It is on!
The showdown of No. 1 vs. No. 2 is on.
That showdown of the state’s top two ranked high school football teams – both from the FCIAC – is set for Saturday afternoon with a 2 o’clock kickoff at St. Joseph High School’s Dalling Field.
That No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup was set up on Oct. 22 when top-ranked Darien and second-ranked St. Joseph both won their games to improve to 6-0. And it was confirmed when the Week 7 GameTimeCT Top 10 Football Poll was released Oct. 26.
Darien and St. Joseph maintained their No. 1 and No. 2 rankings, respectively, to lead a group of six FCIAC teams ranked among the top eight. Every week this season those top two ranked teams have maintained those exact same positions where they were ranked in the initial preseason poll.
Darien received 16 first-place votes and 648 polling points from the 22 voting media pollsters while St. Joseph got the other six first-place votes and 628 points.
Both of the latest state polls – the media poll and the coaches poll – agree it is a showdown of No. 1 vs. No. 2.
But there is disagreement as to which team is No. 1. Thirteen coaches vote in The Day of New London poll which has St. Joseph at No. 1. The Cadets received 10 first-place votes and Darien the other three.
The FCIAC has the top three ranked teams in the Week 7 GameTimeCT Top 10 Football Poll as Greenwich (4-2) utilized an impressive 44-12 victory at Trumbull to improve two spots up to No. 3.
Hall (6-0) is ranked fourth and Fairfield Prep (6-2) is fifth.
They are followed by three more FCIAC teams – New Canaan (5-1), seventh-ranked Ridgefield (4-2), and Norwalk (5-1).
Shelton (5-1) and undefeated Killingly (5-0) complete the Top 10.
Darien improved to 6-0 with a 50-27 victory on Oct. 22 at Fairfield Ludlowe.
For coach Joe DellaVecchia’s St. Joseph’s Cadets, this Saturday’s game will be their third straight game against a conference opponent ranked among the top five in the state media poll. They defeated Greenwich, 24-20, at home on Oct. 16 and then won their 29th consecutive game Oct. 22 with a 17-14 road victory against a Ridgefield team which was ranked fourth at the time.
Darien’s Blue Wave of first-year head coach Mike Forget has outscored its opposition by a 270-92 margin this year for averages of 45 points scored per game and 15.33 points allowed per game.
Tighe Cummiskey, a 6-foot, 195-pound senior running back, has rushed for 10 touchdowns and 784 yards on 89 carries for averages of 8.8 yards per carry and 130.67 yards per game.
Miles Drake, Darien’s 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior quarterback, has a .633 completion percentage (64-for-101) and an average of 175.2 yards passing per game. He has thrown 17 touchdown passes and four interceptions.
Matt Minicus caught five touchdown passes and had 11 receptions for 177 yards in the most recent 50-27 victory at Ludlowe. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound senior wide receiver has 10 touchdown catches and 23 receptions for 441 yards on the year for an average of 19.2 yards per reception.
St. Joseph averages 35.33 points per game scoring and 12.8 points allowed, having outscored its six foes 212-77.
In the team statistics entered in MaxPreps through the first five games: junior running back Riley Jordan led the Cadets with 403 yards rushing (5.4 yards per carry) and four rushing touchdowns; senior wide receiver Maxwell Warren averages 19.4 yards per reception with a team-leading 24 catches for 465 yards and he has five TD catches; and senior quarterback Matt Morrissey has completed 61 of 102 passes for 864 yards (172.8 ypg) and thrown nine TD passes and five interceptions.
Darien was the last team to beat St. Joseph, 22-7 in 2018, before the Cadets embarked on their 29-game winning streak which is currently the longest in the state.
In addition to going for that 30th consecutive victory Saturday, St. Joseph’s eventual goal is a fourth straight state championship. The Cadets won the CIAC Class S championship in 2017, then moved up a class to take the Class M crown in 2018, and they moved up again in 2019 and are currently the defending Class L champions.
Darien won three straight Class LL championships from 2015-17 under previous head coach Rob Trifone.
This will be the only Darien-St. Joseph showdown this year because Darien is again a Class LL team and St. Joseph a Class L team.
This is now the part of the high school football regular season entering the homestretch in which this game and several more this weekend are pivotal regarding the eventual seedings for the state playoffs.
Another big game this Saturday features two FCIAC teams ranked among the top six in the media poll when third-ranked Greenwich hosts sixth-ranked New Canaan at 1 p.m.
Ridgefield’s seventh-ranked Tigers will take the 12-mile bus trip to Tom Fujitani Field to face their bordering town rival – a resurgent 4-2 Wilton team coming off a 20-17 victory over New Canaan. Kickoff for that game is 2 p.m.
Norwalk’s eighth-ranked Bears have a key Senior Night home game Friday (7 p.m.) at Sam Testa Field when they host a solid 4-2 Staples team coming into town with a three-game winning streak.
Wilton’s win over New Canaan impressed the voting media members enough that the Warriors received the 16th most polling points. Trumbull (4-2) got the 18th most points as the other FCIAC team in the “Also receiving votes” category.
There were 23 teams in the state who received votes.