A month and a half ago, when we were on the eve of the 2012 season, we pointed to Week 6 as potentially being a major turning point.
We’re here, and sure enough, it looks to be that way. (Hopefully the rain doesn’t scare anybody.)
Three very important divisional clashes headline this week’s schedule. Two of them–Holy Cross at Naugatuck and Derby at Wolcott–are absolutely crucial for both teams and will be our Co-Games of the Week while the other–Woodland at Torrington–is the first of five straight huge contests for the Hawks.
Thursday, Oct. 18
Ansonia at Watertown: Chargers coach Tom Brockett said he hoped Arkeel Newsome would be healthy enough to play this week, but they wouldn’t need him anyway. Even if he does play, it won’t be for any longer than the first half. Watertown’s offense is among the worst in the league and won’t put any pressure on the best defense in the NVL. The Chargers won’t have another test until Week 8 against Wolcott, a game in which they may be able to clinch another Brass Division title.
Picks: Remmy- Ansonia, 49-19. Kyle- Ansonia, 48-0.
Friday, Oct. 19
Woodland at Torrington: The Hawks have only played one quality opponent so far and in that game they were waxed by Ansonia (granted, Woodland wasn’t at full strength in that game, but it probably would not have made too much difference). There’s nowhere to hide the rest of the way with the Torrington-Naugatuck-Holy Cross-Wolcott-Seymour string beginning. The Hawks’ offense shouldn’t be too much of a worry in this game, as long as the offensive line can handle some of the pressure brought by Torrington’s linebackers. The Raiders have some athletes in their secondary but they were torched fairly easily by Jason Bradley and Naugatuck last week. Woodland is pretty comparable in that area and should be able to score. If Torrington can get back to its power running game and eat up some clock, it should be able to stick around. But we just never know which Raiders we’ll see.
Picks: Remmy- Woodland, 35-20. Kyle- Woodland, 40-26.
Seymour at Crosby: The reeling Wildcats get a game they can handle this week after a pair of blowout losses to the Brass’ best squads. Crosby turns over the ball a lot and has no real passing threat even though there are good athletes on the outside. The Bulldogs’ defense is one of the worst in the league, too, so Seymour should be able to move the ball. We’ll have to see how much those two big losses took out of the Wildcats. If they come out ready to play, they are easy favorites.
Picks: Remmy- Seymour, 34-20. Kyle- Seymour, 41-12.
St. Paul at Wilby: The Wildcats play good defense against bad offenses, something for which St. Paul does not qualify. As bad as the Falcons’ defense is, they should have plenty of chances to score against Wilby. But St. Paul probably won’t be able to do much to stop Wilby’s running game with Jacob Thomas. This actually could be an exciting under-the-radar game just because it has the potential to be a close, high-scoring affair.
Picks: Remmy- Wilby, 42-35. Kyle- Wilby, 50-49.
Saturday, Oct. 20
Sacred Heart at Kennedy: This game usually finds a way to be pretty close every year and Kennedy might be due for its annual upset. Even though the Hearts aren’t big favorites in this game, they do have their main trio back with the rust shaken off following last week’s win over Crosby. You can bet David Coggins and Javon Martin are ready to hook up more than three times this week and Kennedy’s pass defense will probably allow it. And we know the Eagles, who will try to pound away on the ground to wear down the clock and keep it away from the athletic Sacred Heart secondary.
Picks: Remmy- Sacred Heart, 41-28. Kyle- Sacred Heart, 33-20.
As always, make your picks right here. The Predictions Tracker is updated through Week 5. We’ll have thorough breakdowns of our Co-Games of the Week coming Wednesday, so we look forward to catching your thoughts on those games later.
Extra Points: If you haven’t seen them already, check out our midseason report card grades for all 14 NVL teams. … In the Rep-Am Red Zone, see what Kyle says we learned from Naugatuck’s win over Torrington and who are Greater Waterbury’s contenders and pretenders. … This week’s Woodland-Torrington game will be live on WAPJ at 6:50 p.m. Friday. Holy Cross-Naugatuck will be the WATR Game of the Week. … Ansonia gained a first-place vote in The Day of New London Coaches Poll and sits in second. The Chargers moved up to third in the New Haven Register Media Poll. Check them out in the right sidebar.
