The Wait is Over

Wednesday September 11, 2013

Tonight at 6:30 pm the Daniel Hand Tiger Football Team will travel to New Canaan to face the New Canaan Rams in their 2013 season opener.  The game was supposed to have been played on Thursday night at the Surf Club, but delays in construction of the bleachers at the new Strong Field forced officials to re-think this one.  Tonight's game is the first of two annual SCC vs. FCIAC Challenge games.  The way the calendar falls in 2013 and 2014 created an opportunity for an 11th regular season varsity game. Credit the league officials from both conferences in coming up with this idea that will start the season off with a bang, with some very interesting match-ups from the two dominant football conferences in the state.  You can see the entire line-up of games here. 

Anyways... New Canaan was going to help inaugurate the new Strong Field at the Surf Club, but instead will host Daniel Hand their first of seven home games this year at Dunning Stadium.  So the plan for now is for New Canaan to open the 2014 season in Madison and Daniel Hand will have seven home games next year.  

The New Haven Register pre-season rankings are out and Xavier finds itself at the top, moving up one place from last year's #2 finish behind #1 Daniel Hand. Apparently the writers feel that the Tigers loss of 29 graduated seniors will impact their ability to continue their 26 game win streak and Daniel Hand opened up in the #10 slot.  New Canaan is ranked #3.  

New Canaan is trying for their ninth consecutive trip to the playoffs.  They won four State titles in a row from 2006-2009.  New Canaan was the last team to beat Daniel Hand in the state semi-final on December 4, 2010 at West Haven. They won that game 39-21 and then lost in the final to Masuk.  The two teams last met in the 2011 Class L final at Rentschler Field that was won by Hand 34-10.  

It should be an exciting game as both teams run the same no-huddle, hurry-up, spread offense.  On paper, New Canaan gets the higher ranking because they have the most experienced players returning, including two capable senior quarterbacks in Nick Cascione, 6-0, 185, (likely starter) and Teddy Bossidy, 5-8, 175. On defense they return All-State LB  Cole Harris, 6-2, 210, and Connor Buck, 6-4, 245, on D-line.

Hand will look for its captains, Hayden Atwater at QB, Pat Rogers at LB/RB and Ian Dieli at NG to lead the way.  Dieli was recently named one of the top 25 players to watch in the state.   Conor Dowd has been impressive at RB in the pre-season.  You can expect to hear Scott Sweitzer's name called a lot this year as the Jr. Safety seems to be in the middle of every play on defense.  Sr. LB Dan Rogers is another solid defensive performer with plenty of experience.  

And so... the pre-season is done, and for the record none of the plays in the scrimmages (good or bad) count.  But that will change tonight as the 2013 Tigers begin to write their chapter in the storied history of Daniel Hand Football.    

Good luck guys!  

Check out the pre-season video by Steve McIntyre and TigerPrideFootball.com

If you can't make it to the game, TigerPrideFootball.com will have a link for live streaming.  Check out all the other great features of TigerPrideFootball.com while you're there.    

On the radio, Coach DeMaio will be covering the Staples at Xavier game.  You can listen online at WELI.com