News

‘Our Defense Won For Us Today’: New Canaan Outlasts Greenwich 24-14 in Inaugural ‘Marinelli Bowl’

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It wasn’t something he was looking forward to: When Greenwich showed up on New Canaan’s schedule, Head Football Coach Lou Marinelli knew the Rams would face a Cardinals team led by his own son, John, named GHS head coach in the spring. Thanks to two early Ram touchdown passes by Mike Collins, and outstanding defense, New Canaan (5-0) was able to make a first-half lead holdup and survive a Greenwich (2-3) comeback attempt. “It was hard,” Marinelli told NewCanaanite.com after the 24-14 win, describing what it felt like to see John on the opposite sideline. “And I think he [John] did a tremendous job. I think those kids from Greenwich did a tremendous job.

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New Canaan Rams Name 2015 Football Captains

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The first major step toward the defense of their Class L-Large state title was taken last night as the New Canaan Rams announced their captains for the 2015 season at their end of year banquet. Mike Cognetta, Mike Collins, Cass Knox and Gardner Read were selected by their teammates to lead the team next season as the Rams will try to win their third consecutive state championship. Collins had an exceptional season at quarterback – his first as a Rams starter – displaying a strong arm and an ability to read the opposition’s coverage that seemed to improve with each game. In 12 games under center for the Rams, Collins completed 154 of 283 passes, good for a completion percentage of 54%. His 2,624 passing yards was the 6th highest total in school history, and his 32 touchdown passes was the 4th best.

News

‘There’s No Better Ending’: New Canaan Football Overcomes Darien to Win Class L-Large State Title

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On Thanksgiving Day, the Darien Blue Wave stunned the New Canaan Rams, turning a two-score halftime deficit into a 28-21 win to steal the FCIAC Championship. Two and a half weeks later it was the Rams who turned the tables on Darien. Trailing Darien 20-7 at halftime on Saturday morning, New Canaan scored 14 unanswered points in the second half en route to a 21-20 win to capture the Class L-Large state championship at West Haven High School’s Ken Strong Stadium. The win marked the second consecutive state title for the Rams, and the 10th for head coach Lou Marinelli, who handed the previously unbeaten Blue Wave (12-1) their first loss of the season. “It doesn’t get any better than this,” Marinelli told NewCanaanite.com on a windswept field packed with jubilant New Canaanites, moments after the big win.

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Turkey Bowl Essentials: A Breakdown of the New Canaan-Darien FCIAC Championship

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If Thursday’s FCIAC Championship between New Canaan and Darien is indeed the final conference title game, you couldn’t dream up a more fitting coda to what was once the centerpiece of the Connecticut football world. From the inaugural game in 1966, to the classic New Canaan-Stamford games of the late ’60s-mid ‘70s, right on up through the dominance of Greenwich in the ’80s there was no bigger game in the state—save Harvard-Yale—than the FCIAC Championship when it was played on Thanksgiving at Boyle Stadium. The game would lose some of its luster when the league decreed Thanksgiving to be a day of “rivalry” games in 1994. But for most of us who grew up in the area, the real Turkey Bowl was the FCIAC Championship of old. Now a scheduling mandate from the CIAC might do away with the contest altogether.