Week 6 Predictions are presented by DF Builders. DF Builders provides any and all home improvement you need, inside and outdoors. Whether it’s a new addition, a new deck, home repair or even snow plowing (sooner than you think!), DF Builders can do it all. Call 203-218-1394 for free estimates from a fully licensed and insured company. DF Builders is proud to sponsor the NVL Football Blog!
Torrington 32-24 Woodland – Torrington learned a lesson, Hawks haven’t played
a tough team since Ansonia.
Ansonia 49-13 Watertown – Indians will get scalped
Seymour 35-12 Crosby – Dogs are no match for the Cats
Wilby 44-38 St. Paul – Speed verus weak defense equals a Wilby ‘W’
Sacred Heart 36-6 Kennedy – Hearts clicking on all cylinders
Wolcott 34-27 Derby – A playoff team will emerge
Naugatuck 42-20 – Holy Cross – Expectations versus a team that is on fire,
Hounds in another romp
Naugatuck – Naugy is hot, HC is still trying to find an offensive identity.
Wolcott – Wolcott is the second best team in the league, too much skill for Derby to handle.
Torrington – Woodland’s secondary is the smallest in the league, Langs will win every jump ball thrown to him. Also don’t expect Ttown’s secondary to get burned like last week, should make enough adjustments to win
Ansonia
Seymour
Wilby
SHHS
Woodland’s Rahmi Rountree is 6-foot-4. I’d expect that to be the man matchup on Langs to neutralize him.
Forgot about Rountree, no one has mentioned his name since week 1. And the only game I watched Woodland play he didn’t.
Right, that was the game for which he was suspended. I was at the Torrington-Naugy game and I basically saw Phil Bresson loft the ball in Langs’ area. I don’t think that will cut it with Rountree playing man and Anthony Scirpo as a safety. I could be wrong.
Changing my pick to Woodland, why, dont ask, but it’s not because I forgot about Rountree.
Aren’t you a Torrington fan? Changed your pick? Let us in on a little inside information, why don’t you?
I’ve picked against Torrington before, twice this year in fact. My allegiance lies with the coaching staff, who I played for and with at Seymour, it doesn’t lie with the city.
No doubt. Just wondering what would have changed.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone on the blog change their pick(s). Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
It is surprising that no one has changed a pick before, but I am a very indecisive person. Went to 3 undergrad schools, changed my major about 5 times, changed my Broncos/Chargers bet about 10 times in my head yesterday, luckily I picked correctly.
Langs will dominate Rountree on every single jump ball
He didn’t even dominate Mick Pernell on jump balls and Pernell is six or eight inches shorter.
How many “jump balls” do you think he’ll have the opportunity to go up and get? The ball has to be thrown in a good spot for him to be able to out-jump anybody. Torrington doesn’t have a conventional QB that drops back and throws the ball to the right spot 70% of the time. The QB in that offense drops back, has no reads whatsoever, and throws the ball up to the WR the play is meant for. If Torrington focuses on getting the ball to Langs 10+ times this game, I expect 2-3 interceptions just based on the fact that the ball will be overthrown/underthrown the majority of those times.
The whole “jump ball” scenario depends on who Torrington’s qb is. I agree that when the freshman is under center there are no reads, he is probably told to drop back and through it up to a predetermined receiver, which is usually Langs. From what I saw from Bresson I do believe that he does make some reads before throwing the ball. Torrington’s offense is tough to figure out. They played well againt Wolcott, yes they lost, but so will everyone except for Ansonia. They also played well with a freshman QB and TE against HC, who has shown that they have a solid defense. But then, they stumble mightely against Naugy, a much smaller, although quicker, defense.
Jamie, even the senior, Bresson, doesn’t make reads.
3-step drop, pass. That’s how it works.
And, of course, Torrington would not have to result to throwing the ball if the line plays to its potential. There are some big, strong kids on that line that should be able to pave the way for any of T-town’s running backs…to the tune of 300 yards rushing/game. It’s just the inconsistency that we see every year that baffles me.
