By Tim Parry

For the first time in 19 years, a team from Connecticut is heading to the Little League World Series.

Shelton National came from behind today and defeated Manchester North, the New Hampshire representative, 2-1 to capture the New England Championship, and an automatic berth in Williamsport.

Trailing 1-0 with one out in the top of the sixth inning, Shelton National’s Tyler Tice clubbed a home run over the center field fence to tie the game. Following a Robert Moretti ground out, Marcelo Ursini lined a laser over the left field fence that proved to be the game-winner.

Moretti struck out 10 New Hampshire batters in five and a third innings work. Eddie Kochiss came on with one out in the sixth to pick up the save.

Whether it was with Manchester North runners on first and third with two out in the bottom of the sixth, or Shelton National trailing 1-0 with the game on the line, Shelton National manager Ed Szymansky said he and his team had faith.

“We always have the feeling inside that as long as there’s time left, we have a chance to win the game,” Szymansky said.

Manchester North took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when catcher Nick Markis roped a home run over the left field fence.

Shelton almost broke through in the fourth inning. With none out and Tice on second and Moretti on first, Manchester North pitcher Carmen Giampetruzzi fanned Ursini and Kochiss, and got pinch hitter Hunter Boles to ground out to second.

When asked during the post game press conference what he expected when his team headed back to Shelton tonight, Szymansky said he wasn’t sure. Then he had a surprise for his team, which had assembled behind him.

“We’re going right to Williamsport,” Szymansky announced.

The game was played in front of an announced crowd of 7,982, which filled the bleachers and surrounded Breen Field at the A. Bartlett Giametti complex in Bristol.

Shelton National went 6-0 in the tournament. For box scores and more, click here.

By Tim Parry

Not every high school quarterback goes on to play college football. And given his diminutive size and desire to attend University of Nebraska, Bobby Maffei knew that well before he first started under center at Trumbull High School.

But when recruiting coaches from Nebraska came to the office of Maffei’s father, Eagles head coach Bob Maffei Jr., to meet Trumbull lineman Anel Montanez, the quarterback found out there was a way he could contribute as a member of the Cornhuskers.

And as a result, Maffei will leave for Lincoln on Wednesday to begin his second year as an undergraduate assistant for the University of Nebraska football team.

“He had a decent high school career, be he knows he’s undersized,” said the Trumbull coach Maffei. “Bobby loves football, he loves coaching, and he wants to be a part of it. He wants to be a college coach, that’s his goal in life.”

But Maffei does more than just fill water buckets and put equipment away. Maffei helps coach the Nebraska receivers, breaks down game film, and basically helps prepare Nebraska to play against its opponents.

“Basically I’m a manager, but I go above and beyond that. I’ll help out with the video interns, I’ll break down tape, tag it on the computers,” Maffei said of the work he does for wide receivers/assistant head coach Ted Gilmore. “I’m just kind of making that experience what I can make of it.”

Maffei probably would not be in the position he is if it wasn’t for Montanez, who is at University of Buffalo. Aaron Stamm, a former Nebraska graduate assistant, became Montanez’s recruiting coach at Buffalo, and got into a conversation with Maffei about Nebraska football.

As the younger Maffei and Stamm got to know each other, the discussion about coaching came up. And when Stamm began talking about the undergraduate program, Maffei was hooked.

Though he is working with the football team, sports management is not Maffei’s major. Instead, he has chosen Spanish education. That way, should it turn out that coaching at the collegiate level is not the route he wants to pursue, he’ll still have a degree to fall back on, and maybe even follow in his father and grandfather’s footsteps.

“My dad loves coaching high school football, but he’s always told me to use my brain, that someone your age would have to be the college coach eventually,” Maffei said. “I really want to stay in college, I see how these coaches can turn young men into adults, and I’d love to be around football 24/7.”

And if college coaching helps him get his master’s degree paid for, too, that’s fine by Maffei.

“I’ve always done well in Spanish, and both of my parents being teachers affected me. I’ve been around education my entire life, whether it’s been gym, history, or science [which his mother, Eileen, teaches at Hillcrest Middle School in Trumbull],” Maffei said. “That’s kind of the backup plan. Get your bachelors in education, get your masters in something close to that, just in case college coaching doesn’t work out for me.”

Though Nebraska did not meet expectations on the field in 2007, and head coach Bill Callahan lost his job as a result, it was a blessing in disguise for Maffei.

Gilmore was retained, so there was some continuity for Maffei. And Maffei did not burn his bridge with Callahan, who is now an assistant with the New York Jets and invited Bobby to training camp to attend practices.

