The No. 1 Rams (9-1) will be gunning for their fourth consecutive state title Tuesday evening when they face the No. 4 St. Paul Falcons (8-2) in the Class MM state championship semifinal game at Dunning Stadium, kickoff is at 6:30 p.m.
Post-season play is almost old hat for the Rams. New Canaan has won seven state championships including the last three MM titles. But, it will be the Falcon's first playoff appearance since 1976 when they lost in the Class M championship game to Hand-Madison.
When Head Coach Jude Kelly arrived in 2005 from Southington where he'd coached for 17 years, St. Paul had been 0-10 the previous season. The co-op team—made up of players from St. Paul, Goodwin Tech of New Britain and Lewis Mills of Burlington—played on a dirt field. Over the next two years players, coaches, and boosters planted grass, built bleachers, and constructed a new press box. The team continued to struggle on their new field, going 2-8 in 2006 and 2007. But last year the Falcons started to shine—with a 9-2 season in 2008 they just missed the playoffs.
"We didn't know what to expect going into the season," said Coach Kelly, noting that this is his team's first year in the Naugatuck Valley League, "but our seniors—10 of them—have been the key. They just wanted it."
St. Paul made it into the state championships with a win over Rocky Hill.
Ironically, after the win, the team and coaches were rooting for New Canaan to beat Darien in the Turkey Bowl since the Blue Wave had been right on the heels of St. Paul for the fourth and final spot in the playoffs. It turned out that even if Darien had beaten New Canaan, the Wave still would not have been able to overtake the Falcons.
New Canaan and St. Paul exchanged films of their last two games. After viewing the double feature, Rams' coach, Lou Marinelli, said "they really have strong receivers, and they're an athletic group that plays very hard." The Falcon's leading receiver, Byron Jones, has already verbally committed to the University of Connecticut.
Marinelli said his team has practiced every day since beating Darien in a close, messy game. "We certainly weren't sharp against Darien," Marinelli said. He even went so far to say that "If we play against St. Paul the way we play
ed against Darien, we lose."
But Marinelli felt good about his team in this week's preparation. He said that his squad has no major injuries and is ready to go.
The other semi-final game has No. 3 Vinal Tech/Coginchaug at No. 2 East Lyme. The winners will play for championship at a place and time to be announced.