It didn’t look like Bresson was making any reads last week in his few throws, mostly in the second half. I think he completed one pass to Langs but it was just heaved up over the middle of the field and the Naugy secondary lost track of it.
Like you said, Torrington is awfully tough to figure out. You never know which team will show up.
Naugy over Holy Cross- I just can’t see Holy Cross having enough on offense to get it done here.
Wolcott over Derby- no disrespect to the Raiders, but if Wolcott wants its name in the conversation they have to handle this one going away.
Woodland over Torrington- You guys are spot on in your assessment of this one. Woodland plays to its strengths and Torrington just can’t get right. Torrington should live and die by the game plan of 3 1/2 and a cloud of dirt.
Ansonia
Wilby
Seymour
Sacred Heart
Home game for Wolcott. Or did you mean “Derby?”
going away
Definition
In sports, if a team or person wins a competition going away, they win it by a lot of points, goals, etc
Example: They seemed to score at will in the final period and the Knicks won going away.
(Definition of going away from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
Got lucky with that one…
Rem, I knew exactly what he was talking about. Step up your game, man.
Got to.
Never heard that in the city. Or the Valley, for that matter. Yikes.
Woodland
Wolcott
Naugatuck
Seymour
Ansonia
Wilby
Sacred Heart
Naugy edges HC by an extra point
Wolcott beats Derby by 2 TD
Woodland beats Torrington by 2 TD
AHS routs Watertown
Seymour beats Crosby by 2 TD
Wilby over St Paul
Sacred Heart routs Kennedy
ansonia
holy cross
wolcott
seymour
hearts
wilby
woodland—but torringtons band stays un beaten
woodland 42-20
ansonia 50-13
seymour 34-13
st paul 44-42
sh 40-12
naugy 36-33
wolcott 38-28
HC battles back and will beat Naugatuck by 3…..Because HC plays better defense.
Wolcott will beat Derby………Because NICOL takes over as usual.
Woodland will beat Torrington……..Because Kingsley makes his mark and the Hawks D steps up.
AHS will beat Watertown badly……Because AHS is really good and Watertown is really BAD.
Seymour beats Crosby…..Because Crosby is lousy.
Wilby beats St. Paul……Because St. Paul doesn’t play defense.
SHHS beats Kennedy……Because Kennedy has nobody to cover Coggins.
Holy Cross 30, Naugatuck 28 – Experience in big games will pay off here for HC. Cross bottled up Ansonia’s running game better than anyone, so hard to see Pernell run wild here. Not that anyone looks over anyone, but Naugy coming off a big week and HC might’ve had a bit more time to prepare for this one.
Wolcott 31, Derby 24 – Cinderella story over. Wolcott emerges as a playoff team
Woodland 35, Torrington 21 – Woodland a more disciplined, harder working team that flies around the field and has Kingsley running the offense. Woodland might have the best 3 players on the field (Kingsley, Rountree, Scripo). Actual test #1 is one the Hawks will pass
Ansonia 48, Watertown 0 – No one can stop Ansonia so nothing against Watertown’s D, but there’s no way they can score.
Seymour 34, Crosby 20 – Speed can help Crosby make this a bit of a game here and Seymour has been struggling. But Seymour too good for Crosby.
St. Paul 44, Wilby 41 – Why not? No way St Paul can stop Wilby’s speed, but not sure Wilby can stop STP either. You’d have to consider this a pretty big upset just because the Falcons haven’t really been in games, but it’s worth noting that we’re going to see St Paul’s spread offense play on a turf field for the first time this year.
Sacred Heart 38, Kennedy 12 – Too much Coggins, too little defense for Kennedy
Woodland
Ansonia
Seymour
St Paul
Sacred variety of the Hearts
Holy Cross even though Naug dogs are white hot
Derby ………because I bleed red and white.
Could be a bad week for the prediction leader. Too much of what I want to see and not what could happen.
Wolcott is red and white. Har har. Ugh.
