Sports

New Canaan Football Blanks Central 49-0

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It was at times sloppy, but New Canaan’s 49-0 win over Bridgeport Central was money in the bank for head coach Lou Marinelli—especially considering New Canaan’s recent history against the Hilltoppers at cavernous Kennedy Stadium. “You never know what you’re going to get when you come up here,” Marinelli told NewCanaanite.com. “This can be the house of horrors for us.”

But those looking for a replay of New Canaan’s shocking 42-7 defeat at the hands of the Hilltoppers in 2009 would be sorely disappointed. New Canaan outgained Central 402 to 149 in total offense—including 246 yards on the ground, despite being without injured senior offensive lineman, co-captain Teddy Hood—and put the game away early with a 35-0 lead at halftime, crushing any notion of another upset. The Rams were led by senior co-captain Ryan O’Connell, who rushed for 125 yards and two touchdowns.

Sports

Pyne, O’Connell Lead New Canaan Football Over Ridgefield, 41-21

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After last week’s shaky win over Trinity Catholic, the New Canaan Rams were looking a leader who could step up and give a struggling offense an identity, a rhythm and some confidence. Enter Drew Pyne. The freshman quarterback solved New Canaan’s quarterback conundrum, completing 20 of 35 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns, rushing for 58 yards and helped lead the Rams to a convincing 41-21 win over Ridgefield Friday night at Dunning Field. “Just a tremendous job for his first time as a varsity starting quarterback,” New Canaan head coach Lou Marinelli told NewCanaanite.com. “He exceeded my expectations for sure.

Sports

‘It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This’: 2016 New Canaan Rams Football Preview

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For the first time in recent memory, the New Canaan Rams will be heading into their season without a defined quarterback situation. It’s a scenario that may be amplified for the Rams—who will look to defend their three consecutive Class L State Championships—given the graduation of All-State signal caller Michael Collins, who has taken his considerable talents to the University of Pennsylvania this fall. It’s not that New Canaan head coach Lou Marinelli lacks choices. In fact, as many as eight QB’s were in the running for the starting job through the summer—a talent pool that has been whittled down to five as New Canaan’s opening game against Trinity Catholic approaches this Saturday. “We’ve started all over again,” Marinelli told NewCanaanite.com.

Sports

New Canaan Rams Football Names 2016 Captains

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There’s a saying that there is no off season for someone on the road to being a champion, and the Class L State Champion New Canaan Rams began their journey down that road last Thursday night as they announced their captains for the 2016 season. James Freyre, Teddy Hood, Ryan O’Connell and Tommy Root were selected by their teammates to lead New Canaan’s title defense next season as the Rams will try to win their fourth consecutive state crown. Freyre emerged as New Canaan’s top tackler in 2015 as the junior linebacker had 84 total stops, including 50 solo tackles and two tackles for negative yardage. As a result New Canaan’s defense was able to answer major question marks this past season after being decimated by the graduation of 2014 stars Zach Allen, Alex LaPolice and Michael Kraus, and suffering season-ending injuries to starters Cass Knox and Jarrett Torromeo.  

Hood was a stalwart of New Canaan’s offensive line, a unit that gave record-setting quarterback Michael Collins substantial protection as the Rams scored 523 points in 2015, averaging more than 423 yards per game.

Around Town

Collins Ties State Record With 9 TD’s as New Canaan Football Trounces Trumbull 69-26

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There’s not a whole lot more you can write about New Canaan senior quarterback Michael Collins that hasn’t already been written. That said, after the Rams’ 69-26 win over Trumbull Friday night, there’s one more accolade that can be added to Collins’ resume… Record-setter. Collins threw an incomprehensible nine touchdown passes, shattering legendary New Canaan quarterback Kurt Horton’s single-game school record of seven set 45 years ago in 1970. In the process he matched a state record for TD passes in a game (tying Bloomfield’s Jason Manson’s mark set in 2000) and moved within one score of tying Matt Milano’s NCHS single-season mark of 42 that was set in 2010.