Watertown Football Preview

WATERBURY — A new era in the history of the Watertown High School football program is at hand.

In the 45 seasons the Indians’ program has been in existence, only three men had patrolled the sideline: Jim Krayeske, Bill Gargano and Roger Ouellette.

The exclusive club will welcome its’ fourth member on Friday, September 17, when Mike Veronneau officially takes command of the Indians, who open what appears to be a promising 2010 season against Kennedy High School at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury.

Veronneau inherits a veteran, upperclassman-heavy team from Ouellette, who last WHS team finished 5-1 in the Brass Division and 6-4 overall in 2009.

“Our team is led by a dedicated group of experienced variety seniors and juniors that had a successful campaign last season,” Veronneau, who comes to WHS from Crosby High School, pointed out.

“I’ve inherited an exceptional group of players and coaches,” Veronneau added. “We will field team with 20 seniors and 22 juniors who are very experienced and will give everything they have.”

To date, Veronneau has liked what he has seen in scrimmages against New Milford, Foran and Sacred Heart.

“We didn’t get as many reps in against New Milford as we wanted to on a broiling day,” Veronneau noted during a recent conversation, “but in the other scrimmages, we got to work on some things and I’m optimistic that we’re ready to go.”

The Indians’ offense will be led by senior quarterback and captain Matt Quatrano, who threw for 1128 yards and 10 touchdowns last season.

Joining Quatrano as the main weapons will be senior running back and captain Curtis Pomeroy, senior wide receiver and captain Tony Simpson (24 receptions, 396 yards, five touchdowns in 2009) and senior captain and utility man Carlos Arvelo (5.5 yards per carry).

“With an experienced offensive line anchored by senior captains Jeremy Plourde and Joe Cianciolo as well as senior Kyle Cave, I believe that offensively, we’ll look to have a balanced attack, using both the run and pass to score points this year,” said Veronneau, hoping to duplicate the 27.5 points per game the team put up in 2009.

Defensively, the Indians are led by junior linebackers Anthony Avoletta, Ryan Milo and D.J. Ouellette.

In the pre-season, Veronneau pointed out the emergence of senior defensive end Stanton Foote and junior defensive tackle Albion Lumani “only added to an already experienced defensive line which includes senior Adrian Bekiri, Cianciolo and Plourde.”

Other key contributors on defense will include junior Eric Ford and seniors Nick Dizinno and Tyler D’Anthony.

On special teams, the Indians will feature two solid place kickers in Rocco Guerrera and Ryan Milo; handling the punting duties will be handled by senior starting offensive tackle Dan Delgado, while Brett Boll, Brian Carroll, Justin Engelhard, Andrew Kalach and Stephon Walsh will solidify what Veronneau called “a hard-nosed special teams core.”

In addition to Veronneau, the 2010 coaching staff will include: Defensive Coordinator Jerry Valentino, Robert Perriello, Greg Boucher, Bruce Cianciolo, Jesse Pacyna, Shaun Stanco, Eric Rovenetti, Alan McGill, Keith Borkowski and George Palomba.

“I’m ready the challenge ahead,” said Veronneau, who added, “I expect positive results and success, both on and off the field.”

Let the season begin

This Thursday marks the start of the new high school football season and, a new beginning for me. After working with The1Voyce for so many seasons it is going to be different not having him handle the play by play. We were comfortable working with each other, at times completing each others sentences. His voyce will surely be missed over the air, but his presence will still be felt in the broadcast booth. I join everyone else in keeping him in my thoughts and prayers. If he is unable to return to the air in the future I know he will make the most of this new "opportunity" presented to him.

I did work a couple of games with Tom Fuller in the late 90's and I am positive the two of us will carry on the tradition of giving quality coverage of the NVL on WATR. Unlike the teams we have not had any scrimmage games so Thursday may be a bit bumpy at times, but I am sure as the season progresses we will improve and get a flow going.

Speaking of Thursday we will be at Woodland calling the game against the Chargers. While everyone seems to think this is a great rivalry some numbers have to be pointed out. Ansonia leads the series 5-2, winning the last four meetings by a combined score of 177-41. That, of course, includes the NVL championship game in 2007 won by the Chargers 41-0 where the JV teams "played" the second half. Woodland's two wins came during the state championship years of 2004 and 2005 when the Hawks were a combined 24-1. During those same two years Ansonia happened to have its worst combined record for two season (15-6) since the 1985-1986 teams combined to go 14-8. Since the 2005 season the Hawks are 25-18 while Ansonia is 46-5 in the Tom Brockett era.

More thoughts on the other first week games will follow in a later post.

A new Voice

Two weeks from now a new NVL football season will be underway, it will also bring in a relatvely "new" voice to the WATR microphones.

