Fairfield Ludlowe boys lacrosse coach Chris Parisi is a fan of artificial turf, but he knows it has its downside. Like those little rubber pellets that get into your shoes and cause discomfort as the game goes on.

“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.

It’s been a busy weekend for the CIAC, with state champions to crown in a ton of sports.

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.

Fairfield Ludlowe senior center fielder Mike Paloian can’t remember if he was ever intentionally walked at any level of baseball. April 25 against FCIAC rival Staples, it happened three consecutive times during the Falcons 14-6 eight-inning win.

Why? Because Staples coach Jack MacFarland said he didn’t want Paloian, who was 2-for-2 at the plate before the free passes, to beat his Wreckers single-handed.

“We’re not going to let him beat us,” MacFarland said. “If someone else is going to beat us, fine, we can sleep at night. I’ve seen it happen way too many times in high school baseball.”

Paloian has Ludlowe off to a 10-1 start, including a 10-game winning streak and a 9-0 league record. But Paloian, who has put up very impressive stats during the Falcons first 11 games of the season, may want to enjoy it while he can. That’s because in just a few short months, he will be trying to find his place as a ballplayer at University of Southern California.

Though he wasn’t given a scholarship offer, Paloian visited and worked out for the Trojans in the fall, and was invited to walk on at his father’s alma mater. And USC already has one of the top recruiting classes coming in this fall, according to the Website studentsportsbaseball.com.

But if anyone can make that big of a leap to the next level, it’s Paloian, said Ludlowe head coach Keith O’Rourke.

“He’s going to be successful at USC because he’s the type of kid that’s going to work hard and put in the time to be successful at whatever he wants to do,” O’Rourke said. “Or at the least, he will get the most out of his ability for whatever he wants to do.”

But O’Rourke says he will miss more than Paloain’s bat, glove, and speed next season. He will miss Paloain the person as well.

“If I was to have a son, I would want him to be just like Mike,” O’Rourke says. “He’s every parent’s dream. He’s a good kid, he works hard, he does the right thing in school, with his friends, as a teammate, whatever. I’ve known him since he was in sixth grade and it’s been a pleasure watching him grow into the kid that he is.”

Click below for a video interview with Paloain, which was taken after the Fairfield Ludlowe-Staples game:

Spring is here. The flowers have bloomed, it’s finally warm out… and some high school football players are spending their Sunday evenings indoors. What gives?

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.

Thirty of Fairfield County’s finest football-playing scholar-athletes were honored April 10 by the Ralph DeSantis chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. Also honored at the dinner at Continental Manor in Norwalk were the head and assistant coaches of the year in the SWC and FCIAC, as well as two officials of the year.

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.