The Meat Grinder

And we’re off!  Week 1 is in the books, including a massive slate of enticing Alliance matchups between the major conferences. What happened? What did we learn? Well, if anything, we learned that the FCIAC, out of the starting gate, has taken a massive lead on everybody else — especially the SCC. Thanks to dominant efforts by New Canaan, Darien, Greenwich and Staples, not to mention a strong effor...

The GameTimeCT Pick'Em podcast and board has returned for Week 1 of the 2024 football season. The Rundown 0:00 - 2:33 — Intro 2:34 - 5:03 — Holy Cross at Woodland 5:03 - 8:11 — Southington at Fairfield Prep 8:12 - 13:23 — Greenwich at West Haven 13:24 - 17:48 — New Canaan at Maloney 17:49 - 20:43 — Berlin at Branford 20:44 - 23:13 — Cheshire at Darien 23:14 - 26:21 — St. Joseph at North Haven 26:2...

Kickoff, at last! Hello again and welcome to the Meat Grinder, your weekly dose of high school football in Connecticut brought to you by the gang at GameTimeCT.com and hosted by Sean Patrick Bowley and Pete Paguaga. In this first episode of Season 7, we look back at everything that's happened this past offseason, starting with the deaths of two of Connecticut's all-time great coaches, Chuck Drury...

Welcome to 16th and final Season 6 episode of The Meat Grinder, your weekly dose of high school football in Connecticut, brought to you by GameTimeCT and CT Insider. After six great championship bouts ad CCSU and UConn’s Rentschler Field, we’ve crowned our 2023 champions and voted in the final GameTimeCT Top 10 poll and the STAPLES WRECKERS are No. 1 following their thrilling, 21-20 Class LL champ...

Welcome to another thrilling edition of The Meat Grinder, your weekly dose of high school football in Connecticut with GameTimeCT's Sean Patrick Bowley and Pete Paguaga, and the weekly GameTimeCT Pick'ems Podcas: CIAC quarterfinal edition. And what a Thanksgiving week it was as we completed the CIAC state playoff field. There were upsets galore in the final Class S standings; a stunning revival fo...

Welcome back to another thrilling episode of The Meat Grinder, your weekly dose of High School Football in Connecticut and because we live in Connecticut, and we're fast approaching the last Thursday in November, everybody should know what that means. Yes, turkeys, it's Thanksgiving Football Week in Connecticut, the final regular season game of the year. It's a time to come home home, get the fam...

The GameTimeCT Pick'Em podcast and board has returned for Week 11 of the 2023 football season. THE RUNDOWN 0:00 - 2:34 — Opener 2:35 - 4:15 — Conard (1-8) at Hall (6-3) 4:16 - 5:20 — ATI (7-1) at Bullard Havens (7-2) 5:20 - 6:07 — Waterford (2-6) at Weaver (1-7) 6:08 - 7:19 — Granby/Canton (8-1) at SMSA co-op (8-1) 7:20 - 8:47 — Fairfield Prep (2-6) at Notre Dame-West Haven (2-6) 8:48 - 10:08 — Ma...

We’ve reached the penultimate week of the 2023 regular season, the week where we set the Thanksgiving table and learn, definitively, who is in and who needs what to qualify for the CIAC playoffs.  And, yes, your crack staff at GameTimeCT hunkered down with our slide rules and abacuses this weekend so that we may give you our best estimates on the latest scenarios heading into the final week and a...

Welcome to back to another episode of the Meat Grinder, your weekly dose of high school football in Connecticut. Do not adjust your YouTube or Spotify. It is Friday and it is a very special episode of the Meat Grinder. Last week’s drop of the Alliance playoff proposal got our gears going, we discussed it amongst ourselves, and then had a lengthy discussion about it with Oxford’s Joe Stochmal, a me...

The GameTimeCT Pick'Em podcast and board has returned for Week 10 of the 2023 football season. THE RUNDOWN  0:00 - 2:54 — Intro 2:55 - 4:17 — Windsor (7-1) at Berlin (6-2) 4:18 - 5:02 — Wilcox Tech (3-4) at Platt Tech (5-3) 5:03 - 6:42 — Killingly (5-3) at New London (5-3) 6:43 - 7:44 — Ludlowe (6-2) at Wilton (6-2) 7:45 - 9:07 — Oxford (8-0) at Ansonia (8-0) 9:08 - 11:05 — North Branford (4-3) at...

We knew it was coming and here it is. The Alliance brass has interrupted the season with their latest call to remove Thanksgiving Day as Connecticut's crown jewel of sporting events. The idea: Dump a century's worth tradition in favor of a balanaced schedule based on class, 50% more (whyyy??) playoff teams, the ending the season before the wrestling mats get rolled out. A win for 12 schools' winte...

GameTimeCT's Pete Paguaga and Sean Patrick Bowley are back for Week 9 of the staff pick'ems for the 2023 football season. Each and every week the duo will be selecting 10 games from across the state. THE RUNDOWN 0:00 - 4:10 — Intro  4:10 - 6:02 — CCC: Maloney (6-1) at Southington (5-2) 6:03 - 7:05 — Bullard Havens (5-2) at Wilcox Tech (3-3) 7:06 - 8:53 — Griswold/Wheeler (6-1) at Stonington (6-1)...

It was a weekend of firsts across the state as October drew to a close. Notre Dame-Fairfield is 7-0 after beating Masuk for the first time since 2005. Coming off its first loss of the season, No. 7 West Haven handed No. 4 Newtown its first loss. Shelton, meanwhile, handed No. 6 North Haven its first on-field loss of the season while returning to the top 10 poll for the first time in a month. Up no...

