September 4, 2015

Frankie Graziano and CPTV Sports visited 20 football practices in 10 days on the #TrainingCampTour. He also stepped in 7 different counties, tussled with 9 restaurants, and traveled 929 miles to get you ready for the upcoming season.

Tune in Friday September 4 at 7 p.m. to watch the show! Keep your eyes on CPTVSports.org, @CPTVSports on Twitter/Instagram, and facebook.com/cptvsports for re-air information.

Represent your team and town by contacting us while watching with photos directed to our social media sites!

We hope that you will enjoy the show and follow along with us this season as we bring you Friday Night LIVE Football beginning September 11 at 7 p.m.

CPTV Sports is available on Frontier TV channel 65; Comcast cable channel 966 (with Comcast Danbury, Bethel and Ridgefield on channel 256); Cox Communications cable channel 805; Cablevision channel 139; Charter channel 180; Thames Valley channel 87; and MetroCast channel 418. The channel is also available digitally over the air at channels 24.3 (Hartford), 49.3 (Bridgeport), 53.3 (Norwich) and 65.3 (New Haven).

September 2, 2015

Our Final Stop…An Actual Camp

Coach Duane’s team grinds all day at camp and then participates in team bonding drills by the campfire at night.

Duane Maranda has spent 10 different offseasons at the Middlesex County 4H Camp in Moodus. He has coached at New London for seven years, but this year was the first time that he took the Whalers there.

There are a ton of whacky personalities at Whaler camp. This was perhaps the most fun group that I got a chance to spend time with during the #TrainingCampTour. Almost every kid asked to have his picture taken in some devilish pose. Kids were diving into the swimming pool left and right. An impromptu game of “four-square” broke out, led by quarterback Melquann Gomez. But when you ask the kids about football, their carefree nature fades into a focused attack.

New London literally limped into the playoffs with a 7-3 record (and some much-needed losses by fellow contenders) after suffering a tough defeat at the hands of arch-rival Norwich Free Academy, 63-40 LIVE on CPTV Sports, on Thanksgiving. They were eliminated by eventual CIAC Class M-Large champion Brookfield in their first playoff match-up, 46-14.

“It was a tough journey,” recalled tight end Major Roman. “We suffered some injuries before that game, but we worked very hard to that point and we would definitely like to see better results in the years to come, but we gave it our all.”

“We worked every day after lifting and we were here in the mornings running on our off-time, foot work, routes in the air, everything,” declared Gomez.

Melquann Gomez enters his first year as starting QB in 2015 as a junior.

Gomez inherits the starting quarterback gig from all-ECC first teamer Danny Maranda, the coach’s son, who is currently a freshman signal-caller at Worchester Polytechnic Institute.

“It’s a great experience anytime you get a chance to coach your son, obviously being on the field with him and anytime you get to travel with him back and forth to practice and to games, I mean that was special,” recounted Duane Maranda.

“He really prepared me for these next two years coming up, being behind him,” stated Gomez. “He’s humbled me a lot. He helped a lot through out the season just to get used to coverages and the little things.”

The two years on the bench have allowed Gomez to work on his arm strength and accuracy, in addition to the time he took to study defensive coverages. The playbook will be opened up a bit more this season for Gomez, who’s speed and quickness allows him to be more of a dual-threat quarterback. Roman will be a tremendous asset for Gomez as he is a Division 1-caliber tight end standing at 6’6″, 210 pounds.

D. Major Roman is receiving looks from Yale and UConn, among other Division I programs.

“He’s a big target!” exclaimed Gomez. I can throw him open, he can get open, and he can go up and get the jump ball.

Jelani Lucas is another big loss from the 2014 team. He collected 13 touchdown passes from Maranda and intercepted 7 passes on defense. He returned kicks and also punted for the team. Coach says that Lucas was so good that he will have to replace him with four or five guys.

