Daniel Hand Football Team Wins State Championship

By Jack Kramer, Correspondent

TRUMBULL, CT – Daniel Hand High of Madison won their 12th state football championship Monday night, defeating Masuk 35-21 in the Class L championship game.

The Tigers finished the season win an overall 12-1 record.

The game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was postponed due to the weekend snowstorm.

The Tigers won their first championship since 2012, when they defeated Windsor 23-6. Hand is now 12-6 all-time in the state finals.

Most of those finals were under legendary coach Larry Ciotti, who build the program into a state powerhouse.

In 19 seasons (1970-88) as the head coach at Daniel Hand, Ciotti compiled a 141-41-2 record and won five state titles.

This year, Dave Mastroianni took Hand to a state final in his very first season as head coach.

Mastroianni has been on staff at Hand since 2007 and in charge of the defense since 2009.

Hand defeated SCC counterpart North Haven, 35-13 in the quarterfinals, then beat Windsor 31-6 in the semifinals.

Masuk went on the road to beat Fitch 43-7 in the quarterfinals, before returning home to knock off New Canaan, the four-time defending champion, 28-14 in the semifinals.

Photo by Tim Jensen