There’s No Place Like Home For the Tigers

This has been a strange year scheduling-wise.  The Tigers played at Lyman Hall on a Saturday night,  there was an extended halftime at the Amity game due to a lightning delay, they played Cheshire on a Thursday night in Meriden,  the Notre Dame game started a 5 o’clock on a Saturday and last week the Tigers got out of school at 11am so that they could make the trip to New Haven for a 3 o’clock afternoon game against Wilbur Cross.  So far, the weather report looks promising and we may actually get to see a rare Friday night game at the Surf Club.  

A win over West Haven would give the Tigers a clean sweep of their division opponents.  This is no easy feat in the SCC Division I East, the toughest division in the state without a doubt.  According to the MaxPreps/Freeman computer power rankings that rate every team in the state on strength of schedule, the top six are: 1. Notre Dame West Haven, 2. Cheshire, 3. Xavier, 4. Hand, 5. Ridgefield and 6. West Haven.  Four of the top six teams in the state are all in the same division.  No one else come close.  

West Haven’s only loss came in week 4 when they fell to Notre Dame 28-15.  Last week they came out ahead of Cheshire in a wild one, a 46-42 shootout at Ken Strong Stadium.  West Haven has a potent offense, averaging over 35 points per game.  Their playmaker is sophomore running back Ervin Philips (He had 298 yards rushing and 6 TD’s against Sheehan two weeks ago.).  West Haven’s Head Coach, Ed McCarthy is expected to be out again this week as he recovers from a medical issue.  Assistant Coach Rich Boshea will take over for him.

Patch Player of the Week

Senior receiver Austin Paradis stepped in to replace Caleb Ewald who was out with an illness.  He made the most of this opportunity with several key catches including a 28 yard touchdown that was probably a 3 yard pass and 25 yards of skillfully avoiding defenders.   

Around the SCC

Once again the game of the week is at the Surf Club.  Coach George DeMaio will be broadcasting the game live on AM 960 or on the internet at 960WELI.com.  

In other action Notre Dame makes the early afternoon appearance at Wilbur Cross and Hillhouse travels to Middletown to take on the number one Xavier Falcons.   

Standings

Dare we mention it?   Okay, I won’t use the “P-word” just yet.  But...

Here are the Class L Standings

1. Windsor
2. Daniel Hand
3. Bunnell
4. New Canaan
5. New London
6. Darien
7. Farmington
8. Coventry/Windham Tech

Masuk is still on the outside looking in despite their 6-0 record.  But things are looking up for them.  Windsor plays Farmington tonight and New Canaan plays Darien on Thanksgiving, so someone will make room for them by the end of the season.  For complete standings from the CIAC - click here