As many of you may know, for the better part of two years I have been battling a non-cancerous brain tumor. At times I've won the fight, but now have lost a great deal of ground as over the course of the summer months the tumor has compressed down on three cranial nerves altering the muscle mass on the right side of my body. Three weeks ago, my voice became compromised to the point where I can just about speak. Not good for a radio and television on air person.
Essentially, the Vegus nerve, or 10th cranial is being compressed and therefore paralyzing the right side of my throat including the right vocal cord. Tuesday September 7th, I travel to Columbia University Medical Center for an appointment with Dr. Jeffrey Bruce, one of the leading neurosurgeons in the country. Dr. Bruce specializes in the exact type of tumor that afflicts me and I am very grateful to have a chance to meet with him.

So, that will take me out of calling NVL & State Playoff games this season and perhaps permanently.  I will however be the producer/director/technician for the WATR broadcast schedule. In my place I am pleased to announce Tom Fuller will step in and call the games with my long time friend and broadcast partner Steve (nvlstatman) Gesseck. Tom called Naugatuck games for several years on WWCO and did a fine job. I know he'll do a fine job with our schedule.

It has been a great ride.........36 years in the broadcast industry,nearly twenty years (in two separate stints) of calling high school games. I've worked with a most incredible array of talent, starting with Steve Gesseck, to Chris Berman, Brent Musburger, Tom Jackson, Phil Simms and then coming back home and working with Allie Vestro, Dave Grant, Steve Croce, Ben Talbot, John Holt, Joe Zone and all of the great folks that help me build CTSN, especially Larry Rifkin and Tony Meliso. There have been some great games and not so great games.
I hope we have always given you a good listen.

My sincerest thanks to all the players, coaches and administrators for their help and guidance. I look forward to seeing many of you this fall either along the sidelines or by stopping by the broadcast booth.

So, for now.......

Adieu


Bob ( thevoyce) Sagendorf

The 2010 Schedule

Well folks, here we go! Time for a new season of NVL football on WATR-AM 1320.

Here's what's ahead:

WATR 2010 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
16-Sep	Thurs6:30pm		Ansonia @ Woodland
24-Sep	Friday	7PM	St.Paul @ Holy Cross
1-Oct	Friday	7PM	Woodland @ Wolcott
2-Oct	Sat.	1:30PM	Kennedy @ Wilby
8-Oct	Friday	7PM	Watertown @ Woodland
15-Oct	Friday	7PM	Wolcott @ Ansonia
21-Oct	Thurs.	6PM	Crosby @ Holy Cross
22-Oct	Friday	7PM	Naugatuck @ Sacred Heart
29-Oct	Friday	7PM	Sacred Heart @ Holy Cross
5-Nov	Friday	7PM	Woodland @ Naugatuck
12-Nov	Friday	7PM	Holy Cross @ Naugatuck
24-Nov	Wed.	6PM	Seymour @ Woodland
25-Nov	Thurs.	10:15AM	Wolcott @ Holy Cross

Status of NVL

It was pretty much a consensus last year that the NVL was "down" from previous years. And, from what I have been reading, this may be another down year for the league. Here's a thought to ponder. Could it be that the overall experience, or rather lack thereof, of the head coaches is a contributing factor? In the over 30 years I have been covering the league I can not remember another time when there were so many realatively new coaches.

Naugatuck's Rob Plasky, entering his 10th season, is the longest tenured coach at his current school. He has more wins (53) and losses (41) than any other coach at their current position. But let's not forget that Plasky was 10-1 his first season after taking over for Craig Peters making his record 43-40 after that initial year. The last two years mark the first consecutive losing seasons at NHS since 50 years ago in 1958-59. The last time the program had a longer streak of consecutive losing seasons was from 1945-1952.

Ansonia's Tom Brockett, entering his fifth season, is second in wins with an overall record of 46-5 while Kennedy's Chris Sarlo, now in his sixth season, is second in losses with 38 versus 14 wins. Wins at Ansonia and losses at Kennedy are nothing out of the ordinary, so that should not be too surprising.

The only other coaches who have been at their current school longer than this year's senior class are Jude Kelly, in his sixth season at St. Paul (27-25) and Jason Martinez in his fifth at Crosby (17-24). The other nine head coaches have a combined 11 years of experience as head coaches and a combined record of 58-57.

Scavone & Sileo

On occasion, space constraints prevent me from getting into some subjects as deeply as I'd like to; in my previous post I wrote that Dan Scavone is now the athletics' director at Danbury High School and that Joe Sileo passed away last week.

Unfortunately, I was not able to dedicate as much space to either of them as I would have liked; such are the drawbacks of having five to six pages every seven days compared to five pages seven days a week.

Joe Sileo was a prince of a man; rarely was the local event held in which I did not come across him, sometimes sitting at the same table with him, where I listened as he told his stories about teams and players from long ago, from a better time for locals sports, I believe, when we knew each other better as friends and neighbors as well as teammates.