Due to scheduling conflicts in the ECC, along with an abandoned game with FCIAC stalwart Stamford, the Whalers will not play during a 20-day stretch from November 6th to Thanksgiving. New London scrambled to find a 10th opponent after the FCIAC championship game controversy reared its head this summer. They were able to schedule Foran-Milford, but only during a previously appointed bye week on October 16th.

“It is going to give us the time to heal up and hopefully be in a position to be able to put a great team on against NFA who is going to be a very, very good team this year and then hopefully make a run at the postseason,” intimated Maranda.

Follow the #TrainingCampTour as it happens on Twitter. Please check in to cptvsports.org nightly for other team training camp recaps. For more on the Whalers, tune in to the 2015 High School Football Training Camp Special on September 4 at 7 p.m. Watch New London battle Bacon Academy on CPTV Sports, Tuesday, September 22 at 9 p.m.

These guys can talk some trash when they do one-on-ones in practice, but they are as united a bunch as it gets.

September 1, 2015

Montville coach Tanner Grove has gotten his message across to his players. It is almost time for them to execute against their opponents.

You Are Your Brother’s Keeper At Montville Camp…

The last two seasons at MHS have been shrouded in mediocrity. Tanner Grove’s teams have finished with identical 7-4 records, without a playoff berth to show for it.

“It’s not good enough to not make it so after every season he {coach Grove} comes in and he’s like “guys we have to sharpen up!” said offensive guard Kevin Murtha. “We have to do this. We have to do that and we have to make the playoffs this year.”

The Indians finished 4-1 in ECC Medium play last year, but the one loss was a glaring one, 48-19 against “ECC Big 5” school Ledyard. They were 1-2 against large schools. Norwich Free Academy stomped Montville 47-14, while East Lyme disposed of them 37-14.

“Not every year can a school with 600 kids line up and play with a school with 1,500, 1,800, or 2,000 kids,” claimed Grove. “I understand that, but here at Montville, we have a very proud tradition, so we attempt to play every large school in our area year in and year out knowing that when we win enough games on our schedule, we are in the playoffs.

The schedule talk is an important issue to raise when discussing Montville because it shows that maybe the Indians could get in the playoffs if they did not play as many big school teams. It gives the Tanner Grove an excuse as to why his team is not in the playoffs. However, the important lesson, especially for Grove to teach his kids, is that there are no excuses. Accountability is the key to improving in the game of football, and more importantly life as we know it.

Which brings us to the oldest of life lessons. Kevin Murtha shouted out the Book of Genesis (Christian Old Testament or Hebrew Bible) when discussing how he and his teammates will be accountable for one another this season.

“We are our brother’s keepers,” announced Murtha. “That’s our big spring motto this year that we had come out during our spring football season. We are responsible for one another. It’s from the story of Cain and Abel from the bible. We have to be responsible for everyone.”

According to the Book of Genesis, Cain and his younger brother Abel were the children of Adam and Eve. The boys grew up. Cain was the farmer. Abel, a shepherd. The boys both offered gifts to the Lord. Abel’s was looked upon more favorably and Cain got jealous. The Lord prompted Cain not to act on sin. Cain ignored the request and murdered Abel. When Cain was approached by the Lord to explain his where his brother was, he asked: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain was subsequently damned and essentially reminded “yeah, you are your brother’s keeper, dummy.”

Kevin Murtha is a 6’2″, 290-pound offensive guard. He is looking to go biblical on some defenders this season.

Murtha is a believer. He has bought in fully to what his coach is preaching. Jonathan McCray, the other offensive captain on the team, has as well.

“We just kind of took it upon ourselves to keep each other going,” said McCray. “Me and Murtha come out here and try to push each other to do what we got to do so we can try to get better and try to return to the playoffs.”

The Indians are in a decent position to succeed in 2015 because these two captains are both all-state players from 2014. McCray collected 16 touchdowns as a dynamic playmaker, while Murtha blocked for an offense that scored 34 points per game.

Murtha will be blocking for McCray this season, who will play quarterback after the graduation of Tyler Quidgeon. Both players looked very strong during my time at practice, as Murtha commanded his line-mates to heed his every word (and they did) and McCray rushed untouched for several LONG touchdowns.

