Zach Mauro performs drills Monday afternoon. He ran for over 2,000 yards last year playing football at Nonnewaug High School. Erin Covey Republican-American
By KYLE BRENNAN
Local high school football fans will notice a number of changes when they revisit the area gridirons for the first time next month. From new programs to new fields to new rules, here’s a recap of what to expect when the games get underway in three weeks.
Fifty-point rule gone … for now: A decade after the CIAC instituted a score management policy that often turned lopsided games into embarrassing affairs, the state will experiment with a heavily modified rule that coaches already like more.
Instead of limiting teams to winning games by no more than 50 points, the CIAC will use a one-year trial of a running clock with no maximum scoring margin.
A running clock will be used when one team leads by at least 42 points in the third quarter or at least 35 points in the fourth quarter, and the running clock will remain in effect until the margin falls below the threshold.
During running time, the clock will run continuously when a team earns a first down, a runner or ball goes out of bounds, a pass falls incomplete, a penalty is enforced and the possession changes. The clock will stop when a period ends, a scoring play happens and a timeout is called by a team or official.
The previous 50-point rule, which was installed in 2006 in response to frequent gross blowouts by Jack Cochran-coached teams and nicknamed the “Cochran Rule,” was effective in keeping teams from winning by more than 50 points. Only two coaches were suspended during the last 10 seasons for running up the score.
But more often, the hard cap caused numerous problems and came close to making a mockery of the game. Winning teams were essentially forced to give up and tell subvarsity substitutes not to score, while losing teams could keep their first-string units in the game and continue to score. There were multiple incidents of players suffering injuries while trying to take knees during plays to avoid scoring a touchdown.
The Naugatuck Valley League’s two most prominent coaches, Ansonia’s Tom Brockett and Naugatuck’s Craig Bruno, are among those in favor of the change. The CIAC will reevaluate the rule after the season.
Clipping banned: The only major rule change passed by the National Federation of High Schools outlawed clipping on any part of the field.
Clipping is when an offensive player comes from behind to block a defensive player below the waist. Previously, clipping was allowed in high school as long as it was in the free-blocking zone, an 8-by-6-yard area from the center of the line of scrimmage.
“The NFHS Football Rules Committee’s action this year on making clipping illegal in the free-blocking zone once again reinforces its continued effort to minimize risk within the game,” NFHS Director of Sports and Sports Medicine Bob Colgate said in a press release.
New teams …: Two new programs will appear on the area’s football schedule this fall.
Waterbury Career Academy, which becomes the Naugatuck Valley League’s 16th school this year, will play a varsity schedule for the first time under head coach Pete Flammia. The Spartans will make their varsity debut Sept. 9 against Wilby.
After trouble fielding full, competitive varsity teams over the last few seasons, the Wolcott Tech-Housatonic-Wamogo program will play under Wildcats coach Jamie Coty. Previously, Wolcott Tech and Housatonic-Wamogo competed as separate programs. Both played junior varsity schedules only last fall. The new team will host Thames River on Sept. 10 at Wolcott Tech. The team’s home games will be split between Torrington and Falls Village.
… and new places: A pair of Waterbury schools will open new home fields this fall.
Crosby will play on the school’s new artificial turf complex, which replaced the rugged — and sometimes dangerous — natural surface at Jimmy Lee Stadium. The Bulldogs’ home opener is Sept. 16 against Derby.
Holy Cross will move away from its longtime home at Municipal Stadium to play Saturday home games on campus at its Alumni Field, situated on the same plot that hosts the baseball and softball diamonds.