Running late for football practice after an interview with a local newspaper, former New Canaan lineman Steve Johnson acquired the nickname “Hollywood” from several teammates in his final season as a Rams.

Although Johnson won’t be traveling to the west coast, track and field fame may be in his future as he heads to the University of Connecticut this fall.

“I’m very excited,” Johnson said. “I’m totally undecided on what I want to do. I know that I want to help people. I’m leaning towards pre-med or pre-kinesiology.”

Academics aside, Johnson also plans to continue in track and shot-put. Setting a record for himself in shot-put of 52-feet, 9-inches in the State Open, Johnson placed second in the state and fifth in New England. Yet, he has always felt that he could improve his game.

“In college I’m going to work on getting mentally focused,” he said. “It’s going to take a majority of the time at UConn so I probably won’t do any club sports.”

Still, Johnson has played a variety of sports throughout his athletic career.

“I played soccer and baseball when I was a kid and I tried lacrosse but didn’t like it,” he said. “When I was in ninth grade I did track and hurdles. I was awful.”

Johnson also did wrestling and played football in high school but found his niche throwing the shot-put.

“What makes a good shot-putter is long arms. If you’re lanky it’s better,” Johnson said. “Sophomore year I didn’t do bad but I wasn’t that good. And then I kept on lifting. Junior year I really came out of my shell and I got sixth in FCIAC. Then I kept on lifting and here I am today.”

Johnson received the coveted Sikorsky Award at the senior athletics picnic this past spring for his accomplishments.

“I felt really honored to get it because it was such a great payoff,” Johnson said. “It’s a really prestigious award.”

Selected to play for the Fairfield County All-Star football team, Johnson dropped out in order to avoid injury before heading off to do Division I track in college.

In the meantime before setting off to school, Johnson works out for about 90 minutes each day in between working at the Waveny Park Pool snack bar and spending time with his friends. He also plans on shot-putting with several athletes from Danbury.

“I’m just trying to be focused on staying close to my friends and trying to make some good memories before I go [to school],” Johnson said.

Former Wilton lineman Joe Smith was told to dislike people only because of the color of their football uniform. But he’s become good friends with someone who wears the red and black on New Canaan, former Ram Kyle Duncan.

And that has nothing to do with the Hall of Fame Classic, which has Smith (left) and Duncan as teammates on the Fairfield County team which will play New Haven County at West Haven High School tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.

Smith and Duncan will take their games - and their personal belongings - to Bowdoin in a just a few weeks.

“I feel pretty fortunate to be able to go up to Maine with someone I already know, and that he’s a nice kid, and we have some similarities,” Smith said.

That includes postseason accolades. Both were CHSCA All-State offensive linemen in their respective divisions. Both started on the defensive line, too.

“I kind of get a preview of what the next four years are going to be like, even though I’m going to be on the defensive side of the ball and he’ll be on offense,” said Duncan (left). “I really think [Bowdoin] should be getting two quality football players.”

Smith chose Bowdoin over several NESCAC and Ivy League schools, and says he was very close to heading to Cornell. But he knew Bowdoin was the school for him when he set foot on campus for the first time.

“I know I’m not going to play in the NFL,” Smith said. “I wanted to balance the academics and the athletics.”

But right now, Smith is taking a crash course in New Canaan’s spread offense. After four years of starting in the three-point stance, Smith is adjusting to a two-point stance.

But Duncan, who went through the adjustment two seasons ago, has helped mentor his new friend - and his Fairfield County teammates.

“Going to the two point stance, it’s kind of weird and you are back on your heels a little bit, but the kids here have really started to pick it up well,” Duncan said. “He’s a great offensive lineman. If he was in this spread system for even a year of so, he would have just been great.”

Another plus for Duncan and the Fairfield County team - three of the five offensive linemen from the Class MM state champion Rams will be protecting former Rams quarterback Charlie Westfal.

“It’s absolutely awesome. I never thought I’d get a chance to play again with Mike Glass and Charley Donnelly ever again,” Duncan said. “Especially when we’ll be protecting Charlie Westfal. It’s like old times, it’s great.”

Smith plans to major in psychology, while Duncan is looking at a major in government and legal studies.

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.

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.

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.

