Two years ago when I started this project I wanted to watch some high school football games that I had never got a chance to see before. That transformed into great stories, games, food, and visits with people who were important part of my football life. The experience exceeded my expectations and I couldn’t wait for year two, but as we know the pandemic put a stop to that. The state of Connecticut cancelled fall sports and most states that had sports did not allow or limited visitors. 2020 came and went with no Traveling Coach games. I did manage to get to one game in Pennsylvania and see Pennridge High School thanks to Chuck Burgy, an old friend and assistant coach, acquired a ticket for me. It was a small fix that made me realize how much I missed the game. Now the fall of 2021 has arrived and football is back! When making up the schedule I tried to find some intriguing match ups with some great stories. After a year of the Friday night lights being shut off and gates being closed there was no better place to start than right here in Connecticut.
The New Fairfield Rebels against the Brookfield Bobcats is a classic original WCC (now the SWC since 1996) match up. These two schools always bring a physical brand of football to this corner of Connecticut. Each team has had a lot of success over many years in Connecticut culminating back in 2015 with a state championship clash that ended with Brookfield winning the class M state championship 21-14. The game was being played at Brookfield High school a venue where I spent the most time as a visiting player and coach. As an assistant coach at Immaculate High School, we played the first game at the newly renovated turf field in 2006. An intense contest that went into overtime and Brookfield prevailed 13-7. This would be the first varsity football game in 18 months at Brookfield High School.
New Fairfield opened the season with a victory over Weston 42-14. The Rebels were led by a remarkable debut of Jason Caswell who rushed for 319 yards and 5 touchdowns. Brookfield struggled in their opener and was defeated by Notre Dame of Fairfield 34-20. With a year and a half of no competitive full pad competition, all teams around the state will be searching to find a rhythm in the 2021 season.
The unique part of these two programs is the coaching staffs. Both have maintained continuity in a time where time commitment, effort, and complexity of coaching at this level has never been more difficult. Throw in covid protocols and the task can be extremely daunting. Two coaches in particular who I have worked with in the past are the defensive coordinators for these respective programs. On the Brookfield side, Chuck Lynch, who I coached with during my last season at New Milford High School in 2018, runs the defense for the Bobcats. Coaching in the area for 17 years I knew Coach Lynch in passing during league functions or coaching clinics. Working with him in 2017 opened my eyes to the kind of coach he is. Often when I meet someone, I have the bad habit of immediately thinking I will hate them. As I tell my kids I think that way so I am never disappointed. Thankfully my kids don’t listen to me. Chuck squashed any of my low expectations. Anybody who can deal with my snoring while at an overnight football camp at Central Connecticut is a keeper in my book. My wife can certainly attest to that. Coach Lynch was a great assistant who brought attention to detail and intensity that has allowed him to coach on both the college and high school levels for almost 30 years. On the New Fairfield side, Greg Schwarz is the architect of the traditionally physical Rebel defense. Coach Schwarz brings passion for the game of football not only in season but also in the weight room. While at Immaculate in 2006 we instantly connected with our passion for defensive football and chicken wings. His strength as a coach above all the X’s and O’s is his ability to relate to players. This attribute equates to the ability get kids to both practice and play hard every day.
People on the outside talk about the player coach relationship as the most important one. Not enough attention gets paid to the relationship between coaches on the same staff. The example you set as a coaching staff and work together is vital on how players view their coaches. When a staff is grinding together, having fun, and competing it becomes infectious towards the personality of the team. During my time in coaching, I have seen the positive and negative sides of coaching chemistry. Telling players they have to be great teammates is just lip service if you can’t do the same with your fellow staff members. There is nothing more fun than when a staff gels, with minimal ego, and one goal in mind. These two coaches could fit on any staff. True coaching lifers.
On a hot Saturday afternoon in September I headed out to Brookfield High School to do my first since the Newtown/Darien state title game in 2019. I usually enjoy getting to the game early and feeling the atmosphere of the venue. The best laid plans had me at our new home in Watertown fixing a leaky sink. Luckily for my wife and YouTube we were able to fix the sink. I arrived to the game with 10 minutes to spare. As I walked towards my favorite seat at any game, top row in the corner, I spotted Coach Lynch outside the locker room before the teams took the field. I gave him a solid bro hug and asked how he felt about the game. He said with a grin “if we block and tackle we will be alright”. It was a typical coach answer, but simplistically accurate. The schemes have changed but the fundamentals haven’t.
The game began very much like I thought it would. It was physical with both defenses feeding off the emotions of an outstanding student sections. Brookfield applied pressure early, holding senior running back Jason Caswell at bay. The Bobcats blitz happy defense was led by senior linebacker Kyle Rosa and defensive end Ethan Almonte, who finished the opening series with a sack. New Fairfield’s defense added more of the same led by defensive lineman John Bassani and Thomas Leary. Leary, made an excellent played sniffing out a screen. He finished the game with 10 total tackles.
The first quarter was a stalemate, 0-0. In the second quarter the offenses got going with both teams scoring on each one of their drives. Rebel quarterback Justin McCormack rushed for 2 scores in the second quarter and threw one to senior captain Ryan Fata who made an excellent diving catch for a 29 yard touchdown. The score was 22-10 at the half.
As I looked around the stands, I saw a lot of familiar faces. Offensive line coach at New Milford Chris Rigdon was one of them and he came up to sit with me for the second half. We greeted each other with the usual ball busting about each other’s weight and continue to talk about family, Giants/Cowboys, and of course high school football. We were on the same staff at New Milford High for four years. Coach Riggs being the offensive line coach and me being the defensive coordinator, we had many battles between our units in practice. I use to complain how he would run outside during inside run periods and he would complain about all-out blitz packages I would add to the scout team’s playbook. We never took it personally (most of the time), as I could sometimes lose my temper from time to time. Even after a chair may have been thrown in a staff meeting nearly hitting him, he never mentioned it. Coaching is like having brothers you compete, fight, argue, laugh, and sometimes hold a grudge but always with the thought that you are in this together fighting for the same thing.
As the second half continued on New Fairfield wore down Brookfield up front and eventually pulled away in the 4th quarter with 2 touchdowns from Jason Caswell. Caswell’s last touchdown was a 75 yard backbreaker to put the game out of reach. It wasn’t the close game I was hoping for but I felt incredible to back out watching high school football and all the other aspects it includes. Equally has inspiring was see coaching staffs and old colleagues still out there doing what they love to do. Coaching high school kids has never been easy, especially during this time. They are being pulled in so many directions. The pressure they are under is often overwhelming. Being a teenager is a roller coaster ride but a good coach can help guide a player through those ups and down and help get them to the finish line. It’s been 18 long months, but football is back.
I know what you all are thinking, where is the wing review? Well fear not, they are alive and well but we are doing some different kinds of reviews at times this year. We will continue to review sports bars and sprinkle in some at home reviews. We will take chicken wings, use different cooking methods and pair them with TC56 original sauces. Week 1 features wings baked in the oven, our original spicy buffalo sauce, and special quest judge Allison Mascolo from Cooking with Alli. Enjoy the video.
