WELCOME BACK to yet another thrilling episode of The Meat Grinder, your weekly dose of high school football talk in Connecticut with GameTimeCT kingpins Pete Paguaga and Sean Patrick Bowley.
Week 8 saw a few surprises — Naugatuck losing to Torrington comes to mind — and one big near-miss, as Danbury took No. 3 Darien to the limit before falling thanks to some second-half heroics by Jackson Peters.
Pete kicks things off by going in our partisan commenters, who can’t seem to decide whether Hand threw up warning signs by “struggling” vs. Norwalk in a six touchdown victory a few weeks ago, or if No. 3 Darien merely fell into “a trap game” in their near-upset vs. the Hatters.
We delve into those results and also talk about Jack McManus’ big night in Southington’s 35-7 victory over previously unbeaten Simsbury and Rockville’s 20-0 bell-ringing victory over Stafford/Somers/East Windsor. We also touch briefly on Bassick snapping its 28-game losing streak with a 12-7 victory over Bridgeport Central.
WEEK 8 SCOREBOARD | WEEK 9 SCHEDULE | LATEST TOP 10
For this week’s special guest star, we shift gears to the NVL, where unbeaten Woodland travels to face Ansonia at Jarvis Stadium. The Chargers still haven’t lost an NVL game since Thanksgiving 2010, so we talk with fourth-year Woodland coach Chris Moffo to get his take on this year’s Hawks and the challenge they face against the Chargers as they prep for what looks to be a return trip Class S playoffs.
NOTES: DESPITE XAVIER LOSS, NDWH REBOUNDS FROM ROUGH START
And, finally, we wrap it all up with this week’s picks. Sean and Pete both went 8-2 and inched closer to first place as the season heads into the final stretch.
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RUNDOWN
- 0:00 — Opening Montage, Darien survives Danbury via Darien Athletic Foundation / Ryan Lacey.
- 1:44 — Recapping Week 8: Danbury-Darien, Southington-Simsbury, Rockville-Stafford, Playoff outlook, Bassick-Central.
- 36:20 — Woodland coach Chris Moffo.
- 54:46 — The Week 9 Picks.