Jonathan McCray is listed as an “ATH” on the Montville roster. He is a dynamic play-maker with elusive quickness.

“We got a lot of seniors this year that are dedicated to what we are trying to do: trying to get back to states, and make Montville what it used to be,” stated McCray.

“We have a group of 16 seniors right now and 14 of them were around in 2012 when we were in the playoffs,” said Grove. “Some of them have siblings and guys that they were very close to, so I think this group understands the expectation a little bit better than our last two groups.”

That expectation is to win behind responsible leadership.

Follow the #TrainingCampTour as it happens on Twitter. Please check in to cptvsports.org nightly for other team training camp recaps. For more on the Indians, tune in to the 2015 High School Football Training Camp Special on September 4th at 7 p.m.

It was nice to be greeted by some nice folks at Montville practice!

September 1, 2015

Chris Young Transfers To South Carolina

“Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten the offers that I wish I would have at this point, but I’m going to keep grinding until those offers show up.”

That is what former Rocky Hill RB Chris Young told me back in November of 2013 when I interviewed him for a CPTV Sports story called: “Chris Young Wants To Go To College“. He had a 3.1 GPA at the time that we spoke and was a well-behaved kid. Young was finishing up a career in which he ran for 5,390 yards and 82 touchdowns.

Young ended up at Springfield College last fall, where he only received two carries in his freshman season. One of those carries resulted in a rushing touchdown.

His mother, Angela, e-mailed me on Sunday to share the news that Chris had officially made the team, thus completing his transfer to the University of South Carolina from Springfield College.

The move will force him to red shirt for his sophomore season.

Young did suffer some bad luck in practice Monday. The future Gamecock RB was taken down by a linebacker in practice and suffered a shoulder injury. I am told that he will not be able to practice this season, but will be ready to go for spring ball.

August 30, 2015

A Wildcat Who Can Run And Throw???

On November 1, 2014, Norwich Free Academy assaulted Bacon Academy 74-38, compiling 676 yards on the ground. Outgoing stud running back (now at Trinity-Pawling Prep School) Khaleed Exum-Strong collected six rushing touchdowns and 319 yards!!! His performance in the game was un-matched, but Connecticut high school football fans knew Exum-Strong had amazing abilities.

I will not be minimizing Khaleed’s performance in any way during this article. I just want to point out that this game will also be remembered for another outstanding performance by some one else. It would be the game that folks around the state truly felt Jawaun Johnson’s presence for the first time.

Jawaun Johnson will look to pass more in 2015, a ploy that NFA hopes will get them an elusive state title.

The sophomore rushed for 345 yards and three touchdowns. A few weeks later, LIVE on CPTV Sports, Johnson torched New London for 7 scores and 303 yards rushing. Norwich Free Academy clinched a playoff berth in that 63-40 disposal of the Whalers and would ultimately play for a CIAC Class LL-Large championship.

It certainly did not go the way that Johnson and NFA had planned. The Wildcats lost 49-0 to Southington. It was an eye-opening defeat that cajoled NFA toward a new approach this offseason.

“Every day we came here and lifted at 7 o’clock in the morning and just lifted, lifted, and lifted, and we would be like: “Is Southington doing this now?” exclaimed Johnson.

Head Coach Jemal Davis has led his team to the playoffs for three consecutive seasons, including two Class LL title games. However, the Wildcats have lost by 30 or more points in each time they were eliminated. Davis decided that his team should add an aerial assault to their game-plan in hopes of bringing an elusive state title to the Rose City.

“We need to be balanced,” declared Davis. “We knew that he would be very talented in terms of running our option aspect of the game. This year, we just want to get better to be able to throw the ball so we have been working extremely hard and improving his mechanics and also our route running.”

Coach Jemal Davis has led the Wildcats to three straight playoff berths.

