During the past two seasons, the Darien Blue Wave football team has reached nearly every one of its goals except playing a home game at night under the lights. The switch finally goes on tonight when, after years of working to get lights for their football field, the Wave hosts the Brien McMahon Senators at 6 p.m.
The game is one of eight on the schedule for week two in the FCIAC, with several interesting match-ups.
The HAN Network will again carry two games live this weekend, with the Westhill Vikings at the Norwalk Bears on Friday night, and the Greenwich Cardinals at the Trinity Catholic Crusaders on Saturday afternoon. All four teams were week one victors, but only two remain unbeaten after this weekend.
Friday’s coverage will begin with FCIAC Tailgate at 5 p.m., and kickoff for Westhill-Norwalk is at 7 p.m.
Saturday’s kickoff time for Greenwich-Trinity is 12:30 p.m., and HAN’s coverage will begin at 1 p.m.
Both games can be viewed on FCIAC.net, HAN.Network and all of the Network’s affiliate sites. The games will also be available on-demand after their completion.
Here’s a look at the entire slate of games for Week Two:
Friday, Sept. 15
Brien McMahon (0-1) at Darien (1-0), 6 p.m.
Let there be lights.
Darien, which had won 26 straight games coming into this season, inexplicably was not voted No. 1 in the preseason state poll.
The Wave stretched that win streak to 27 by beating Ridgefield 38-12 last Friday at Tiger Hollow and has regained its lofty perch atop the state polls.
Now, at long last, Darien gets to play its first game under the lights at DHS. Can life get any better for Wave football?
Brien McMahon, meanwhile, was winless in 2016, and was doubled up by the Wilton Warriors, 42-21, last weekend. The Senators will get on the winning side of the ledger soon, but this is a real difficult spot to break their slide.
Ridgefield (0-1) at Stamford (0-1), 6 p.m.
A Class LL finalist last year, the Ridgefield Tigers are dealing with the graduations of several elite players, and fell under the Darien steamroller last weekend. Stamford dropped a nailbiter to Warde, 28-27. Both teams could really use a victory here if they want to be in contention for a state playoff bid as the season rolls along.
Westhill (1-0) at Norwalk (1-0), 7 p.m.
Another interesting match-up features two teams moving up the FCIAC ladder and possibly into state playoff contention.
The Westhill Vikings rolled to a 50-27 win over Ludlowe in week one, while the Norwalk Bears won a wild shootout with Hamden, 68-57.
For the Vikings, WR Noldylens Metayer had three long TD receptions, while for Norwalk, Jalen Elliott had 130 receiving yards and three TDs, giving the Bears a pair another top receiver alongside All-Stater A.J. Hall. Norwalk had 522 yards of total offense in its win, although Westhill’s D will be certainly be a tougher challenge.
Staples (1-0) at Wilton (1-0), 7 p.m.
A pair of 1-0 teams clash in one of this weekend’s solid match-ups. Both teams had relatively easy week one victories, with Staples beating Central 52-0, and Wilton running past McMahon 42-21. The Wreckers and Warriors figure to be in the mix for state playoff bids this season, and a win here would go a long way towards making that happen.
New Canaan (0-1) at Danbury (0-1), 7 p.m.
New Canaan with a losing record? We haven’t seen that in a while.
The Rams were upset by St. Joseph, 38-35, last week, marking their first loss to anyone other than Darien since Windsor in the 2012 state semifinals.
The Rams will be looking to take out their frustrations on Friday, and will try to make this a long night for the Hatters, who lost on the road to Trinity, 27-13, in week one.
Trumbull (0-1) at Ludlowe (0-1), 7 p.m.
The Trumbull Eagles and Ludlowe Falcons had rough openers last Saturday, as they combined to allow their opponents 120 points. Trumbull was a 70-16 loser to Greenwich, while Ludlowe fell to Westhill, 50-27.
They’ll both look to control things better on defense and one flock of birds will fly away with its first win tonight.
Saturday, Sept. 16
Warde (1-0) at St. Joseph (1-0), 1:30 p.m.
The Warde Mustangs and St. Joseph Cadets are both coming off big week-one victories and will look to move to 2-0 when they clash on Saturday.
The Cadets’ 38-35 win over the then top-ranked New Canaan Rams made them the first team other than Darien to beat the Rams since 2012. St. Joe’s received a 315-yard passing game from new QB David Summers, who looked right at home with the Cadets, and a huge night from WR Jared Mallozzi, who racked up 11 catches, 165 yards and a pair of TDs.
Warde edged Stamford 28-27 in a game that went down to the wire.
Greenwich (1-0) at Trinity Catholic (1-0), 1:30 p.m.
Greenwich found the end zone 10 times in week one, and romped over Trumbull, 70-16. Playing their first game under the lights at Gaglio Field, the Trinity Crusaders toppled Danbury 27-13.
Trinity is used to facing bigger schools in the FCIAC and could give Greenwich a strong challenge in this one.
The last time these two teams met with Trinity as the home team, the battle went down to the wire before Greenwich edged out a 42-38 victory two seasons ago.