Just before the official start of the spring season started, Benedict was denied a court injunction to have Whitten’s hiring overturned, and will now have a hearing in court on April 21. As you can see here in the court filing, Benedict has named superintendent David Abbey, principal Tony Pavia, athletic director Jay Egan, and the New Canaan Board of Education in the suit.

Coach Benedict has the right to sue whoever he wants, bring up injuctions, and whatnot until he turns blue in the face. But at this point, what good will it do? Right now it’s all about getting the last word in edgewise and getting it on the public record. And sometimes, that’s not a good idea.

Dragging this out is only going to divide the New Canaan players that Benedict allegedly loves. Whitten has a hard enough job coming in and replacing a legend, and may be rebuilding with a lot of younger talent playing over seniors. The first season of the Whitten era will be a mentally rough one for everyone involved, and having a court hearing come up in the middle of the season sure won’t help.

I think the One and Only Phil Soto-Ortiz sums it up best in this editorial for the New Canaan News-Review. And for more background about the Benedict-Whitten-Administration triangle, click here for an article be John Kovach, the editor of the New Canaan Advertiser.

And for full disclosure, Howard Benedict was my favorite teacher in high school, and I wasn’t turned on to reading, writing, or really doing anything in the classroom but daydream for six hours until I had him for two classes my senior year. I have him to thank for getting my ass in gear and helping me become a somewhat productive citizen.

My floor hockey career ended as a sophomore in high school when I jumped in front of Kevin Arrix, a sophomore on the New Canaan varsity, to block a shot and ended up with something like 30 stitches above my right eye. (Kevin apologizes to this day, even though I take the blame)

But you don’t have to own a stick or know how to skate to understand that FCIAC teams cannot compete at the CIAC Division I level.

Why? Because the FCIAC’s Division I teams play everyone in in the league once, then participate in the FCIAC’s winnerless holiday tournament, and only schedule four out of conference games each.

This is great for Division II teams like Fairfield and Trinity Catholic, both of which were in the Frozen Four, and will benefit emerging Division III programs like St. Joseph.

But let’s break it down here: Fairfield Prep finished the regular season 9-10-1 and won the CIAC Division I championship as the 11 seed. Notre Dame-Fairfield was the runner up, the 9 seed, and had an 11-8-1 regular season. Prep didn’t play any games outside of D-I, Notre Dame played two games against D-II opponents.

What did FCIAC finalists Darien and New Canaan do? Darien played 11 of 20 regular season contests against D-I foes, New Canaan played 10. Darien played two D-II teams in the FCIAC playoffs, New Canaan beat one.

Needless to say, playing lesser opponents during the regular season doesn’t help when it comes to the CIAC D-I tournament, where FCIAC teams went 0-4 in the first round.

Now look at Trinity Catholic and Fairfield. Trinity Catholic had nine D-I games, including two in the FCIAC playoffs. Fairfield also skated against nine, including one in the playoffs and East Haven, the D-I’s top seed, in the regular season. They were clearly ready for trips to Ingalls Rink.

So what’s the FCIAC to do if it wants to get better? Or, better yet, keep its best players from running off to Prep schools? Here’s three ideas:

1. Take a lesson from the SWC and break the FCIAC down to D-I and D-II/III. The D-I teams will play each other, and the D-II/III teams play in their realm. Then make each school go out of conference to find opponents. This was a rare year for Notre Dame, which actually played against a pair of SWC D-II opponents. Fairfield Prep doesn’t touch anyone of the SCC’s second-tier schools.
2. Abandon the FCIAC holiday tournament, which doesn’t really seem to serve a purpose but to fill the schedule for two more games. Find some out-of-state foes like Prep and Notre Dame do when they get in prestigious tournaments. Heck, some D-II schools, I think Sheehan was one, played a tournament in Quebec.
3. Consider an end to the postseason FCIAC championship tournament. Not even separate D-I and D-II/III tournaments. You’re adding up to three extra games before the CIAC tournament. And, you have to cram your required (up to) 20 regular seasons into one less week to get ready for FCIACs. Maybe that’s a good thing if you’re playing similar foes. But maybe it’s also wearing FCIAC teams down.

Will all this help the FCIAC improve as a hockey conference? Yes. The D-II/III teams can fill their schedules with D-Is who want to play, or stay in their division. And the FCIACs D-Is can be freed up to take on teams like Tri-Town, Simsbury, Conard, and Glastonbury more often.