Jawaun must have thrown a million passes in practice on the day that the CPTV Sports crew was at NFA. Jemal gave it a rest here-and-there and also made sure that a trainer checked in on his prized quarterback’s arm. It was apparent Johnson was going to have to rely on more than just his speedy legs (the guy is a CIAC Class LL Outdoor Track champion in the 100 and 200M events!!!).

Coach has been teaching me how to read the defense more and more so I think that should help us,” reputed Johnson. “I’m feeling great and hoping to get some balls in the air this year to bring up the team.”

Johnson did throw some short passes in practice, but he spent a lot of time throwing passes of more than 30 yards. He did not disappoint, whether is was a slant route or a ball thrown outside. We also got to see the weapons that he will be playing with this season.

Griffen Gooden appeared to be the most athletic of the bunch, showing off impressive route-running skills as he shed defenders for a couple of big gains. The chemistry between the two was off the charts, as Johnson had no problem throwing to Gooden’s inside shoulder.

“Griffin is just an athlete and he can do whatever you want him to do,” explained Johnson.

NFA boasts an array of new receiving weapons for Johnson in 2015. Each player on the team watches each passing drill closely, as the pass becomes more of an important function of the Wildcat offense.

6’2″, 210-pound newly converted tight end Keenan Jackson has been turning heads in practice because of his ability to quickly pick up the offensive scheme. Marquis Ward, Johnson’s track teammate, missed last season due to injury, but will be available as a receiver for Jawaun in 2015. DeJean General, who transferred to NFA from Fitch-Groton, is expected to make a contribution as well because he can run and block.

“I think we now have the weapons so that we are able to be more balanced than we were the previous year,” proclaimed Davis.

It is clear that team speed, along with complete balance in play selection, will dictate how well the Wildcats will play in 2015. Johnson is well on his way to becoming a complete quarterback at the high school level. You still may want to keep your eyes on those legs of his, though, if you play for an opposing defense.

Norwich Free Academy visits Ledyard, LIVE on CPTV Sports, Friday, October 30th at 6:30 p.m. Follow the #TrainingCampTour as it happens on Twitter. For more on the Wildcats, tune in to the 2015 High School Football Training Camp special on September 4th.

August 30, 2015

The Colonels will play “next man up” this season without 2014 all-CT star Jo-Jo Shumaker.

Finding Jo-Jo…

The incomparable Josiah Shumaker carried the pigskin 190 times in 2014 for 2,246 yards and 40 TD. Jo-Jo helped the Colonels win 21 games in the last two seasons. He’s also a rather large reason as to why Ledyard appeared in a state title game in 2014.

Shumaker graduated from the school this past June, leaving behind a huge void for the Colonels’ backfield on his way to Milford Academy.

“There’s going to be a lot of guys trying to fill those shoes and those are pretty big shoes to fill,” articulated head coach Jim Buonocore. “I’m not so sure that we can replace Jo-Jo, but we will do our best or try to account for the yardage, the touchdowns. He was a record-setting back, arguably the best back to come out of this school.”

Ostensibly, Manny Sanabria will be the guy who receives the lion’s share of the 2014 CHSCA All-State selection’s carries. Sanabria played on the defensive side of the ball as a sophomore in 2014, collecting 19 tackles as an outside linebacker. Buonocore has tabbed him to start at running back, mainly because of his versatility.

“We can get him the ball in many different ways, so he’s going to be used a little bit different than Jo-Jo, but he’s a big physical kid who runs well,” intimated Buonocore. “He will probably be the top guy right now that we are looking at to take up some of the yardage and points that Jo-Jo put up for us.”

“He’s a good mix of speed and power, almost like Jo-Jo,” added senior quarterback Ty Ebdon. “Nobody is really like Jo-Jo, but he’s a good replacement for him.”

Ty Ebdon has thrown 62 touchdown passes in the last two seasons, but would also like to add a rushing component to his game in 2015.

Ebdon has been the other cornerstone in building Ledyard’s most recent successes. His 63 touchdown passes are a school record for the now 50-year old program. That mark is good for 22nd in state history among all quarterbacks. Ebdon completed a career-best 32 touchdown passes in 2013 as a sophomore and picked up 30 last year. Shoutout to the man who runs the @LedyardFootball twitter account, Matt Edwards, for providing those numbers.

