Sports

Seniors' Finale A Prep For States

New Britain will provide tough competition for the Redcoats.

 

While the Berlin Redcoats football team has already clinched a spot in the CIAC playoffs, the game Wednesday night at Willow Brook Park against New Britain will provide a state playoff type atmosphere.

"We are already 100 percent in the playoffs so we need to play and we need to stay sharp," Berlin coach John Capodice said. "They are good this year and it will give us a chance to play a quality opponent before the playoffs."

Find out what's happening in Berlinwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Berlin comes into the game at 8-1 while New Britain has surprised this season with a 6-3 record after just one win last year.

"They beat us the first year and we were the superior team last year," Capodice said. "They played really well the first year but we came back and won the state championship. Last year we had a better team and fell short of a state title."

Find out what's happening in Berlinwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Capodice said he is impressed with New Britain.

"They are really good on defense and haven't given up a lot of points," he said. "We will have to make sure we try to keep our offense on the field and execute. On defense, we will have to watch them on the outside with their speed."

Berlin comes off a hard-fought 17-12 victory over and equally speedy Bloomfield team. The Redcoats made some big plays but the key was their ground control offense, which held onto the ball the final six minutes of the game and never allowed Bloomfield's offense another shot at a game-winning drive.

While both sides were excited to have Berlin and New Britain play on Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Eve, the rivalry has been luke warm at best.

"I look at it like our rivalry with Plainville is our true rivalry because it has been so many big games in every sport for so long," Capodice added. "You're looking at a school that is three times as big as the other. We are playing New Britain and we'll see what happens from here on out."

With a win, Berlin will definitely play a home game on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 6:30 p.m. All eight semifinals will be held on Saturday, December 3. The sites and times are as follows (the listing of which specific game is in which slot will be posted by noon on Wednesday, November 30 assuming all quarterfinals are completed on Tuesday):

- Middletown HS (one game at 2:00)
- Cheshire HS (one game at 2:00)
- Bunnell HS (one game at 2:00)
- Sheehan HS (one game at 2:00)
- East Haven HS (one game at 2:00)
- Falcon Field, Meriden (one game at 2:00)
- West Haven HS (two games at 2:00 and 7:00)

The annual press conference featuring the coaches, captains and athletic directors of the schools participating in the finals will be held on Tuesday, December 6 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Club Room, located on the third floor at Rentschler Field.

All four finals will be held at Rentschler Field (Friday, December 9 - One game at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, December 10 - Games at 10:30, 1:30 and 4:30). Which game goes in which slot will be announced at the press conference.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here