Overwhelming Selection Chosen As Top Team In High School Football Poll

CONNECTICUT — Kickoffs for the 2023 Connecticut high school football regular season begin Thursday, with most scholastic teams seeing action by the end of Saturday. A must-see game occurs Saturday afternoon, featuring two of the top three teams in the annual preseason poll of the state's sports media members.

Defending Class LL champion Greenwich opens defense of its title at Cardinal Stadium against third-ranked Fairfield Prep in a rematch of last year's championship contest. Game time is slated for 2 p.m.

Class L champion New Canaan placed second in the balloting, with North Haven and Maloney rounding out the top five. In all, 40 teams received votes.

Here are the top 10, with first-place votes in parentheses, as well as all other programs earning support.

1. Greenwich (23)
2. New Canaan
3. Fairfield Prep
4. North Haven
5. Maloney
6. Southington (1)
7. Ansonia (1)
8. Staples
9. Notre Dame-West Haven
10. St. Joseph

Also receiving votes: Killingly, Trumbull, Cheshire,West Haven, Shelton, Darien, Berlin, Joel Barlow, Bloomfield, Newtown, Hamden, Windsor (1), Masuk, Valley Regional/Old Lyme, Wilton, Daniel Hand, Cromwell/Portland, Glastonbury, Naugatuck, Holy Cross, New London, Xavier, East Catholic, Branford, Fitch, Seymour, Gilbert co-op, Rockville.

Voters: Will Aldam, GameTimeCT; Nkwa Asonye, WFSB-3; Serenity Bishop, Bristol Press; Sean Patrick Bowley, GameTimeCT; Bryant Carpenter, Record-Journal; Gerry deSimas Jr., Collinsville Press; Justin DeVellis, News 12 Connecticut; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Erik Dobratz, WTNH-8; Scott Ericson, GameTimeCT; Michael Fornabaio, GameTimeCT; Rob Gullo, New Britain Herald; Mark Jaffee, Republican-American of Waterbury; Tim Jensen, Patch Media Corp.; Jonah Karp, Fox61; Greg Lederer, Cheshire Herald; Myer Lee, GameTimeCT; Gabby Lucivero, NBC CT; Mike Madera, Walter Camp Football Foundation; Joe Morelli, GameTimeCT; Pete Paguaga, GameTimeCT; Dave Phillips, GameTimeCT; Lori Riley, Hartford Courant; Dave Ruden, The Ruden Report; Dave Stewart, GameTimeCT; Jimmy Zanor, Norwich Bulletin.
Compiled by Michael Fornabaio