Maffei also got a chance to coach some wide receivers this summer at the prestigious Quarterback & Receiver Camp, where he met former Nebraska Outland Trophy winner Rich Glover and Bobby Acosta, who is interning as a coach with the Jets this fall.

“It’s allowed me to meet a whole new coaching staff already, and networking is important in this field,” said Maffei, who also helped Gilmore with the quarterback recruiting this past offseason.

And even while watching the Fairfield County team in the recently-played Hall of Fame Classic, Maffei, standing alongside his father and several high school football coaches, wanted to give his two cents.

“I’m wondering why [Fairfield County] isn’t lining up 3 and 1 formation, throwing to the back side, Like they did with [Bunnell wide receiver Michael] Easley on the scoring drive,” Maffei said. “They throw a slant to him on the back side, and there’s no way a cornerback can cover an athlete like him. So in the back of my mind [tonight], I’ve been coaching.”

By Tim Parry

STRATFORD - There have been several spectacular pitching performances at DeLuca Field this summer. But for the first time, the dominant pitcher was in the visiting dugout.

That was Jennie Finch. The Team USA softball pitcher.

Finch fired a one-hitter, struck out 12, and walked just one to lead Team USA over the Stratford Brakettes 9-0 Sunday.

Finch did not allow a hit through seven innings, and gave up a one-out single to extra player Laura Trout with one out in the eighth. Brakettes shortstop Mandie Fishback, who took a bad hop to the head a night earlier and was sent to the hospital, played the game and walked in the first inning.

The Brakettes had been 40-0 prior to the game, but did not show any signs of anguish after the game, snapping photos of themselves and with members of Team USA prior to a post game autograph session.

“I’ve seen all the great players come through here, and just to have the opportunity to be on the field with them at the same time is truly an honor,” said Brakettes right fielder Amber Radomski, a Joel Barlow graduate who grew up as a bat girl for the 28-time ASA champions.

Current Masuk star Rachele Fico, who was charged with five earned runs which pitching the ninth inning, had the same feelings as Radomski after the game.

“It was just an awesome experience to throw against the greatest hitters in the world, and by far Team USA does have the greatest hitters in the world,” Fico said. “It was just awesome and so much fun to be out there.”

The game was a tune-up for Team USA, which is on the KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour in preparation for the Olympics. The announced attendance at DeLuca was 3,300, which included fans seating in temporary bleachers set up behind the outfield fences.

By Tim Parry

The Wiffle Ball Field of Dreams in the Riverside section of Greenwich is no more.

The Greenwich Time reports today that the infamous Field of Dreams was demolished this morning by the Greenwich Department of Public Works.

As you can see on Facebook, this is a story that made headlines across the world. It wasn’t for the fact that neighbors were complaining about Wiffle Ball being played in their back yards, but because it was in a $1.2-million plot of land surrounded by houses in a residential neighborhood.

And there were some other aspects, too:

• You had the NIMBYs, who didn’t want this Green Monstrosity in their back yards.
• You had the fact that you can’t just go an build something on someone else’s property (even public property) without permission.
• You had liability issues: Who gets sued if a kid gets hurt playing there?
• You had childhood creativity and work-ethic: Even without permission, the kids worked together to clear out brush and make it a place kids could play.
• You have childhood obesity rates soaring, and kids partaking in some good, clean activity instead of spending their summers on the Web.
• And you had kids standing up for what they believed in, civilly. They refused to leave the field, but they also didn’t chain themselves to the trees.
• And you had parents supporting what their kids were doing, even if what they were doing was - technically - not legal.

And that’s where the most fun from this story came from. It was good vs. evil, but which side was which?

If I didn’t have a place to live, and I saw a house that was empty and for sale, could I just jimmy the lock and use the home as shelter? If I wanted to knock down my house and build a McMansion in its place, would I have to go through my city hall?

And that’s where I’m going with this. If the kids cleared the field, put down the rubber bases and pitching slab, and played ball, it wouldn’t be the story of the summer. But the plywood wall - that’s where the Wifflers crossed over the fun line into legal territory.

There is a consolation though: The town has offered Wifflers the use of a field at International School at Dundee, and will pay for wire mesh fencing. And they’re looking to get it put up a small scale version of Yankee Stadium within a week.

So while the kids lose one Field of Dreams, another is being built for them. It may not be a do-it-yourself deal, but at least they’ll still have a place to play ball.

By Tim Parry

Peter Cox is surrounded by more than 100 kids in football uniforms. Most of them are from Bridgeport, some from surrounding areas, and other are visiting family from as far away as Kansas.

