also would fumble three times in the game—including once at Trinity’s 1-yard-line, with about one minute left in the first half, and just a 21-10 edge at the time. Yet another tremendous game from senior co-captain Alex LaPolice (three touchdowns, two interceptions), huge contributions from senior Michael Kraus (two touchdowns, interception) and a 13-23, 350-yard performance from QB Mike Collins—protected by an offensive line led by senior co-captain Jim Keneally—proved too much for Trinity to overcome.
Alex LaPolice had a game most football players can only dream about Friday night against Wilton. What made it even more special was that he did most of his damage in just one quarter. New Canaan’s senior co-captain took the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown and added two more touchdowns on receptions as the Rams dominated the Warriors in every facet of the game en route to a 47-7 win at Dunning Field. “He makes things happen and he makes me look smart,” New Canaan head coach Lou Marinelli said of the Harvard-bound LaPolice. “He’s done a great job all year.