The CIAC high school state football championships will take place Saturday at Veterans Stadium in New Britain and Central Connecticut State University’s Arute Field. Four games will be played at Veterans and two at CCSU.
Three teams – Killingly, Greenwich and New Canaan, the top-ranked team in the last Courant’s state coaches poll – will attempt to defend their titles. Northwest Catholic is trying to win its first championship. For others like Windsor and Berlin, it’s been over a decade since either program won a title.
Here’s a quick look at each game:
Class S
No. 6 Northwest Catholic (11-1) vs. No. 5 Sheehan (10-2), 1 p.m., Veterans Stadium, New Britain: Sheehan has been here before – last year as a matter of fact, when the Titans ran into the buzzsaw that was Killingly in the Class SS championship game. They last won a title in 2019. This is the third state championship game for quarterback Jake O’Brien, who lost to Killingly in football and undefeated Ellington as the point guard for the basketball team last winter. O’Brien (1,176 yards, nine passing TDs, 598 rushing yards, 16 TDs) and senior RB Josh Durant (1,556 rushing yards, 24 TDs) lead the way for the Titans. Northwest Catholic hasn’t advanced to the finals since 2009 when it lost to Hyde. The Lions, who knocked off Cromwell/Portland and last year’s Class S champion Ansonia to get to the final, are led by quarterback Vincent Burbank (2,415 passing yards, 36 TDs) and WR Kayden Davis (1,294 rushing yards, 23 TDs), who will play at Wesleyan next year.
Class SS
No. 2 Hand (11-1) vs. No. 1 Killingly (12-0), 10 a.m., Veterans Stadium, New Britain: Killingly won the Class SS title in 2024; Hand won the Class M title in 2023. Killingly has won 25 straight games; Hand’s only loss was a one-pointer to Cheshire in mid-season. Killingly has won five titles but has been to the final six of the last eight years; Hand has won 14 state titles. Killingly was ranked No. 2 in the last Courant state coaches poll; Hand is No. 3. Killingly’s senior RB Hayden Allard has rushed for over 2,000 yards and 34 touchdowns. Hand’s QB Bobby Reh has passed for over 2,000 yards and 29 TDs.
Class M
No. 5 Brookfield (10-2) vs. No. 2 Berlin (12-0), 6:30 p.m., CCSU: These two teams are familiar with each other: Brookfield shut out Berlin last year 28-0 in the Class M semifinal and ended up losing to St. Joseph 21-20 in the championship game. Brookfield avenged that loss with a 6-3 win over St. Joseph, the No. 4 team in the Courant’s state coaches poll, in the semifinal last week. Berlin QB Cody Puzio has led the team with 875 passing yards and 19 passing TDs and 744 rushing yards and 19 rushing TDs. Puzio had five touchdowns in the 49-7 win over Holy Cross in the semifinals. Tyler Buttendorf has rushed for o over 1,000 yards for Brookfield and has 16 rushing touchdowns and five receiving TDs.
Class MM
No. 3 Bunnell (10-2) vs. No. 1 Windsor (11-1), 3 p.m., CCSU: Windsor lost its head coach to the assistant principal’s office and a pair of playmakers in RB John Manning and WR Cashmire Lewis to graduation but once again, is back in the championship game, which the Warriors lost on a last-second FG last year to Masuk. Former coach (and now assistant Windsor High principal) Rob Fleeting’s son Quinn, a former player and assistant, has taken over the team on an interim basis and brought the team back to the final. Senior QB AJ Robinson, the state Gatorade Player of the Year, has found two new receivers in Missoni Brown (star of the basketball team that won the state title two years ago) and Jayden Compton, both juniors. Brown is averaging 110 yards per game; Compton, 124 and they have combined to catch 36 of Robinson’s 49 touchdown passes this season. Windsor’s only loss is to Class LL finalist Southington. The last time the Warriors – ranked ninth in the Courant state coaches poll, won a title was 2014. Bunnell, which hasn’t been the final since 2011, lost in the quarterfinals to Windsor in 2023 and to Masuk last year in the semifinals and has won seven straight games.
Windsor’s AJ Robinson had five touchdowns in Windsor’s 42-0 victory over Newington Monday night in the Class MM semifinal game. (Photo by Alex Lugo/ATG Visuals)
Class L
No. 3 Cheshire (9-3) vs. No. 1 New Canaan (12-0), 4 p.m., Veterans Stadium, New Britain: New Canaan is going for its 16th state title and fourth straight under veteran coach Lou Marinelli and New Canaan outscored its playoff opponents, 85-13. Cheshire’s last finals appearance was 2009 when coach Don Drust was an assistant for the Rams’ team which beat Staples in overtime to win a Class LL title. Cheshire rallied from a 19-point deficit against Fairfield Ludlowe to win the Class L quarterfinal game and beat Ridgefield 21-0 in the semifinals. QB Aiden Gregorich’s pass to Liam Suomala proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 10 seconds left in the quarterfinal.
Class LL
No. 4 Southington (9-3) at No. 3 Greenwich (10-2), Veterans Stadium, 7 p.m.: Southington, which hasn’t won a title since 2014, has won seven straight games and sophomore RB Ben Beaulieu, who came off the bench midway through the season, has 16 touchdowns and rushed for 893 yards. He had five TDs in the 35-30 win over Glastonbury in the quarterfinals, avenging one of the Knights’ three losses during the regular season. Greenwich, the defending Class LL champion which also won a title in 2022 and is ranked sixth in the Courant’s state coaches poll, has won four straight after losing two of three in mid-season to New Canaan, 14-7 and Wilton, 7-3.
After rare down year, this perennial CT high school football power is back in championship chase