It’s a two-week camp that Cox, who works in the resource center and coaches football at Bridgeport Central High School, was able to set up through the National Football League’s Junior Development Program.

The cost for the kids — nothing. And they get to learn about more than football, they’re taught about life skills.

How many of these 12 to 14 year old boys will play football at Central. But the number of kids whose lives Cox will help shape will continue to grow.

In a city where teenage boys from a single-parent home can either walk the straight line or get tempted to join a gang, Cox has spent his last 11 years as a father figure and mentor to many Hilltoppers. The number he has got into college grows each year.

And from the Class of 2008, at least nine will go on to play college football.

“If you’re ever looking for a feel-good story, there’s one right there,” Central head coach Dave Cadelina said a few weeks back at the FCIAC Strongest Man competition.

“He’s not an Xs and Os kind of guy,” adds Central assistant coach John Carolina. “But what he’s done for our kids off the field has been amazing.”

So why does Cox do it? It’s not for the recognition. But he did see a difference almost immediately when he came over to Central from Amity Regional in Woodbridge. And he has his roots in Bridgeport, having gone to Bassick as a teen.

“In the suburban school, you have the parent involved. In the inner city, you become the mentor, the father, and everything else,” Cox said.

Cox said took one of his current players to the doctor Wednesday, with a note from the player’s mother saying he’s the guardian, “or as she said ‘coach/father,’” so the doctor could be release him to play football this season.

“So the doctor at first wasn’t going to do anything, but when he looked at the record and say the letter the mom wrote about me, and with my signature, he was fine’” Cox said.

And Cox does more than that for the student-athletes, much more than trips to the doctors and helping kids with applications and SAT scores. The 69-year-old former drill sergeant also brings the kids on road trips to various colleges so they can experience what campus life is like.

The hope is that they will enjoy the experience, and want to be on campus after four years of high school.

“My car is four years old in December, and I’ve got 146,000 miles on it,” Cox said like it’s no big deal. “That’s my passion — to make sure they do well in school, to make sure they do well in their SAT courses, then get them into college.”

Tomorrow there’s a trip to Lackawanna College in Scranton, PA, where he’s going with recent Central graduate Dewayne Guscott. Coming along for the ride — Rashaad Bass, an Ansonia lineman who will room with Guscott this fall. They are heading out to meet with the coaching staff and fill out some paperwork.

And Guscott is just one of many thankful past and future Hilltoppers who understand what Cox has done to help out.

“Without Coach Cox, I probably wouldn’t even be in college,” Guscott said. “He puts in so much work – I can’t even count how many times we’ve been to McDonalds, driven us to a college, or that he’s called up a college so he’d get our names in a coach’s ear.”

Guscott has estimated Cox’s fuel bill to be around $7,000 since his freshman year. And that’s included trips from South Carolina to Maine.

“When I first met him, he was kind of a hard ass, telling us not to quit on him,” Guscott said. “Now it’s all love. He’s like a father, and I feel like a son to him.”

One of those Central players who Cox convinced not to quit is Trevardo Williams, who has a full ride to UConn waiting on the table after he preps this year at Canterbury School. He’s convinced none of his good fortune would have happened without Cox’s support.

“He’s the one responsible for us going to college,” Williams said. “When we need a ride, he gives it to us. When we need some guidance, we’ll go to him, he’s the one we can rely on.”

Williams said he’s also thankful for Cox, who gave him the advice to do a year of prep school before taking his offer to play at UConn.

“I could have different choices, and what he told me made me think twice about the choice I made,” Williams said. “With him being there, I just feel like I’ve accomplished something, like someone is on my side, guiding me.”

Timmy Reece, who is heading off to play football at American International College, says it’s more than the miles Cox puts on the car that makes his a hero to the football community.

“Not a lot of people go the extra mile,” Reece said. “Coach Cox does. I remember my freshman year, [former running back] Akeem Wright’s grades were so bad that Coach Cox found a school for him all the way out in California. Not a lot of coaches do that.”

Reece, too, will soon be brought to college in Cox’s white van. And when Cox drops him off in Springfield, he says it will be like saying good by to a dad.

“He’s the type of man you’d want in your corner at all times,” Reece said. “I love him like a father because that’s what he is to us.”

And while Cox does see himself as a father figure to many of Central’s players, he also feels he’s helping to do God’s work.

“It’s like God sent him down here, and he says that’s why he does it. He’s such a devout Christian,” Guscott said. “He thinks this is his way of paying back God for all he has given, and he wants to give back to people. He’s just a nice person.”

