“These fields work, there’s tons more advantages to these fields, but they are going to have their drawback,” Parisi said. “And one of those is the pellets. You get one of those in your shoe and it’s going to bother you.”

But instead of complaining about those little pebbles, Parisi and former coaching mate Mike Mulvey did something about it.

They created a product called Turf Dawg, which as it turned out, became more than apparel that slips over your cleats to keep the pebbles out. They also became an additional accessory to a lacrosse team’s uniform.

“The exciting thing for us is we’re rolling them out to programs and getting players’ numbers on them,” Parisi said. “The kids are so fired up to get these, because you can customize your shoe.”

Here’s how Turf Dawg works: The neoprene sleeve slips over the shoe like a sock. The laces slip through the Turf Dawg’s grommets to help keep the rubber pellets (and other field debris) from getting in the shoe.

“The beauty of it is there’s only one attachment point, so it’s universal, you can use it on any shoe that you like,” Parisi said. “No matter the type of cleats you have, how thick the bottom is, they’re going to fit.”

Parisi said he is working on getting Turf Dawg into retail stores, but for now, it’s a custom team product. Wakeman Boy’s Club of Fairfield’s lacrosse teams are using them this season, and Fairfield University will use them starting this fall.

How is the Turf Dawg message being spread? Mostly by word of mouth. It helped sell the FCIAC and CIAC Class M champion Darien Blue Wave consider them for the future.

When Ludlowe played at Darien this season, Parisi said the Blue Wave players were complaining about getting pebbles in their shoes. And when he showed the players the Turf Dawg product, Parisi said they all wanted to know where they could find a pair.

Darien kids, were complaining about all the stuff getting in their shoes and I was standing right there. “You out to get Turf Dawg,’ I told them. It was like a perfect commercial for Turf Dawg. They were like, ‘Yo, where did you get that? Where can I find one?’” and now the team will be wearing them.

Parisi said he had another marketing breakthrough in the form of an audience. He tested concepts and product names and designs on his homeroom students.

“I don’t know what’s cool, I’m 40 years old,” Parisi said. “So I ask them, what do you think is cool? If you think it’s cool, and you want it on your shoes, then we’ll do it. But I do rely on the kids a lot. My designer in Maryland will draw something up, I’ll show it to my kids. I rely on them.”

Parisi says he’s hoping to spread Turf Dawg beyond the lacrosse fields this fall, by encouraging it as an offering for field hockey, soccer, and football.

And after a cool spring weather-wise, mother nature went crazy yesterday, blistering athletes with temperatures in the 90s. Which meant in-season conditioning became a major factor for all the athletes involved.

Here’s a quick roundup of winners, losers (though to be politically correct, they are runners-up), and more, including clips from the local sports media…

FRIDAY:
Westhill wins Class LL Baseball Title
I slammed Westhill pitched T.J. Hickey’s mound antics in a post a few weeks ago. He’s recovered nicely and, on the mound, became the go-to guy a lot of us saw during the football season. As he kept Masuk batters in check, Bobby Migliazza and Greg Smith led the offense in a 12-1 win up at Palmer Field in Middletown.

The clips: Stamford Advocate game story; Stamford Advocate sidebar; Connecticut Post.

Also Friday: Darien takes volleyball title; Staples wins again in Class L.

SATURDAY
The links:

• Masuk phenom Rachele Fico shuts down Naugatuck: Connecticut Post; New Haven Register.
• Law upsets Ludlowe for Class L baseball title: New Haven Register; Connecticut Post.
• Danbury takes Division II girls lacrosse championship: News-Times; News-Times sidebar.
• Prefect ending for New Fairfield lacrosse team: News-Times.
• Prep tops Ridgefield in 3OT to take Class L lacrosse title: Connecticut Post.
• Darien girls defeat Wilton again for girls lacrosse championship: Stamford Advocate.
• Blue Wave Boys make it a lacrosse sweep: Stamford Advocate.

Jeff Brameier-coached Darien boys lacrosse teams have won 11 FCIAC titles over the past 25 years, including four of the past five. The Blue Wave saw its fourth consecutive title slip away last season, when it was upset by Greenwich in the semifinals last season, and the same thing almost happened last night against another upstart team.

