Hamden's Camren Kemp runs for yardage vs. Fairfield Prep, a 42-27 victory on Oct. 7, 2022.
Dave Phillips / For Hearst Connecticut Media
What better way to close out the first half of the CIAC football season than with a blow-up-your-ballot kind of weekend?
Three teams in the GameTimeCT Top 10 Poll lost this weekend (though one to another top-10 team), shaking up the bottom two-thirds of the top 10. St. Joseph dropped a spot after losing to Greenwich. Cheshire fell out completely after a loss to unranked Fairfield Prep.
And Killingly, a poll darling all year and fourth-ranked last week, fell to 10th with a 41-26 loss to Windham.
The top three remained intact, with two of them on their bye week: Southington, New Canaan and Maloney remained 1-2-3 for the third week in a row.
Shelton edged out St. Joseph for sixth, with Ansonia, ahead of an NVL-unbeatens showdown with Holy Cross, remained in eighth.
Unbeaten Hamden made its season debut at ninth — its first appearance in the Top 10 since November 2009. Killingly rounded out the top 10; it got six 10th-place votes, in fact, though it also fell off six ballots entirely.
Windham did get enough downballot support to move among the top other teams receiving votes. Cheshire, like Naugatuck a week earlier after its loss to Holy Cross, fell far down that list.
But there’s half a season to go, plenty of time for things to shake up a few more times.
GameTimeCT Top 10 Football Poll (Week 7)
TEAM
REC
PTS
LAST
CLASS
1. SOUTHINGTON (17)
5-0
702
1
LL
Last Week: Idle.
This Week: Friday vs. Windsor, 6:30 p.m.
The Bottom Line: So begins a stretch of intrigue for the Blue Knights: Windsor, two plays away from 5-0; Glastonbury, which started strong; and No. 3 Maloney.
The Bottom Line: New Canaan’s stretch of intrigue includes the Warriors, one play against Darien away from 6-0, this week and St. Joseph next week.
3. MALONEY
5-0
604
3
L
Last Week: Idle.
This Week: Friday at Bristol Central, 6 p.m.
The Bottom Line: The Spartans had a week off after their toughest, or at least closest, game of the first half. Bristol Central, with 13 points in its past three games, gets them back to work.
The Bottom Line: The Westies have seen their point total increase every week since the preseason, like Ansonia, like Berlin, just like Cheshire had until last week. (Checks next opponent) So, um, let’s talk about “avoiding fates”...
6. SHELTON
4-1
386
9
L
Last Week: def. Norwich Free Academy 49-28.
This Week: Friday at West Haven, 6 p.m.
The Bottom Line: A sort of interesting hop for the Gaels, who moved up on 17 different ballots two weeks after their loss to North Haven. Do something this week and the hop might be grander.
The Bottom Line: The Hogs were about 200 points ahead of Shelton last week. They almost met in the middle.
8. ANSONIA
5-0
366
8
S
Last Week: Idle.
This Week: Friday at Holy Cross (Municipal Stadium), 6:30 p.m.
The Bottom Line: The huge NVL game at Municipal Stadium the week before the bye lived up to the hype. Let’s see how the one coming out of the bye goes.
The Bottom Line: Week 4’s handy win over Fairfield Prep moved the Green Dragons up, and the respect grew even in the bye week. Cheshire’s loss moves Hamden into the Top 10.
The Bottom Line: One voter asked if last week’s three Killingly first-place voters were going to shift their support to Windham. They did not: Two tossed theirs to New Canaan, while one went over to Southington.
