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Paula Hagopian's talent on the soccer field is so obvious she was named Connecticut's Gatorade Player of the Year even though her Kingswood Oxford team finished with a record below .500 last season.

Hagopian, a senior forward, collected 13 goals and 10 assists as a senior, when Kingswood Oxford went 5-7-2. She was also the 2011 Connecticut Soccer Coaches' Association Player of the Year, and has twice been selected as an All-American by the National Soccer Coaches' Association of America.

“Paula is so strong that defenders bounce off her,” said Matt Micros, a club coach with Connecticut FC. “She can hold the ball up well and also spin defenders with ease. What she lacks in technique she more than makes up for with power and pace.”

Hagopian led Kingswood Oxford to the 2010 New England Prep School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class B championship and completed her career with 56 goals and 35 assists. She will continue her soccer career at Yale next fall.

Past winners of the award include Riley Houle (2010–11, Windham), Kate McCarthy, (2009-10, Loomis Chaffee), Jessica Schloth (2008–09, St. Joseph), Alex Uscilla (2007-08, St. Joseph), and Bianca D’Agostino (2006-07, Loomis Chaffee).

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Temple coach Steve Addazio's familiarity with the football landscape in Connecticut has paid off this month, when Temple received verbal commitments from two former Connecticut high school standouts: running back Montrell Dobbs (Ansonia) and 6-foot-1, 215-pound linebacker Tyler Matakevich (St. Joseph).

Both Dobbs and Matakevich graduated from high school in 2011, and played prep school football at Milford Academy in New Berlin, N.Y., last season.

Addazio is a Connecticut native who played at Central Connecticut State (1978-81) and coached at Cheshire High School (1988-94).

Dobbs originally committed to Connecticut, but could not gain admission because of an academic issue. He said he thought about playing for Marshall, until Temple entered the picture. He met with Addazio and Temple assistant coach Sean McGowan last Friday. Temple extended a scholarship offer Tuesday.

“I really didn't have to think about it much, especially since Tyler and I have become good friends and he's going there,” Dobbs said. “I wanted to stay closer to home anyway. I was a good fit for me.”

Dobbs rushed for 3,445 yards and scored 45 touchdowns during his senior season at Ansonia. He was Milford Academy's offensive MVP last season.

Dobbs said he may be a partial qualifier and not allowed to play next season.

“I don't know if I'm going to be playing this year,” he said. “I'm gonna find that out. All I know is I'm definitely going to school at Temple.”

An injury forced Matakevich to miss the first five games of his senior season, when he helped St. Joseph win the second of back-to-back Class S championships. St. Joseph beat a Dobbs-led Ansonia team 49-28 to win the 2010 championship. Matakevich scored four touchdowns in that victory.

Matakevich was a two-time all-state selection who caught Temple's eye at a postseason college combine.

“I love everything about Temple,” Matakevich told the Connecticut Post. “I'm so happy to finally get this done after all that hard work. It's finally paid off.”

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Losses don’t come much tougher than the one the Southington High School baseball team suffered against Newington in the Class LL championship game.

Southington thought it had won the title when Matt Spruill scored on Sal Romano’s double in the eighth inning Monday, but the teams played on after home plate umpire Dave Bindas ruled that Spruill never touched home plate and Spruill was called out on an appeal play.

Newington went on to claim the championship by posting a 3-2 victory in 10 innings.

“I heard the crowd and it was their side cheering,” Southington coach Charlie Lembo told WFSB Channel 3 in Hartford. “Then I found out the umpire ruled that he missed home plate. I didn’t see it, but Dave’s a good umpire so I’ll have to go with that call.”

Pat Meucci reached on a single in the 10th and scored the game-winning run from second base on an infield throwing error.

That gave 17th-seeded Newington (17-8) the program’s first state championship.

Newington’s Cole Bryant pitched all 10 innings to earn the win. He threw 176 pitches, struck out 16 and held Southington to six hits.