Playing in its first-ever FCIAC title game, Ridgefield stormed back from a 4-0 deficit and took a five-all tie into halftime.

But a 6-2 surge in the fourth quarter - in which the Blue Wave was able to control possession and keep the ball away from Ridgefield star Matt White - gave the Blue Wave a 13-9 championship game win over Ridgefield at McMahon’s Jack Casagrande Field.

“We practive against that kind of zone all the time,” Brameier said. “It’s one thing to get the shots, but you have to hit the spots against a very good goalie [Brad DePrima].”

Darien may have got comfortable with the early lead, which quickly evaporated in the second. In fact, White gave the Tigers a 6-5 lead with 7:29 left in the third quarter, and it looked then like Ridgefield’s momentum and determination would help carry it to the title.

But the Blue Wave hung tough and stayed focused.

“When a team takes a lead on you, especially in a championship game, you’ve got to find a way to regroup and not panic,” Brameier said. “It takes a lot of character, pride, and leadership. These kids have been there so many times that they know what it’s like to be in the heat of the battle.”

The third quarter may have not started off the way the Blue Wave had hoped, but they knew their mission.

“As soon as the third quarter came out, we knew we had to work hard and fast and bury them, and that’s what we did,” said Blue Wave junior attack Tyler Foley, who scored three goals and was named the game’s MVP.

But in the fourth quarter, the Blue Wave was able to win faceoffs and keep possession of the ball in its end of the field, which made White (three goals and two assists) a non-factor. Darien defenders also got the ball out of Ridgefield sticks at crucial times, and capitalized by getting ground balls.

“Our offense came together great today,” said Darien senior goalie Jameson Love. “They were a little slow at the beginning, and we were letting up on defense, not closing off the defense like we’re supposed to, but in the end our offense just pulled through and won it for us.”

And Love did give due credit his defensemen, who were able to keep all but one White breakaway shot in the fourth quarter to the outside.

“This was definitely one of our top two games of the season, with the Greenwich game being the other,” Love said. “This is definitely getting us ready for the state tournament. The way we played today shows that we can play with anybody.”

Next up for Darien: a Saturday CIAC Division II tournament home game against today’s Guilford/Barlow winner. Ridgefield will host either Trumbull or Staples in the Division I tournament on Saturday.

The former McMahon star and one-time assistant coach at Darien had a pair of sacks, three tackles, and a forced fumble in the Dragons 56-39 win at Nassau Coliseum.

The fifth year two-way player broke into the Arena Football League with the Orlando Predators in 2004, and signed as a free agent in 2007 with the Philadephia Soul. Last season, he was a member of the league’s All-Ironman team.

It’s the second mini-season of Elite Passing Academy spring passing league at Trumbull Sports Zone. Not every high school football player is here, mind you. But of the 18 teams in the league, 10 are from Fairfield County.

And it’s sort of a lineman-free zone. Yes, that’s a center snapping the ball, but the rest of the offenses consist of the quarterback, receivers and running backs. But if you are a team that is committed to passing the ball, leagues and tournaments like Elite Passing Academy’s have become a necessary offseason evil.

In short, it’s 7 on 7 football.

“It’s great repetition for all the skill athletes,” says Buff Bowen, co-founder of Elite Passing Academy. “It’s a great opportunity for all the teams to run their spread offenses and give plenty of kids reps, the starters and the back-ups.”

So who is there? Fairfield Ludlowe is still without a head coach, but New Canaan did double duty in Week one, this past Sunday, and played its scheduled game, too. Fairfield Warde is in, so is Darien, McMahon, Trumbull, Fairfield Prep, Notre Dame-Fairfield, Masuk, and Barlow.

And notables from outside the county include Foran, led by hot prospect quarterback Jake White, Woodland, Ansonia (yes, they’re throwing the ball in the Valley!), and Jack Cochran’s Whalers of New London. The Whalers are led by soon-to-be-senior quarterback Jordan Reed, who is being as heavily recruited as White.

