Inside Week 9 of CIAC soccer: A record-breaker, eight stay excellent and who’s No. 1 now?

You may nearly odor the turkey cooking.

Laborious to imagine, however we’re already by Week 9 of the 2026 CIAC soccer season, and the annual Thanksgiving rivalry video games are solely three weeks away.

The second half of the marketing campaign has actually picked up the tempo by way of drama and key matchups.

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One query nonetheless stays: Who’s No. 1?

Coaches and even some gamers will say the rankings within the GametimeCT Prime 10 ballot do not matter. In spite of everything, rankings do not win championships.

Others are extra outspoken and are positively paying consideration.

It is nice for dialogue, and the previous two weeks have particularly introduced that to mild.

New Canaan had held the No. 1 spot for the reason that last ballot of the 2024 season however has now misplaced two straight – to Ludlowe 34-31 and St. Joseph 21-14.

That has knocked the Rams (6-2) down a few rungs, though they continue to be within the prime half of the ballot, at present at No. 3.

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Final week, three groups break up the 21 first-place votes. Ludlowe (8-0) took 11 and was propelled all the best way from No. 6 to No. 1, the primary time in this system’s historical past it has been on prime of the GametimeCT ballot.

St. Joseph (7-0) took 9 first-place votes and held within the No. 2 spot, and No. 6 Southington (7-1) earned one first-place vote.

And though it did not obtain a first-place vote, a case might be made for No. 5 Hand (8-0), which has the state’s longest win streak at 16 and simply knocked off Lyman Corridor 35-14 in a battle of unbeatens.

Now, St. Joseph has its personal win over New Canaan after holding off a comeback bid by the Rams for a 21-14 resolution on Friday.

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Is that sufficient to push the Hogs previous the Falcons?

“Oh, we’re No. 1 by far,” mentioned St. Joseph’s Wisconsin-bound lineman Will Zaccagnino, clearly not mincing any phrases.

Per week earlier, Ludlowe lineman Carlo Noecker gave his ideas on who’s the very best.

“It is slightly onerous to imagine 10 years in the past this workforce could not get a single win,” Noecker mentioned. “Now we simply knocked off the very best powerhouse (New Canaan) in New England. It is unbelievable, however we all know we’re No. 1.”

Time will inform, after all, and the following GametimeCT Prime 10 comes out Monday.

Keep tuned.

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Dae’Sean to recollect

Two down, one to go.

Holy Cross senior Dae’Sean Graves broke a second state receiving file and moved nearer to a 3rd through the Crusaders’ 38-14 win over Woodland on Friday.

Graves, a UConn commit, had six catches within the recreation and now has 227 in his profession, breaking the previous state mark of 226, set simply final yr by East Catholic’s Joey Montalvo.

Montalvo, by the best way, is a freshman on the Central Connecticut State soccer workforce.

The man who has been throwing these passes to Graves for the previous two seasons, quarterback Brady Lombardo, additionally hit two milestones on Friday, surpassing 2,000 passing yards for the season and 5,000 for his profession.

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The Lombardo-to-Graves combo has helped Holy Cross (7-1) win seven straight since an opening-week loss to Naugatuck.

Graves added to his state file with a landing reception, giving him 53 profession landing receptions. He set that mark throughout a 52-13 win over Crosby on Oct. 23, surpassing the previous high-water mark of fifty, which had been held by Southington’s Alex Jamele.

That is two, and Graves has slightly extra work to do for the trifecta. With 94 yards on Friday, he now has 3,434 profession receiving yards, 437 in need of Montalvo’s 3,871.

He’ll have a shot at it. The Crusaders have two extra regular-season video games remaining, towards GNH on Nov. 12 and Wolcott on Thanksgiving, and are in fine condition for a Class MM playoff berth, at present rating second within the standings.

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After which there have been eight

Yearly following Week 9 of the soccer season, GametimeCT places collectively a breakdown of the remaining undefeated groups and appears at their possibilities of going 10-0 within the common season.

It is fairly superb how little consistency there’s within the group from yr to yr.

Within the 4 seasons since 2023, 33 groups have made it by Week 9 with excellent information. Solely 4 groups have completed it twice. That group consists of Killingly and Windsor in each 2024 and 2025, Naugatuck in 2023 and 2026, and Hand in 2024 and 2026.

It reveals simply how powerful it’s to win soccer video games.

There have been 9 groups unbeaten following Week 9 final fall, and this season, there are eight, after Southington fell to New Britain 28-27 on Thursday, and Lyman Corridor misplaced to Hand 35-14 on Friday.

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The undefeated groups left are Hand, Ludlowe, Masuk, Naugatuck, New London, North Branford and Plainville, all 8-0, and St. Joseph, which is 7-0.

All eight have at the very least one troublesome check remaining, so 10-0 is under no circumstances a lock for anybody.

Giddy up.

Bullet factors

• New Britain scored a 28-27 win over beforehand unbeaten Southington (7-1), with the distinction being a blocked PAT by Javier Zenquis, a scout participant. The Golden Hurricanes are 6-2, with their solely losses coming towards defending state champs Greenwich and New Canaan.

• No. 1 Ludlowe adopted up its large win at New Canaan with a 40-13 win over Trumbull.

• Naugatuck (8-0) received two speeding touchdowns and a landing move from Qwentarvus Lee and gained 41-12 over Seymour (5-3).

• Maloney (6-2) gave itself an enormous enhance within the Class L playoff hunt with a 55-40 win over Windsor (4-4). The Spartans have been averaging greater than 40 factors per recreation.

• Simsbury (7-1) defeated Newington 27-7 for its seventh win of the season. The Trojans had simply 4 wins mixed within the final three seasons.

• Cheshire (6-2) gained its third straight recreation 35-10 over Sheehan (4-4) and is now in third place within the Class M standings.

• Darien (5-3) jumped into the highest eight in Class L with a 34-14 win over Ridgefield (4-4). The Blue Wave will end the common season towards Stamford and New Canaan.

Up subsequent

Time has flown by.

We’re getting all the way down to crunch time, as we amazingly get able to enter Week 10 of the soccer season.

There are a bushel of key video games on deck, together with a pair of matchups of ranked groups, when No. 1 Ludlowe faces No. 8 Staples in Westport on Friday at 7 p.m., and No. 2 St. Joseph hosts No. 4 Greenwich on Saturday at midday.

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The SCC is loaded with huge video games, together with Lyman Corridor trying to rebound from its first lack of the season by internet hosting Legislation on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Listed below are another video games to look at for Week 10:

Thursday, Nov. 12

• Berlin at Platt, 6:30 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 13

• Naugatuck at Torrington, 6 p.m.

• New London at Waterford, 6 p.m.

• Woodstock Academy at Ledyard, 6 p.m.

• Legislation at Lyman Corridor, 6:30 p.m.

• Southington at Maloney, 6:30 p.m.

• Guilford at Cheshire, 7 p.m.

• Fairfield Prep at Shelton, 7 p.m.

• Ludlowe at Staples, 7 p.m.

• New Milford at Masuk, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 14

• Greenwich at St. Joseph, midday

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This text initially revealed at Inside Week 9 of CIAC soccer: A record-breaker, eight stay excellent and who’s No. 1 now?.