The Day's All-Area Football Player of the Year: Thames River's Seth Cunningham
Dec. 24—Rhythms of high school sports in this corner of the world often develop according to an unwritten script: The Eastern Connecticut Conference is the de facto varsity. All others are something less.
And now along comes Seth Cunningham with an absorbing, "not so fast, my friend."
The decision to choose The Day's 2021 All-Area Football Player of the Year wasn't difficult. Cunningham, a junior running back/linebacker from the Thames River Crusaders, a trioperative among St. Bernard, Norwich Tech and Grasso Tech, ran for 1,688 yards and 13 touchdowns for a team that missed the state playoffs by one game.
And yet Cunningham was surprised by the honor, perhaps because of the way local sports are perceived.
"It's an honor and a surprise," Cunningham said. "All I know is that are a lot of good players around here."
Cunningham rarely came off the field for the Crusaders, who finished 8-2 and missed winning the Connecticut Technical Conference by the same narrow margin as they missed the playoffs. They did so with Cunningham as a two-way starter providing a ground game for quarterback Jake Brenek who threw for 1,520 yards and 17 touchdowns.
They, along with teammates Xavier Jackson and Dom Martinez, among others, illustrated that technical school football, at least for 2021, would have been quite competitive with their ECC brethren. ECC officials have worked Thames River and Quinebaug Valley into the league scheduling matrix next season, giving the tech school co-ops two games apiece against ECC competition.
"We just wanted to show that we could be competitive with anybody," Cunningham said. "You hear a lot of things about what we can't do. The season didn't end the way we wanted it to, but I think we showed we could play with anybody."
Cunningham was noticed throughout the conference. On the night of perhaps the season's toughest loss, when Thames River squandered a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter at Cheney Tech, Cheney coach Adam Starvish remained quite complimentary.
"Thames River has as tough of an offense as there is in this league to stop," he said. "It's hard to defend when they have a quarterback who can really throw it (Brenek) and a running back (Cunningham) who is very hard to bring down."
Cunningham lives in Griswold. He chose Norwich Tech because his brother had a positive experience there. Cunningham studies HVAC and hopes to land a job next season while still attending school.
A technical school's academic curriculum, set by the state, is the same as every other public high school's. Trade school students cycle through academic and shop (trade) rotations throughout the year, the best and brightest of which qualify for "WBL" or Work Based Learning. Those who meet the criteria interview for real jobs and earn official apprenticeships through the state Department of Labor, accruing hours toward being able to test in their chosen field.
"I've always been more of a hands-on learner and I like working with my hands," Cunningham said. "Hopefully, next year, I can find a job."
Thames River coach Craig Sylvester might have a task to replace Brenek. But the season wasn't over for 10 minutes on Thanksgiving Eve after a disappointing loss at Quinebaug Valley when Sylvester was already looking forward to next year.
"We'll be back," Sylvester said. "I've still got Seth Cunningham coming back."
