Ansonia and Seymour captains meet at midfield before their Oct. 28 game at Jarvis Stadium (Kyle Brennan/RA)
For the first time in a long time this season, we had a bit of a shakeup in the top 10 after Week 8 was all said and done. Here’s how the media poll, compiled by the New Haven Register, and the first coaches poll, compiled by The Day of New London, stacks up with my ballot.
Media poll
Coaches poll
Kyle Brennan
1
Darien (22)
Darien (10)
Darien
2
New Canaan (3)
New Canaan (1)
New Canaan
3
Shelton (1)
Shelton
West Haven
4
West Haven
West Haven (tied)
Southington
5
Southington
Southington (1) (tied)
Shelton
6
Windsor
Windsor
Windsor
7
Newtown
Newtown
Ansonia
8
Bloomfield
Ansonia
Bloomfield
9
Ansonia
Bloomfield
Newtown
10
New London
New London
St. Joseph
11
Cheshire
St. Joseph
New London
12
St. Joseph
Ridgefield
Cheshire
13
Middletown
Cheshire
Xavier
14
Greenwich
Middletown
Notre Dame-West Haven
15
Notre Dame-West Haven
Rocky Hill
Ridgefield
Other local teams receiving votes in media poll: Oxford (21st media), Seymour (tied-26th media)
Local voters of interest: Republican-American’s Kyle Brennan and Mark Jaffee; Ansonia’s Tom Brockett and Naugatuck’s Craig Bruno.
Analysis: There’s no real change at the top, with the exception of West Haven moving down just a little bit after its nail-biter against North Haven. Southington’s been so dominant this season that the Blue Knights have steadily gained ground (and those of us who had been voting West Haven ahead of New Canaan recently may have reconsidered).
Things get really shaky in the polls after Windsor at No. 6. Middletown suffered a very bad loss to Newington last week. Newtown needed a huge rally to beat Bunnell a few weeks ago. Bloomfield is still a bit of a question mark. Ansonia has run through another set of (apparently) soft Naugatuck Valley League opponents. New London is tough to judge in the floundering Eastern Connecticut Conference. The Southern Connecticut Conference’s Division I — yes, divisions, not tiers as some fools would have you believe — keeps beating up on itself, as noted by Cheshire’s losses to West Haven and Shelton.
By the way, someone voted Seymour 14th this week. No wonder some people think these polls are a joke.
There aren’t a lot of huge games on the schedule this week, but there are a few nice ones. In the FCIAC, New Canaan visits Trumbull and St. Joseph visits Staples. In the SCC, Fairfield Prep hosts Shelton, Notre Dame-West Haven visits Cheshire (in what might be a postseason contendership elimination game) and Xavier faces North Haven. And in the NVL, Naugatuck takes on Wolcott for the Iron Division title (and a crucial game for both teams’ postseason hopes).