Though Cox’s work has been appreciated by the community, it may be he doesn’t think he’s done anything to help out just yet. Or that he’s found his life’s calling.

“It’s worth it, 100%,” Cox said. “If I can help one kid, it’s worth it.”

By Tim Parry

Three members of the Danbury Westerners will play in the New England Collegiate Baseball League All-Star game Sunday in Torrington, representing the Southern Division.

Westerner shortstop Michael Olt was named the starter at shortstop. Olt, who plays collegiately at UConn, has started all 25 games for Danbury, and is hitting .265 with three home runs and 19 RBIs. He also has a team high 20 runs and is tied for the team lead with 27 hits.

Kyle Mahoney is a reserve catcher for the team. Mahoney, who plays ball at Avery Point, has started 13 games behind the plate and has appeared in 20.

Quinnipiac product Michael Oskandy was selected as a relief pitcher. He has made five starts for the Westerners, including two complete games, and has a 3.93 ERA. He is 2-3 on the season.

By Tim Parry

This is a controversy?

You drive down Riverside Lane in the Riverside section of Greenwich, and you hope to get a look at the infamous Wiffle Ball field that was built by a bunch of local kids.

Blink, and you’ll miss it. The Wiffle Ball field is nestled behind a home being built at 96, and an angry neighbor at 100. From the road, you can’t hear much activity. And you can barely see the Wiffle Ball field, which is accessed by a small strip of land behind 96 and 100.

But it didn’t stop me from dropping by after work today.

The kids on the field stopped when they saw me walk up.

“Press,” I said. “Where you from?” one asked me matter-of-factly, since just about every media outlet imaginable had stopped by.

“Eyewitness News was here today,” said another kid, not even fazed by the media attention to the little piece of town-owned land in Greenwich.

It’s a makeshift stadium, to say the least. The kids playing told me they cleared out the brush, built the walls, and have taken ownership. They say the neighbors claim they are drinking and doing drugs at the field, but there’s no evidence of that. At least at 7 p.m. on July 14.

Just kids wanting to go out and play. Just like their parents did to pass their summers away.

There’s evidence that the kids are picking up after themselves. The “K” board is propped up by a 32-gallon garbage can, and the trash is removed nightly.

And the neighbor at 100 must know that. The kids say he keeps looking out, he even calls the cops a few times a day. While I was there, he was having a security camera installed - one that points right at the field.

Maybe he’s a closet fan?

“He was all for it, he wanted to play with us when we started off,” one kid said. “His wife wasn’t a fan though. That’s probably why he doesn’t want us here.”

This is a story that has caught national attention, pretty much for the silliness. NIMBYs keeping kids off public property because they’re having some harmless fun. Sure, they should have asked for permission to build the field first, but it’s not like they’re using it as a crack den.

And they seem to have the support of random strangers, too. One woman came out with her two young kids, just to check it out before she and her family moved away from Greenwich.

Other residents stopped by just to check out the action. National media attention will do that.

The kids aren’t doing any harm. Let them play Wiffle Ball, Greenwich.

By Tim Parry

It’s not easy for Timothy Reece to find a pair of decent shoes for his size 17 feet. But it was a normal head size that helped him get a spot of the Connecticut team that defeated Rhode Island in the Governor’s Cup back on June 27.

Reece, who will play on both the offensive and defensive lines tonight for Fairfield County in the Hall of Fame Classic at West Haven High School, was just in the right place at the right time.

“It’s funny because I went to the practice [in Southington] to see [Central teammates] DeWayne [Guscott] and Trevardo [Williams] play, and they were looking at me. And after the practice they called me over and told me to try this helmet on. They said, ‘if it fits, you’re on the team,,” Reece said.

And as it happened, the helmet was a perfect fit.

“DeWayne and Trevardo were kidding me that it was the easiest tryout ever,” Reece said. “I guess you cold say it was a Cinderella story, but I proved I should have a spot.”

Reece was a first-team All-FCIAC offensivve lineman this season, and was on the second team as a junior. He has started for three seasons under head coach Dave Cadelina.

But it’s the relationship he has with assistant coach Peter Cox that Reece and his teammates talk about just as much.

“We have a great coaching staff all the way from the head coach down to the water boy,” Reece said. “Coach Cox has been a big influence on our lives. He drives us back and forth to the All-Star games, and he helped us get into college. It’s good to have those people on your side.”

Reece will be heading to American International College in Springfield, MA, in a few weeks to continue both his athletic and academic careers. He will be reunited with former Central linemate Terrance Mercer, who will be a junior at AIC.

