Fairfield Giants Teams Advance In Pop Warner Playoffs

Three of the four teams representing the Fairfield Giants' organization posted victories Sunday in the Southern Connecticut Pop Warner Division 1 playoffs.

The Pee Wees defeated New Haven, 14-8; the Junior Midgets bested Waterbury, 12-6; and the Patriot Midgets blanked  Seymour, 16-0. The only Fairfield squad to lose was the Junior Pee Wees, who fell to New Haven, 18-0.

This marked the first time in Fairfield Pop Warner history that the Giants had a team at every age level vying for a league championship.

The three winners advanced to the SCPW finals this Saturday at West Haven's Ray Tellier Field. The Pee Wees face Danbury at 1 p.m., the Patriot Midgets battle Stratford at 3 and the Junior Midgets take on Bridgeport at 5.

If the Pee Wees and Junior Midgets win Saturday, they would advance to the New England Regional semifinals November 20 in Rhode Island.

The regionals finals are set for the following weekend with the winner there qualifying for the national championships that get under way December 6 in Florida and require three wins to take home the title.

The Fairfield Pee Wees and Junior Midgets could play as many as six more games if they were to reach the national finals.

What makes the success of the Fairfield Giants' teams even more impressive is that the program is categorized as Division 2, according to national Pop Warner rules.

That designation is determined according to a town's population, with communities over 70,000 playing at the Division 1 level since they naturally would have a greater pool of players from which to chose.

Fairfield's population of 60,000 would seem to suggest Division 2 status. However, the Giants were bumped up due to their enormous  success over the last three years.

 SCPW made the move to maintain balance within the league, and this season the Giants competed against larger towns such as New Haven, Waterbury, Hartford, Danbury and Bridgeport.

Over the past three years, Giants' teams had a combined winning percentage of .857, better than any other Division 2 program.

Since 2004, when it took on new leadership, the program has experienced a remarkable turnaround. Six years ago the Giants' seven teams won a total of eight games; this year they won 42.

In the last three years,the program has won five state titles, three New England championships and made three appearances in the national championships at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida.

The Pee Wee team has won three consecutive state crowns and finished last season ranked fourth in the nation.

In addition, the 2007 Junior Pee Wees were second in the country after playing in the national championship  game against California.

Fairfield's Junior Midget cheer squad was ranked first in the country after winning the 2008 national title.