New Canaan senior wide receiver Kevin Macari is among the finalists for the Walter Camp Foundation Connecticut Player of the Year award.

Macari was the top receiver in the state with 20 touchdown receptions, helping the Rams (11-2) reach the CIAC Class L title game. The speedy receiver caught 60 passes for 1,259 yards.

The other finalists are Masuk quarterback Casey Cochran, the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year, and Ansonia running back Montrell Dobbs, who rushed for more than 3,000 yards.

The three finalists for the state Coach of the Year award include: Tom Dyer (Hillhouse), Sean Marinan (Xavier) and John Murphy (Masuk).

As part of its 44th annual Weekend festivities, the Walter Camp Football Foundation will host a High School "Breakfast of Champions" on Saturday, January 15 at Anthony's Ocean View in New Haven. The event, which begins at 9 a.m., will be sponsored by the Dan Orlovsky Foundation.

Xavier High School of Middletown, the Class LL champion and state's top-ranked team, will be honored along with the other three state champions – Masuk (Class L), Hillhouse (Class M) and St. Joseph of Trumbull (Class
SS).

The announcement of the Walter Camp All-Connecticut Team will be made in addition to the presentations of the Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards.

Also, the Lifetime Achievement Award, will be presented to Larry Ciotti, former head coach at Daniel Hand High School who won five state titles during his 19 seasons (141-42-2 record).

Later that evening, the Foundation will host its national awards banquet at the Yale University Commons in New Haven.

The 2010 Walter Camp All-America Team, Player of the Year Cam Newton (Auburn), Coach of the Year Chip Kelly (Oregon), and Connecticut Player of the Year John Moffitt (Wisconsin/Notre Dame-WH) will be recognized.

 In addition, three individuals – NFL Hall-of-Famer Chuck Bednarik (Pennsylvania) and former NFL All-Pros Will Shields (Nebraska) and Tedy Bruschi (Arizona) – will be presented with major awards.

Walter Camp, "The Father of American football," first selected an All-America team in 1889.

Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side.

The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.