Romano also pitched a complete game (146 pitches). All three Newington runs were unearned.

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It took Bob DeMayo 53 years to record 799 victories as North Haven High School’s varsity baseball coach. The wait for victory No. 800 may have felt just as long.

After DeMayo collected his 799th victory when North Haven beat Wilbur Cross 14-0, DeMayo had to endure one-run losses to Branford (4-3) and Foran (4-3). Foran pulled out its victory by scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Then North Haven made DeMayo wait until the 12th inning of Monday’s game against Xavier before it pulled out a 6-5 win and handed DeMayo victory No. 800.

“I know it’s a milestone and I know I’m close to the end of my career probably, so it’s certainly nice,” DeMayo told the Post-Chronicle. “To see a lot of my former players this week and all the letters I’ve gotten, it’s just been really nice. It does mean something. I’m just surprised it meant so much to other people. That’s the nicest thing.”

North Haven prevailed when Kevin Erbe walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th. Mike Acampora pitched five innings to collect his first varsity victory in the milestone win.

The game was played on North Haven’s home field, which was named in DeMayo’s honor in 2009.

DeMayo began coaching at North Haven in 1959. His teams have won four state championships.

According to the National High School Sports Record Book, Gene Schultz of Kee High School in Lansing, Iowa, has collected more wins than any other high school baseball coach. Schultz began the 2011 season with 1,636 victories.

TARPEY SELECTS WILLIAM & MARY
Fairfield Prep’s Terry Tarpey, a 6-foot-5 guard/forward, gave a verbal commitment to play basketball at William & Mary on Tuesday.

Tarpey, a junior, averaged 17 points per game last season, when Fairfield Prep finished with a 21-7 record following a loss to St. Joseph in the Class LL championship game.

William & Mary competes in the Colonial Athletic Association.

STAPLES GETS SECOND CHANCE
The Westhill softball team defeated Staples 5-3 on April 18, but Staples protested the game and had the protest upheld by the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference.

The game will be replayed from the point of contention May 15.

The controversy occurred with no outs in the first inning and Westhill’s Allie Souza on third base. Staples pitcher Sam Saccomano dropped the ball during her windup and was called for making an illegal pitch.

Souza was allowed to score on the play, which caused Staples coach Mark Giordano to protest the game. He claimed the pitch should have been ruled a ball, and the runner should not have been allowed to advance.

The FCIAC ruled that Giordano’s interpretation of the rule was correct.

PASQUALONI WILL SPEAK AT FOOTBALL DINNER
Connecticut’s northern chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame will hold its scholar-athlete award dinner May 15 (1 p.m.) at the Aqua Turf in Southington.

University of Connecticut coach Paul Pasqualoni will be the event’s featured speaker, and Kent’s Todd Marble will be honored as the Coach of the Year. The following players will also be recognized: Jason Barnes (Kent), Marcus Biggins (Farmington), Kyle Decker (Simsbury), Joe Dellaquila (Berlin), Nicholas DeNardo (Rocky Hill), Seth DeValve (Manchester), Henry Downes (East Catholic), Jonathan Esposito (Conard), Reid Gustafson (Conard), Josh Helmkamp (Simsbury), Thomas Higgins (Rockville), Steven Hild (Kingswood-Oxford), Alex Kaczmarek (South Windsor), Zachary Lombard (Manchester), Colin Pavano (Avon), Greg Pendergast (South Windsor), Ryan Peloquin (St. Paul), Cody Pudzinski (Torrington), Nick Quattro (Canton), Franco Serrao (Wethersfield) and David Shainess (Glastonbury).

CROSS COUNTRY COACH ON THE MOVE
Xavier cross country coach Dave Kraszewski will leave his current coaching position at the end of the 2011 school year to coach the men’s and women’s cross country teams at Salve Regina, a Division III school in Newport, R.I.

Kraszewski left Portland and began coaching at Xavier in 2009. Xavier won the Class LL and State Open championships that year. Xavier finished fourth in the State Open meet last season.