There is no doubt that we will all be watching this season to see how many touchdown passes will be thrown by the scrappy 5’11, 195-pound signal-caller. I have been told, though, that you should anticipate a little more from Ty this year.

“He can run the ball very well, we just haven’t had to use him in that manner with some of the talent we have had in the past few years in the backfield,” claimed Buonocore. “This year, we are going to open him up a little more and try to get a dual threat presence from him.”

Ahh, a bit of foreshadowing from Ledyard’s leading man! The running game is very vital to the bruising style of football that the Colonels like to play. It certainly helps that Ebdon is a stalwart in the passing game, but he is working to prove to his coach that he is multi-faceted.

“I’m working on my conditioning for running the ball and lifting to get stronger so that I can take those hits that I’m going to have to take,” expressed Ebdon.

Luke Saccone, in addition to Ebdon and Sanabria, will be a playmaker for Buonocore. The speedy receiver is a sight to see, especially when lined up on the outside. Ebdon tells me that his chemistry with the wide-out has been on-point in the preseason and that he was able to hit two long fade attempts to Saccone in a scrimmage versus SCC studs Hand-Madison.

Mike Leandri will be the main protector on the offensive line in Ledyard this season. He is expected to play in Week 1, but will be really toughing it out to do so. Watch the one-hour long special to learn more about his bravery, along with the rest of the happenings surrounding the 2015 Ledyard football team.

Ledyard’s Alpaca wanted nothing to do with myself and this football.

By the way, the Colonels had a non-CPTV Sports camera in the house on the day of my visit. It must have something to do with the team’s 50th anniversary celebration! I did not ask because I want to be surprised if it is true. The celebration of this anniversary for the tradition-rich program sounds like a good “Best in Connecticut Sports Spotlight” story. Hit @FrankieGrazie6 up on twitter if you like that idea.

Ledyard hosts Norwich Free Academy LIVE on CPTV Sports, Friday, October 30 at 6:30 p.m. Follow the #TrainingCampTour as it happens on Twitter. For more on the Colonels, tune in to the 2015 High School Football Training Camp special on September 4th.

If you are a Colonel and you’re still sad about losing Jo-Jo…
…Maybe Valentino’s Restaurant is the spot for you to wipe your tears away… or just grab a hot slice!

The “Grandma” of Colonel Ledyard Highway.

I spent most of my time there on Friday yappin’ with Santos and Anthony, the co-managers of the legendary Ledyard establishment. They wanted me to know that the place is more than just a pizzeria. They make sandwiches with fresh bread that comes in from the Bronx. They have got the best ingredients that Napoli foods has to offer. They even like to mix-in the catch of the day from time-to-time just to surprise you!

All of that being said, I would not go in there without grabbing a slice of the pizza. The dough is made fresh in-house. The “Grandma” pizza is a winner. It is baked on a pan with oregano, Parmesan, and a little olive oil to tickle your fancy. Fresh marinara sauce and mozzarella top this Italian delight.

These guys are smart. They know that people don’t want everything Italian style! So, they make other pies like a nice take on the “Buffalo Chicken” and a loaded baked potato pizza.

I think you know where I will be before our telecast on October 30th.

August 28, 2015

Xavier was one of two schools visited on Day VIII!

Watch Rock Cats baseball LIVE on CPTV Sports tonight at 7. Don’t miss the final Rock Cats game ever in New Britain Sunday, LIVE at 1:30. Frankie Graziano is on his way to Ledyard, followed by Norwich on the #TrainingCampTour! It’s Day IX! School’s 17 and 18 visited out of 20! Visit our website for team previews and photos.

The CPTV Sports WIRE, a sports radio update by Francesco Graziano Jr. can be heard on our exclusive radio partners, sports stations ESPN 97.9 FM and Fox Sports Radio 1410 in Hartford.