“AIC was attractive to me because I wanted to be close to home, not to mention they are looking good this year,” Reece said. “Terrance got me interested, so I’ll be chilling with him while we hope to win a title.”

But first, Reece wants to help Fairfield County break its five-game losing streak against the New Haven County all-stars. Even if he didn’t qualify to play because of his helmet size.

“It’s good to be chosen to be a player in the All-Star game,” Reece said. “When you get called upon, it’s your responsibility and duty to your school and your town, and in this case, your county.”

By Thomas Michael

He’s packing his bags for Elon University where he’ll be headed in the fall, but New Canaan hasn’t said goodbye to this Fairfield County All-Star football player yet. Former Ram Ryan Kilbane is gearing up for this Friday’s Hall of Fame Classic against New Haven County.

When Kilbane isn’t working out at the gym or earning college money from his job at the New Canaan Toy Store, his mind is set on football.

“When I step onto the football field it’s like a tranquil place,” Kilbane said. “I don’t know what [would] fill that void if I didn’t play football.”

But after coming out of a wrist injury (which kept him on the bench for about six weeks) and catching the game-winning touchdown against Daniel Hand High School in the CIAC Class MM championship game, who wouldn’t be eager to play more football?

“It was hard watching the team go on without me. I was sitting their knowing I could help the team in so many ways,” he said.

Kilbane’s wrist was injured on the first day of full-pad practice, just three weeks and two days before the first game of the season.

“Everyone was really supportive,” Kilbane said. “The coaches called the house to check up on me and my friends brought me balloons.”

Kilbane’s injury helped strengthen his values in the behind-the-scenes routines of football.

“When you’re out and you’re not playing, like when you sit back and watch, you begin to appreciate the little things,” he said, “Like the warm-ups and the jumping jacks that they make you do.”

Kilbane was one of several male athletes to be presented with the CIAC Sportsmanship Award at the annual New Canaan senior awards ceremony in June. But his sportsmanship doesn’t end with football.

“I’ve played pretty much every sport imaginable,” he said, naming baseball and basketball as major aspects of his athletic career.

Looking forward to his first semester at Elon, Kilbane sees an exciting future ahead.

“They have a great semester program for going abroad.” Australia, Spain and Italy are among Kilbane’s list of places he would like to visit. He also plans to join the practice squad of the university’s Division I football team and participate in intramural basketball and flag football. “I just love the place,” Kilbane said.

By Tim Parry

2007 should have been “The Year of The Bus” at Harding.

Coming off a 1,000-yard rushing season, and with the Presidents faring very well in a local 7-on-7 passing league, Byron Jackson was going to be one of the top players to watch in the FCIAC.

But The Bus, as he’s been called since his Bridgeport Raiders Pop Warner days, never got out of the garage. He was hampered by injuries, the team was in turmoil, and Harding ended its season winless - including a loss to Bassick that ended that school’s six-season long winless streak.

So the Hall of Fame Classic, which will be played Friday at 7:30 at West Haven High School, will be his chance to show the state what could have been.

It’ll also be Jackson’s going away party. Jackson was accepted at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and was invited to walk on to the Golden Lions football team.

“They wrote and told me I qualified to be a walk-on prospect, so I’m going to walk on and see what happens,” Jackson said. “Hopefully I’ll get a spot down there, hopefully they’ll like me.”

And even if they don’t, Jackson says he likes where he’s heading, and thinks the school is the perfect fit for him.

“It’s a good school for what I want to study, accounting,” Jackson said. “It’s a good move for me, and hopefully it will be big.”

At 5-foot-8, 185-pounds, Jackson certainly won;t be the biggest back on the field. But what he lacks in height he makes up for with breakaway speed.

Recent Wilton graduate Joe Smith, who will also play for the Fairfield County team in the game Friday, can attest to that. Though the Warriors defeated Harding on homecoming in 2006, Jackson put on quite a show. He ran for 195 yards on 21 carries, including a 65-yard touchdown.

“When you see speed like that, and you aren’t really used to it, it sneaks up on you,” said Smith, who will play at Bowdoin. “He broke away real quickly.”

Did the time fly by for Jackson as fast as one of his long-distance scoring romps? Jackson laughs and agrees that his four years as a starter at Harding went by real quick.

“It went by real fast, I still remember my first day being up there as a freshman,” Jackson said. “As a matter of fact I remember being up there as an eighth grader and wanting to play.”

And the nickname?

“One of my Pop Warner coaches told me when I was 9 or 10 that I looked like Jerome Bettis and that I kind of ran like him,” Jackson said. “And I used to wear those leather sleeves on my arm, so he just gave me the nickname ‘Bus’ and it stuck.”