Have passing leagues proven to help develop offenses? You can ask New Canaan. Head coach Lou Marinelli’s son, Trinity College player John Marinelli, was not there Sunday due to school commitments, but has tutored the Rams offense during the offseason.

“What 7 on 7 does is take the throwing with your quarterback and receivers to another level,” John Marinelli says. “It’s all about competition and putting the kids in a lot of different situations and see how they react.”

And it certainly helped Rams quarterback Charlie Westfal in the second half of the CIAC Class MM championship game against Hand. Westfal threw for 375 yards as New Canaan came back from a 30-13 deficit late in the third quarter to win 34-30.

The younger Marinelli was on the sidelines for that game, and says he didn’t have much to say to Westfal during the comeback.

“But what I told him was that he’s been in these situations before. Don’t panic, go through your reads and go out and let the ball fly. Just like in 7 on 7, slow down and pick them a part,” Marinelli says. “For a quarterback 7 on 7 slows down the game and gives him the ability to read defenses and pick up coverage’s. Charlie will be the first to tell you that he learned more from that experience than any film session.”

And it’s also helped develop defenses. Will Tom Brockett’s Ansonia Chargers really run the spread offense this season? Maybe not, but by doing the 7 on 7s, Marinelli says it will help prepare Ansonia for its games against Woodland and other NVL teams with vertical offenses.

Ansonia did show it’s got great cover men on defense, leading all teams with 5 “sacks” in the first week. A sack is registered when the opposing offense cannot find an open receiver in a set amount of seconds.

One warning though: Passing league success does not always translate into on-the-field championships. Last spring, Harding was one of the more dominant offenses in the Elita Passing Academy’s league, but went 0-10 in FCIAC play.

Simply put, Harding’s line and skill players did not mesh together in the regular season.

“It’s not a guarantee of success, but it does definitely benefit offenses,” Bowen says. “For teams who throw the ball, it’s a must.”

The league runs Sundays through May 18.

Three players received $500 scholarships to be used towards their college education as well: William Bass (Bassick), Richard Holmes (Danbury), and Chris Payne (Wilton).

Wilton’s Tim Eagen was introduced as the FCIAC’s coach of the year by his mentor, Tom Fujitani, who he served under as an assistant coach for several years, and thanked his assistant coaches and the Warriors’ booster club for its efforts in helping to build a top-notch program. Ridgefield’s Kevin Callahan introduced one of his former players, New Fairfield’s Andy Buchsbaum, as the SWC’s coach of the year.

Carl Cairo (Greenwich) and John Pereira (Pomperaug) received their league’s respective assistant coach of the year awards.

The scholar-athletes honered were:

• William Bass, Bassick
• Nick Verderosa, Bethel
• Chris Green, Brien McMahon
• Kenneth Cobb, Bridgeport Central
• Steven Moss, Brookfield
• Jeffrey Farrell, Bunnell
• Greg Passineau, Canterbury
• Richard Holmes, Danbury
• George Rhein, Darien
• Matthew O’Laughlin, Fairfield Ludlowe
• Thomas Marx Jr., Fairfield Warde
• Jonathan Meyers, Greenwich
• Scott Hickling, Joel Barlow
• Victor Ciancetta, Masuk
• Chris Lemoine, New Canaan
• Patrick Cassidy, New Fairfield
• Jonathan Henion, New Milford
• Eric Puffer, Newtown
• Cyprian Oyomba, Norwalk
• Patrick Purrell, Notre Dame-Fairfield
• Stephen Barton, Pomperaug
• Tyler Strittmatter, Ridgefield
• Michael Dinihanien, St. Joseph
• Jason Zins, Staples
• Justin Shumyhora, Stratford
• John O’Leary, Trinity Catholic
• Jameson Cherilus, Trumbull
• John Midy, Westhill
• Dylan Hannum, Weston
• Chris Payne, Wilton

Also honored were a few unsung heroes of the game, the referees. Without them, of course, the games wouldn’t count in the standings. Bob Seirup, who has been working with the Fairfield County Football Association for 54 seasons, was honored as its official of the year. Bill Vasutro was the Colonial Football Association’s honoree.