There may have only been four schools involved - and technically only three teams - in the first-ever Pamby Motors Strongest Man Competition, but it looks like the foundation has been built for the future.

Football players from Ridgefield, Bridgeport Central, Newtown, and Stamford high schools competed in such events as the tire roll, the truck pull, and the Viking press today at Ridgefield High School’s Tiger Hollow.

How do these events relate to football? On the surface, they may not seem to translate. But as Ridgefield strength and conditioning coach Pete McLean (see video below) explained, what the kids did on the field is equal to their individual offseason training programs.

Even the sandbag shuttle - where athletes have to carry a sandbag 40 yards, drop it on a mat, and sprint back for another bag - is part of the everyday conditioning.

“It’s 200 yards with a sandbag,” said Ridgefield fullback Mike McKnight, who won that individual event. “You can feel your legs getting heavier as it goes on.”

Based on the final event - the tug-of-war - Newtown took home the first title, and a $1,000 donation to its athletic department from Pamby Motors. Though undersized, the Nighthawks had no problem knocking off Bridgeport Central in the finals.

The big winner on the day was Stamford junior linebacker Khairi Fortt, who won two events, placed second in one, and placed in all six.

Individual results:

Truck Pull:

1. David Bray, Newtown
2. Jaydell Roy, Central
3. John Aminiti, Newtown
4. Anthony Julbes, Stamford
5. Stephen Saprenza, Newtown
6. Khairi Fortt, Stamford

Tire Flip:

1. Julbes
2. Joe Sullivan, Ridgefield
3. Patrick Wrabelesky, Stamford
4. Soprenza
5. Fortt
6. Giovanni Marmalejas, Stamford

Stone Carry:

1. Fortt
2. Bray
3. Wrobleski
4. Sullivan
5. Mike McKnight, Ridgefield
6. Mike Sheldon, Ridgefield

Dead Lift and Hold

1. Fortt
2. Wrobeleski
3. Jubles
4. Sullivan
5. Soprenza
6. Bray

Viking Press:

1. Albert Wright, Central
2. Roy
3. Wrobeleski
4. Marmalejas
5. Sean Brown, Central
6. Dan Sheldon, Ridgefield, and Fortt

Sand Bag Shuttle

1. McKnight
2. Fortt
3. Shaquan Amour, Stamford
4. Wright
5. Sullivan
6. Stephen Supienza, Newtown

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.

And this is not your ordinary weightlifting competition, says Ridgefield strength and conditioning coach Pete McLean, who has organized the event. The events in the competition will not mimic what high school football players do on the field. But if players and teams are keeping up with their offseason strength and conditioning, the events will be natural.

Translation: Competitors who have not hit the weights during the offseason will be exposed, McLean says. That’s because the events can be done with ease if an athlete is well conditioned and has a good teaching platform in the basic core lifts (squat, dead lift, clean, jerk press, and various horizontal pulling skills).

“As an aside, we have been using these types of training tools in our strength program for years and most innovative strength coaches have employed various power and speed strength exercises into their programs,” McLean said.

The competition was originally slated for May, but Ridgefield head football coach Kevin Callahan said there were too many conflicts with spring season playoffs. So the competition was moved to after spring football.

Here’s how the competition works:

There will be six events, scored on a 12-10-8-6-4-2 basis:

1. Monster tire flip
   Flip a tractor tire end over end 30 yds for time. Fastest time wins
2. Dead Lift and hold
   Dead lift a 315 LB barbell to lockout position and hold for time. Longest hold will win
3. Viking Press
   Athlete will press a 185 LB bar overhead for as may reps as possible (1 minute time limit). Maximum reps win
4. Scottish Stones
   Athlete will carry two Scottish stones (approx. 90 lbs. .each) 40 yds and back. Fastest time wins
5. Truck Pull
   Athlete will pull a truck attached to a rope hand over hand 20 yds (athlete will be seated in a stable position)
6. Sand Bag
   ShuttleAthlete will carry one sand bag (approx. 70 lbs) 25 yds, drop the bag, sprint back to the start and repeat for 5 bags. Fastest time will win.

And there is a bonus team event: Using a tournament format, each team will compete in team tug of war (five athletes per team). The winner will receive 10 team points.

Each athlete will compete in every event, which will occur concurrently. At the conclusion of each event the athletes will rotate to the next event. The pace in which we complete each event will depend on the number of athletes competing, but we will allow enough time for each athlete to perform and recover between events.

At the conclusion, both an individual winner and a team champion will be crowned. The winning team will receive a $1,000 prize courtesy of Pamby Motors of Ridgefield, which will be donated to the winning school’s athletic department.

After squeaking into the FCIAC and CIAC playoffs last year, the Tigers are undefeated at 9-0. And that includes a first-ever victory over arch-rival Wilton, and an upset win last Monday over national powerhouse Greenwich.

So what’s the difference between this year and last, when Ridgefield went 8-11 on the season?

“Last year we talked to them about expecting to be that good, and they’re really buying into it,” said Ridgefield head coach Andy Stockfisch after the Tigers 12-4 win over St. Joseph on Saturday. “This year they really understand that they need to focus on one game at a time, and treat each game like a business trip.”

And another thing that is helping the Tigers: Stockfisch won’t let the team rest on its laurels.

“There are a number of things that we need to talk about just from this game,” Stockfisch said. “Never let them be satisfied with their performance, no matter how big the win is, how great of a play they make, or the opportunities they have. They need to always want to do better.”

The Tigers take on SWC front-runner New Fairfield tomorrow, a team that features Duke-bound long-stick midfielder C.J. Costabile, the sixth-ranked player in the nation according to TAKKLE.com.

But Ridgefield counters with one of the best attacks in the country as well, Matt White. Ranked 19th in the nation, according to TAKKLE, White, a junior, has already given a verbal commitment to University of Virginia.

And thanks to White, and the team’s undefeated record, Stockfisch thinks his phone will ring often this summer, with college coaches on the other end wanting to find out about the Tigers.

“Any time when you get a team of this caliber that is beating some of the best teams in the state, you’re going to have some players like Matt White who have been seen and going to get seen,” Stockfisch said. “This summer I feel I’ll field 50 calls from college coaches about all sorts of kids on this roster.”

LocalSportsFeed founder Tim Parry sat down with White for an interview after his five-goal, four-assist performance against the Cadets. Here’s what White had to say about the 2008 Tigers, his opportunity to play at Virginia, and about the rumor that he won’t be back for a third season as Ridgefield’s starting quarterback this fall:

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.

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.