The Portland girls won 52 consecutive dual meets and three consecutive Class S championships during Kraszewski’s tenure there.

ST. JOSEPH STAYS PERFECT
The St. Joseph baseball team trailed by three runs entering the bottom of the seventh inning, but rallied for a 6-5 victory Tuesday.

Tyler Matakevich scored the game-winning run on an error with one out in the inning. The Cadets raised their record to 12-0 overall and 10-0 in the FCIAC.

DARIEN MAINTAINS POLL POSITION
The Darien boys' lacrosse team, which improved its record to 9-2 by beating Fairfield-Ludlowe 17-4 Tuesday, is ranked No. 14 in the latest LaxPower national rankings.

Roger Brown has covered high school sports in New England since 1992. He currently covers high school and college football in the Northeast for ESPN/Scouts Inc.

St. Joseph may have resuscitated its season.

Written off and out of the state’s top 10 following two losses and the temporary loss of its best player, St. Joseph returned its name to the statewide mix Saturday with a thrilling 28-27 victory over New Canaan.

Drama defined this one. After New Canaan — ranked No. 2 in the state and seventh in the latest ESPNBoston.com New England poll — tied the game at 21-all in the fourth quarter, Pat Mulligan returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to put St. Joseph back up a score. But New Canaan clawed back again with a 10-yard touchdown pass with two seconds left to make it 28-27. But they too were dashed when St. Joseph’s Jerry Kramer broke up the potential game-winning two-point conversion pass attempt.

When the dust settled, St. Joseph pumped new life into its playoff hopes following early-season losses to Wilton and Darien.

Tyler Matakevich, who missed the first five games with a broken bone in his right foot, rushed seven times for 26 yards and a touchdown. But the emotional lift of his return and defensive play couldn’t be measured.

New Canaan (5-1) had outscored its previous opponents, 237-21. Those five foes also had combined for just three wins before the weekend.

In other games:

• Top-ranked Xavier, the No. 3 team in the ESPNBoston.com New England poll, held off Shelton, 14-7, Friday thanks to Jovan Santos’ strip of Shelton quarterback Jonathan Groth with 30 seconds to play inside Xavier’s 10-yard line. It was just another drag-it-out victory for Xavier (6-0) in the Southern Connecticut Conference, which is proving itself again as the best league in the state.
• Another day, another blowout: Masuk-Monroe, ranked sixth by ESPNBoston.com in New England, routed Weston, 56-7, on Friday. Masuk (6-0) has now outscored its six opponents, 288-21, though Friday marked its first 50-point game of the year after five 40-point efforts. If Xavier wasn’t so good at winning the close ones, it’d be difficult to find a team more deserving of the state’s top ranking than Masuk.
• No. 7 West Haven (6-0) continued defending Class LL champion Cheshire’s hard-luck fall from grace this season with a 34-29 victory on Friday. Cheshire has now lost four straight, but every loss came to a team that is or has been ranked in the New Haven Register’s state top 10 this season. And they’ve come by a combined 13 points. Ouch.
• If it wasn’t for St. Joseph’s thriller, Stamford’s 27-19 victory over No. 6 Trumbull would have been the state’s most notable upset. Bryant Boderick completed 14-of-26 passes for 280 yards, rushed for a touchdown and threw the game-sealing score 54 yards to Chandler Foster. After starting the season with losses to Ridgefield and Greenwich, Stamford (4-2) has now won four straight. Bridgeport Central (4-2) — which fell to Trumbull, 34-12, on Oct. 8 — visits Friday.
• An unusual scheduling choice didn’t keep Darien from staying perfect. Chris Allam rushed for a touchdown and threw a 50-yard score to Clay Barker to help rally Darien (6-0) past visiting Red Lion Christian Academy (Bear, Del.), 21-20, on Saturday. Graham Maybell’s six-yard run was the game-winner. Red Lion quarterback David Sills, an eighth-grader, has already verbally committed to USC.
• Wethersfield joined the ranks of 6-0 teams with a 55-21 victory over Fermi. Steve Vasques threw for 90 yards and rushed for another 100.
• Josh Clements threw for three touchdowns and New London — forgotten by some following a Week 1 loss to Montville — won its fifth straight, a 47-21 rout of previously unbeaten Fitch at the Coast Guard Academy on Saturday. New London hasn’t played a true home game yet his year as its field is being replaced, and yet, has beaten Waterford (in Waterford) in a game that was counted as a Whalers home game and now Fitch, which knocked Montville from the state rankings.
• And finally, East Haven ended the fourth-longest losing streak in state history on Friday with a 42-14 win over Platt Tech. The Easties hadn’t won since Thanksgiving Day 2006, a span of 36 games and three winless seasons.

