ZANOR: Sea Unicorns earn awards, high school football rankings and more
Just thought I’d empty out my reporter's notebook while securing tickets for Taylor Swift| The Eras Tour concert film, which debuts on thousands of AMC Theatre screens on Oct. 13. Yup, going to have to keep my “Getaway Car,” and “The Man” friendship bracelets on for a few more months …
*The Futures League has announced its annual award winners. Kudos to Norwich Sea Unicorns third baseman Dean Ferrara, who was selected the Most Valuable Player, and Sea Unicorns first-year manager Kevin Murphy, who was voted the Manager of the Year. Norwich fan favorite Johnny Knox was also the Sea Unicorns recipient - one player from each team is chosen - for the Adam Keenan Sportsmanship and Scholarship Award.
Ferrara posted a .422 average in 43 games for the champion Sea Unicorns, setting a new single-season league record that had stood since former Bryant University catcher and current New York Yankees prospect Mickey Gasper hit .421 for the Nashua Silver Knights in 2016. Ferrara was also a stalwart defender, committing only one error at his primary third base position while also seeing time at shortstop.
Murphy is the first Norwich skipper to earn Futures League Manager of the Year honors after leading the Sea Unicorns to 39 wins and their first regular-season championship in franchise history. Murphy was in his first season as the Norwich manager after spending 2022 as an assistant. A former player at Eastern Connecticut State University and Nichols College, Murphy is the volunteer assistant coach at Quinnipiac University.
More: Football preview: Thames River, Quinebaug Valley look to continue past success
Other award recipients include: Francis Ferguson, Vermont (Pitcher of the Year); Brian Hart, New Britain (Relief Pitcher of the Year); Matty Warren, Worcester (Defensive Player of the Year); Will Fosberg, Nashua (Top Pro Prospect); and Dylan Vigue, Worcester (Top Pro Prospect, Pitcher).
*It was great visiting football practices at NFA, Killingly, Plainfield, and Griswold. All four teams have high expectations this season, which kicks off on Friday, Sept. 8. I’m looking forward to seeing NFA’s offense click a little more in Erik Larka’s second season at the helm; watching the Killingly juggernaut try to make their eighth straight playoff appearance; hoping Griswold-Wheeler contends for a Class S playoff spot during their first season playing on their gorgeous turf field; and wishing Patrick Smith and his hard working staff some success during a major rebuilding project.
*The good folks over at GameTimeCT wanted the state’s media voters to send in their preseason Top 10 football poll this week. I hate the preseason poll because nobody knows a heck of a lot about the teams outside of their coverage area. I tend to vote for historically great programs and recent state champions.
Here is my preseason Top 15:
Ansonia
Greenwich
New Canaan
Fairfield Prep
Southington
Darien
St. Joseph
Staples
Trumbull
Killingly
Wilton
West Haven
Glastonbury
Notre Dame-West Haven
North Haven
*The word out of Putnam Science Academy, the defending national prep basketball champions, is to keep an eye on Amdy Ndiaye.
Mustangs coach Tom Espinosa, whose teams have won four national titles in six years, has compared Ndaiye, a 6-10 wing from Senegal, to former Putnam great and UConn big man Akok Akok.
“He’s a guy who can block shots, run the floor, and hit 3s,” Espinosa said.
Ndiaye’s father, Ndongo, played for Providence and Delaware in the late 90s before embarking on a professional career overseas.
More: Football preview: Griswold-Wheeler has high expectations in 2023
“I was uncomfortable about sports because most of the time they just talked about my height. But that’s what made me start playing basketball,” Ndaiye said. “And now I am here at Putnam, and we’re learning from each other but this group is so talented. This is a blessing to have this opportunity.”
*It’s amazing how good the UConn football team looks, especially on defense, in year two of the Jim Mora Era. This is a program that went 1-11 in 2018 (they beat Rhode Island), 2-10 in 2019 (they beat Wagner and UMass), didn’t play in 2020 (COVID), and went 1-11 in 2021 (they beat Yale).
Last year’s six-win season and bowl appearance under Mora might just be the greatest coaching job in college football history.
Still, the Huskies fell short in their season opener on Thursday night, dropping a 24-14 decision to N.C. State at festive Rentschler Field.
“We were all disappointed,” Mora said. “We didn’t show up tonight to lose the game, we didn’t show up to play a close one, we didn’t show up to run and come close. We showed up to win... It’s a very disappointed locker room.”
*After seeing women’s pro hockey leagues come and go over the past five decades, it was recently announced that a new Professional Women’s Hockey League will begin play in January.
Unlike the WNBA, which is still subsidized by the NBA, the privately backed women’s pro hockey league has deep pocketed investors who are in it for the long haul.
I’m intrigued. The new league’s Original Six teams are based in NHL markets with track records of supporting hockey: Boston, New York City’s tri-state area, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.
The teams names and logos have not been determined. I can’t wait to see the colors, logo, and team name for the Boston franchise.
*Another NFL season begins this week and there’s no better place to be than the Season Kick-Off Tailgate Party on Thursday, Sept. 7 at the Mohegan Sun FanDuel Sportsbook. From 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., guests can catch all of the live action on the Sportsbook’s 140-foot video wall, the largest in the Northeast, while enjoying the ultimate tailgating atmosphere prior to the Kansas City Chiefs-Detroit Lions game. The Tailgate Party will feature game-day grub, ice-cold beverages, live music by DJ Flip, high-energy camaraderie with fellow fans and a special meet and greet with the Patriots Cheerleaders!
*STUCK IN THE ‘70s: On Sept. 3, 1975, Cecil Cooper hit a solo home run off 20-game winner Jim Palmer in the top of the 10th inning to lift the first-place Boston Red Sox to a 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles before 30,968 fans at Memorial Stadium. The Sox moved seven games ahead of the second place Orioles in the American League East.
Red Sox pitcher Rick Wise, who improved to 18-8, went the distance, outdueling Palmer by getting Mark Belanger, Ken Singleton, and Bobby Grich in order in the bottom of the 10th.
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: Sea Unicorns, UConn football, a new hockey league, and other thoughts