An American hero, Joe served his country and community well; he did it with a smile on his face and a gentleness and class which always made me feel better for having shred a few hours with him at a dinner or game.

Well done, Mr. Sileo.

Dan Scavone may have finally found his muse in the DHS position; for the last few years, he'd been seeking the exact job description he was hired for.

Dan's a great guy, a neighbor or mine in Watertown, and I've made little secret that I'd love to see him at Watertown High School, but with the current problem just getting a budget to keep what we have in place passed, that opportunity hasn't been there, nor will it likely be in the near future.

When I talked to him upon finding out about his appointment, he was one happy man, telling me that this position was what he seeking, a chance to be a "full-time athletic administrator."

Danbury High School and the Fairfield County Conference are lucky to have him; he's a forward-thinker and DHS is a sleeping giant in need of the kick Dan will surely administer.

Someone asked me if it bothered me that the R-A has a lot of Watertown stuff in it on Thursdays, which it doesn't, not one little bit; after all, they have to fill - as I mentioned before - at least five pages seven days a week with fewer resources than they used to have.

They do it very well and are great guys; never had a run-in with any of them.

I believe I do it well as a one-man staff who covers the games, writes the stories and summaries and then lays out the entire section on Tuesday/Wednesday.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing to deal with is knowing and having a story before they do, but being unable to get it out there first.

Occasionally I do get it out there first (Rico Brogna's retirement from baseball and most of his jobs afterwards, Lisa Mariano's appointment as WHS girls' soccer coach, Mike Veronneau's appointment as football coach on this blog), which is a great feeling, because I'm a competitive person.

Having said that, I know that it's several against one, but does it bother me that the R-A does Watertown stuff on Thursday?

No, because they know we've been here for over 60 years and will be here for another 60 and cover Watertown better than anyone...that isn't going to change, either.

From my 8/19 column

Dan Scavone of Watertown took over as the new A.D. at Danbury High School on Monday.

"He was my first choice,'' DHS Principal Robert Rossi told the Danbury News-Times about Scavone. "And he was the (search) committee's first choice. He's a very impressive guy. He comes with 20 years of athletic experience and he has administrative experience."

When I talked to Scavone, the former Woodland RHS boss was thrilled to be in the FCIAC.

“This is more in line with being a full time athletic administrator, which is what I really want to be,” he said.

Our sympathy goes out to the family and friends of Joe Sileo, a local sports legend and one of the most pleasant people I’ve known. His was a life well-lived.

Max Preps

Last winter the CIAC and Max Preps signed an agreement naming Max Preps as the "Official Statistician and Media Partner". I decided, with the start of football season about a month away, to check out their site. Nothing, other than schedules, have been loaded on the site yet this year, but looking at some other areas I did find where St. Paul/Goodwin Tech is listed as one of several "Freelance" teams. Funny, I remember the Falcons joining the NVL a year ago. I also read on the St. Paul web site that the CIAC has rejected St. Paul's appeal to allow nine players from Goodwin Tech to finish playing for St. Paul even though the teams are no longer fielding a co-op team this year. Seems to me the CIAC and their Media Partner need a little communication between them.

Looking a little further on the site I was able to pull up the pre-season rankings for Connecticut. The Voyce will tell you how I feel about rankings, especially preseaon ones, for high school sports, but I thought I would share what they have. Looking for the NVL teams they have the schools listed in the following order: 25-Holy Cross, 32-Ansonia, 33-Wolcott, 38-Woodland, 41-Watertown, 54-Sacred Heart, 57-Torrington, 62-Derby/O'Brien RVT, 64-Naugatuck, 74-Wilby, 85-Kennedy, 92-Crosby, 109-Seymour, and, behind the new programs at Coginchaug (134), Granby Memorial (136) and Lewis Mills (137) coming in at 138 of 143 Connecticut teams St. Paul/Goodwin Tech. I guess that 1 point loss at eventual state champion and preseason number one New Canaan in last year's semifinal game really hurt the Falcons more than anyone knew.

This just in

Just received word that there is a revision needed concerning the post right beneath this one.

Watertown's scheduled September 10 football scrimmage against Lewis Mills has been cancelled, so I'd suggest it would be a good idea to see a movie or go have a delicious pizza and a cold one on a Friday night!

WHS scrimmages

Something to whet your football appetite.

Watertown High School athletics' director June Legge and football coach Mike Veronneau have announced that the Indians will be taking part in three pre-season scrimmages.

WHS will visit New Milford High School on Wednesday, September 1 for a 3:30 p.m. scrimmage against the Green Wave.

Three days later, the Indians will face Foran High School of Milford in another road scrimmage, scheduled for 10 a.m.

In their final tune-up, the Indians will host Lewis Mills at the John Mills Athletic Complex on Friday, September 10 at 7 p.m.

Watertown will make regular season debut under Veronneau against Kennedy High School on Friday, September 17 at Municipal Stadium at 7 p.m.