Zanor column: A quick peek at high school football, Norwich Sea Unicorn schedules
Just thought I’d empty out my reporter’s notebook while looking forward to Saturday night's 3-point shooting contest between Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu ...
Clean slate
It’s never too early to look at high school football schedules. The Connecticut High School Football Alliance announced its 2024 matchups, some 100 games between six of the eight CIAC conferences (the NVL and Pequot do not participate).
The highlight, of course, is Joel Barlow (Redding) traveling to the Quiet Corner on Nov. 1 for a rematch of the 2017 Class M state championship game, won by Killingly, 41-14.
Here are the football alliance matchups to circle on your fall calendar:
Week 1 (Sept. 13): Ledyard at Thames River, Quinebaug Valley at Plainfield, Sheehan at Griswold, Norwich Free Academy at Fairfield Ludlowe
Week 2 (Sept. 20): Bunnell at Norwich Free Academy
Week 3 (Sept. 27): Thames River at New London, Stonington at Quinebaug Valley, Fairfield Warde at Norwich Free Academy, Sheehan at Killingly
Week 5 (Oct. 11): West Haven at Norwich Free Academy, Killingly at Guilford
Week 6 (Oct. 18): Plainfield at East Haven
Week 8 (Nov. 1): Barlow at Killingly
Back to the Futures
The Futures League unveiled its schedule this week. Your defending champion Norwich Sea Unicorns open on Friday, May 24, against the rival New Britain Bees at New Britain Stadium.
Opening Night at Dodd Stadium will take place Saturday, May 25, when the Sea Unicorns host the Road Warriors. The home opener will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a final tribute to the 2023 Futures League Championship team.
The Sea Unicorns 2024 schedule features a total of 58 games with 32 games played at Dodd Stadium. The home schedule features one home game on a Monday, four on Tuesdays, five on Wednesdays, five on Thursdays, five on Fridays, seven on Saturdays and five on Sundays.
Game times will be 6:30 p.m. for all games Tuesday through Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sundays.
There will be four exceptions to these times. The Sea Unicorns will play at 4:00 p.m. on Memorial Day (Monday, May 27), and will host two Education Day games (Wednesday, May 29 and Wednesday, June 5) and the annual Camp Day game (Wednesday, July 17), with all of these games starting at 11:00 a.m.
The Sea Unicorns annual Pi Day sale is March 14. Fans can purchase Reserve section tickets for the Opening Night game for just $3.14 each. Tickets will be available online, via phone or by stopping into the Dodd Stadium Ticket Office.
In addition to the 32 regular season home games, the Sea Unicorns will host the 2024 Futures League All Star Experience on July 22-23, which will include the Home Run Derby as part of the Monday festivities and the All Star Game as part of the Tuesday festivities.
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Trivia time
Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who is in his seventh NBA season, turns just 26 next month. Tatum has scored 11,276 career points and is on a rapid pace to become one of the Celtics' all-time leading scorers. Who has scored the most points in Boston Celtics history?
A Beanpot beauty
Boston’s Beanpot Tournament never disappoints!
Senior forward Gunnarwolfe Fontaine scored with just 28.6 seconds left in overtime to lift Northeastern past No. 3 Boston University, 4-3, in the 71st Beanpot championship game Monday night at Boston’s TD Garden.
"It feels amazing," Fontaine told NESN on the ice after the victory. "When you can win with your brothers out here, there's nothing like it."
If you think the biggest dynasty in sports right now resides in Kansas City … you’re wrong. This was Northeastern’s fifth Beanpot title in six years. It’s been great seeing the Huskies challenge Boston University and Boston College in recent years. BU or BC won every Beanpot title between 1994 and 2017.
Fontaine, of East Greenwich (R.I.), also scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Harvard in last week’s semifinal.
I’d say Gunnarwolfe – is there a better name in hockey? – had a pretty solid week.
More: Plainfield's Johnson wins ECC all-around title
Trivia answer
John Havlicek is No. 1 on the Celtics all-time scoring list. Hondo scored 26,395 points, all before the 3-point line came to the NBA. Paul Pierce is second with 24,021 points, while Larry Bird is third with 21,791 in 13 seasons.
Hoping the returns return
One of my pet peeves every NFL season is the lack of kickoff returns. In the guise of safety, Roger Goodell and his minions have virtually eliminated one of the game’s most exciting plays. And yet, it’s still okay for a punt returner to get blasted by an oncoming defender the second he catches a punt.
Who remembers Mack Herron returning kickoffs for the Patriots in the 1970s? He was called Mini Mack. He was thrilling. How about Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, Desmond Howard, and Mel Gray? Heck, even Gale Sayers returned kickoffs for the Bears. How exciting was a kick return from Deion Sanders? Or Devin Hester, who returned the opening kick for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLI and is the newest member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
This year’s Super Bowl was the first with no kickoff returns. All 13 kicks went deep or out of the end zone. Wouldn’t a kick return for a touchdown from, say, a Deebo Samuel, or a Chiefs speedster, become an iconic Super Bowl moment and change the momentum and outcome of the game?
Let’s bring back the kickoff return specialist to the NFL.
Stuck in the '70s
On Feb. 15, 1975, Billboard’s Top 100 chart was: 1. “You’re No Good” - Linda Ronstadt; 2. “Pick Up The Pieces” - The Average White Band; 3. “Best of My Love” - The Eagles; 4. “Some Kind of Wonderful” - Grand Funk; 5. “Black Water” - The Doobie Brothers.
Every one of these songs still stands the test of time. And yes, I still have a Linda Ronstadt poster.
Jimmy Zanor is a sportswriter for the Norwich Bulletin and can be reached at jzanor@norwichbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter@jzanorNB.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Zanor column: Boston Beanpot, Norwich Sea Unicorns and Billboard charts
