South Windsor High Football Gears Up for New Season

With the new school year also comes football season.

Such is the case at South Windsor High, with 65 players reporting to the first week of practice.

The Bobcats are looking to improve on last year’s disappointing 1-9 record. It won’t be easy, however, as the team is short on experience in a conference (Division I of the CCC East) that is traditionally long on talent.

Indeed, three of the conference’s eight teams from last year qualified for the state Class LL playoffs.

“That didn’t help us at all,” said eighth-year head coach Mike Bullock Wednesday.

So, despite the conference being cut down to five teams (South Windsor, Manchester, Glastonbury, East Hartford and Newington) Bullock knows his charges have their work cut out for them. Non-division conference games against Southington and New Britain don’t figure to make things any easier.

The Bobcats will be relying on senior lineman Sam O’Dell and linebacker Tom Anderson to anchor defense, while quarterback Jessie Lavoie, running backs Anderson and Cody Zitcus and lineman Andrew Wolf will spearhead the spread option attack.

Those players will have to lead a young team that has seen about 50 players graduate from the program in the last two years.

“Our numbers are a little down this year; the population [of boys] in the school is down a bit,” Bullock said.

Still, despite the challenges that lie ahead, Bullock said that his players were working hard to improve on last year’s one-win season.

“It’s a work in progress,” he said. “We’re replacing the offensive line. That’s the biggest challenge. … The kids are doing a good job. They want to get better and hopefully it pays off when they get on the field.

“The quicker they develop, the more likely we are going to have success this year.”

Schedule:

Sept. 15 (home) Conard 1 p.m.
Sept. 21 (away) Manchester 6:30 p.m.
Sept. 29 (away) Hall 1:30 p.m.
Oct. 5 (away) Simsbury 7 p.m.
Oct. 13 (home) Southington 1 p.m.
Oct. 20 (home) East Hartford 1 p.m.
Oct. 27 (home) Newington 1 p.m.
Nov. 2 (away) Glastonbury 6 p.m.
Nov. 10 (home) New Britain 1 p.m.
Nov. 21 (away) Rockville 6:30 p.m.