Naugatuck 23 Holy Cross 20
Wolcott 36 Derby 21
Woodland 39 Torrington 28
Ansonia 45 Watertown 6
Seymour 33 Crosby 26
St. Paul 44 Wilby 35
Sacred Heart 31 Kennedy 18
HC vs Naugy- Naugy should win this game but they won’t. HC by 7
Wolcott vs Derby- Derby is fast and tough, bad match up for Wolcott Derby by 3
Woodland vs Torrington- Torrington may have trouble with the spread so i’ll go Woodland
AHS vs Watertown- AHS
Seymour vs Crosby- As long as Cats are healthy I take Seymour
Wilby vs St Paul- Wilby will get one stop which will be the difference. Wilby
SHHS vs Kennedy- 2 straight for the hearts
torrington will beat woodland because they have the best reviever in the state in desmond langs this kid needs alot more recognition also ernie tracy is an animal and woodlan is too scared of him
The second Heist is coming. Torrington over woodland
Also naugy will not even be competition for HC Naugy got lucky last week against torrington and as for torrington this week Joan will be too much and Zak Mancini will return a kickoff for a touchdown
Looks like somebody let the Torrington players get a hold of some computers this morning.
Naugatuck did not get lucky last week. Its varsity outscored your varsity 54-13.
The only players that have any chance at returning any kick-offs are Edgar Gonzalez and Joan Toribio.
Tyrone that might be the least intelligent thing ever said on this blog.
Torrington- Tracy will create big holes for toribio to run over Woodland
Holy Cross- Naugy had a fluke game last week, HC will sit em down
Ansonia- Arkeel Newsome is the best RB in all the land
Crosby- Solid squad on the front line
SHHS- the hearts are rollin
I root for Torrington, but I have never seen a 54-20 thrashing called a fluke before.
Naugy would have lost but for those SEVEN lucky touchdowns.
Ansonia Nuagy Seymour Wolcott Hearts Woodland Wilby all win
I originally said St Paul 44-41 over Wilby. I need to change that in a big way. Wilby 45, STP 20
Or worse.
Sorry. But this doesn’t make sense.
You’re pulling the old switcheroo.
It makes sense when you look at the weather report
NVLFootballGuy said:
Right. that’s the playing surface. The WEATHER is going to be pouring rain and wind. With a spread offense…
Is it ridiculous to pick a team to barely upset someone then change your mind because it’s supposed to be rainy and windy and that team exclusively throws the ball?
And then pick the team you initially picked to win the game to get BLOWN OUT just because rain is in the forecast? My answer would be YES.
Either you’re dead serious or you’re motivating St. Paul so that they show no mercy against Wilby and finally win a game.
I’m still not sure which of the two it is.
Both.
I’m serious that I think it’ll be more difficult for them to win this game in the rain, I think that’s a pretty obvious observation. But if you haven’t noticed from my posts I would love for them to pull through and win a couple games this year.
Ansonia
Naugy
Wolcott
Woodland
Seymour
St. Paul
Sacred Heart
my predictions:
Ansonia-of course
Holy Cross- I think they have it figured out
Derby- Valley tough
Torrington- woodland just doesn’t have complete pkg
Seymour- Valley tough n coming
Wilby-win a game you can
Sacred Heart- newbies make a difference
Ansonia 49, Watertown 0. Ansonia too good, Watertown too bad
Holy Cross 35, Naugy 27- Should be a good one
Wolcott 38, Derby 12- Derby time to take your medicine
Woodland 40, Torrington 21- T-Towns defense can’t stop a nose bleed
Seymour 47, Crosby 12- Cats get back on track this week
Wilby 52, St. Paul 48- St. Paul Defense….non existent
Kennedy 38, SHHS 35- Picking Kennedy with a somewhat upset
Great quote from Coach Lennon in Valley Gazette this week:
“People need to take their FCIAC & SCC blinders off and realize Ansonia is good and can play with and beat probably anyone in the state.”
Late to get to these. Didn’t think any games would even be played tonight. Anyways here’s my picks, haven’t cheated
Ansonia
Wolcott
Holy cross
Torrington
Seymour
St. Paul
Sacred heart
And just to clarify, I wouldn’t cheat on something like this, just all in fun, thank-you