GameTimeCT's Pete Paguaga and Sean Patrick Bowley are back for Week 8 of the staff pick'ems for the 2023 football season. Each and every week the duo will be selecting 10 games from across the state. THE RUNDOWN 0:00 - 3:07 — Intro 3:08 - 4:46 — Maloney at Hall 4:47 - 5:41 — Thames River at Cheney Tech 5:42 - 7:34 — Stonington at Windham 7:35 - 9:46 — Wilton at Darien 9:47 - 11:19 — Seymour at Gil...

Triumph and sadness ruled yet another rainy week of football. First, at the opening of the new Ken Strong Stadium turf, North Haven — ranked in the preseason, but dropped following its forfeit to Darien Week 1 — completed its march back to the top 10 with a near-perfect 21-13 upset victory over No. 2 West Haven. The following night, Windsor, in its first game since the death of teammate Elijah-Jay...

GameTimeCT's Pete Paguaga and Sean Patrick Bowley are back for Week 7 of the staff pick'ems for the 2023 football season. Each and every week the duo will be selecting 10 games from across the state. The Rundown 0:00 - 2:21 — Intro 2:22 - 3:45 — Enfield at Berlin 3:46 - 5:03 — Wilcox Tech/Kaynor Tech at ATI 5:04 - 6:35 — Fitch at Killingly 6:36 - 8:25 — Wilton at New Canaan 8:26 - 9:09 — Holy Cros...

Welcome back to another edition of The Meat Grinder, Connecticut's award-winning high school podcast brought to you by GameTimeCT.  We've reached the midpoint of the 2023 season, and what better way to celebrate than diving into a very special Meat Grinder midseason double album. Yes, like the rock legends of old — The Beatles, Floyd, The Stones, Zep, The Who — we've got so much good stuff we're l...

GameTimeCT's Pete Paguaga and Sean Patrick Bowley are back for Week 6 of the staff pick'ems for the 2023 football season. Each and every week the duo will be selecting 10 games from across the state. The Rundown 0:00 - 4:11 — Intro 4:12 - 6:18 — Waterford at Ledyard 6:19 - 9:09 — Staples at Wilton 9:10 - 10:33 — Windsor Locks co-op at Haddam-Killingworth 10:34 - 13:18 — Lyman Hall at Hillhouse 13:...

Welcome to another edition of The Meat Grinder, Connecticut's only award winning high school football podcast, brought to you by GameTimeCT and CT Insider. It was a bye week for half the state, yet somehow we have jam-packed show because plenty happened. With everybody focused on Camren Kemp's Hamden homecoming on his birthday, it was junior quarterback Nick Conlan, who connected the biggest hayma...

GameTimeCT's Pete Paguaga and Sean Patrick Bowley are back for Week 5 of the staff pick'ems for the 2023 football season. Each and every week the duo will be selecting 10 games from across the state. The Rundown  0:00 - 2:51 — Intro 2:52 - 4:38 — Maloney at Glastonbury  4:39 - 6:31 — O'Brien Tech at VGW Tech 6:32 - 8:49 — New Canaan at St. Joseph 8:50 - 11:59 — Oxford at Woodland 12:00 - 14:51 — C...

Thanks to another round of nasty weather — this time a wave of torrential rain that drenched much of Connecticut and made playing football a slippery endeavor — it was a chaotic Week 4 of high school football. For those who played Friday night, the rain disrupted just about every football team's delicate offensive choreography, which scripted some eye-popping results. The one constant, however, wa...

GameTimeCT's Pete Paguaga and Sean Patrick Bowley are back for Week 4 of the staff pick'ems for the 2023 football season. Each and every week the duo will be selecting 10 games from across the state. THE RUNDOWN  0:00 - 4:01 — Intro 4:02 - 6:14 — Wethersfield at Berlin 6:15 - 9:25 — Bullard Havens/Kolbe at Northwest United 9:26 - 11:50 — ATI at Thames River 11:51 - 13:30 — Griswold/Wheeler at Baco...

After a rough showing in the Alliance’s first week, the FCIAC roared back with three Top 10 Alliance victories in Week 3, including No. 1 Greenwich’s thrilling 30-28 win over No. 3 Maloney, unranked Staples' 34-27 takedown of No. 2 Southington, and New Canaan’s reaffirming 33-12 win over No. 10 Windsor.  Though Newtown dampened league spirits when it rallied to beat Trumbull, Darien stifled Fairfi...

GameTimeCT's Pete Paguaga and Sean Patrick Bowley are back for Week 3 of the staff pick'ems for the 2023 football season. Each and every week the duo will be selecting 10 games from across the state. THE RUNDOWN 0:00 - 5:00 — Intro  5:01 - 7:22 — Oxford at Seymour 7:23 - 8:46 — Bullard Havens/Kolbe at Cheney Tech 8:47 - 12:11 — Capital Prep/First Achievement at Morgan/Old Saybrook/Westbrook 12:12...

Welcome to another edition of The Meat Grinder, Connecticut's only award winning high school football podcast, brought to you by GameTimeCT and CT Insider. A supposed off-week was anything but as several big results rocked the early 2023 season — Cheshire topped Shelton in overtime, Darien rallied to beat McMahon and Hand bested Fairfield Prep in overtime. All three featured crucial, if not contro...