CIAC PLAYOFF POINTS STANDINGS:
(Top eight teams in each division make playoffs)
Class LL
1. Norwich Free Academy (6-0) 128.33
2. Xavier (6-0) 126.67
3. Hall (6-0) 126.67
4. Staples (6-0) 121.67
5. West Haven (6-0) 110.00
6. Glastonbury (5-1) 110.00
7. Trumbull (5-1) 106.67
8. Southington (5-1) 106.67.

Class L
1. Masuk (6-0) 131.67
2. Darien (6-0) 126.67
3. Wethersfield (6-0) 121.67
4. Naugatuck (6-0) 120.00
5. Bristol Eastern (6-0) 120.00
6. Hand-Madison (110.00)
7. Windsor (5-1) 98.33
8. Fitch (4-1) 98.00.

Class M
1. Berlin (6-0) 116.67
2. New London (5-1) 113.33
3. Plainville (5-1) 108.33
4. Enfield (5-1) 101.67
5. Cheney Tech (5-1) 101.67
6. Platt (5-1) 98.33
7. Lyman Hall (5-1) 96.67
8. Coventry/Windham Tech (4-1) 94.00.

Class S
1. Ansonia (6-0) 136.67
2. Valley Regional/Old Lyme (6-0) 128.33
3. Hyde Leadership (6-0) 126.67
4. Montville (5-1) 116.67
5. Coginchaug (5-0) 116.00
6. Woodland (4-2) 95.00
7. Sacred Heart (4-2) 91.67
8. St. Joseph (4-2) 88.33.

Kevin Callahan is entering his 11th year as head football coach at Ridgefield High School this fall. Since 2001, his Tigers have never endured a losing season. They’ve won nine games four times, and six or more every year but one.

And yet, they’ve been to the CIAC playoffs twice, playing for -- and winning -- their only state championship in 2002.

Callahan thought something was wrong with that.

“It’s nice when kids understand how to win,” he said, “but you have to reward winning.”

Others thought so, too.

In a change met with sweeping applause from the Connecticut high school football community, the CIAC is implementing a new playoff system this fall that features fewer divisions, more teams and a venue that many feel finally fits the bill.

In recent years, the football playoffs featured four teams earning postseason berths in six divisions. This season, there are only four divisions (LL, L, M, S) but with eight teams qualifying in each, the number of playoff competitors jumps from 24 to 32. The hope is to reward the larger schools who play in more difficult divisions. Last season, three 9-1 teams (two in Class LL, one in L) didn’t make the playoffs, and the seasons of four 8-2 teams ended on or around Thanksgiving. In 2008, 14 teams with eight or more wins didn’t qualify.

“All other CIAC sports, you win 40 percent of your games, you’re in the playoffs,” said Berlin coach John Capodice, a member of the CIAC football committee. “I felt the football kids were shortchanged.”

It’s difficult to find any detractors of the decision, aside from those who would have welcomed further expansion to include as many as 48 teams. Some, such as St. Joseph coach Joe Della Vecchia, believe the system will still keep some deserving schools out only because they’re playing tougher schedules.

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