Inside Week 6 of CIAC football: Love, Champagne among veteran QBs leading 5-0 teams

Amazingly, the 2026 CIAC football regular season is now half-complete.

And for the teams that have gotten here with five straight victories, remember: Winning does not come easy.

Eight CIAC football teams had already reached the 5-0 mark as of last weekend, and another five have so far joined the perfection party in Week 6.

While Pomperaug has gotten there riding its "flexbone" triple option offense, focusing on a heavy running attack, the other four teams - Ludlowe, Masuk, Plainville and Lyman Hall - share a common trait: veteran quarterbacks operating at a high level.

That includes Ludlowe's Ryan Love, who continues to thrive as a gunslinger and playmaker. The senior and second-year starter fired three touchdown passes, including two on fourth-down plays, in the No. 6-ranked Falcons' 30-15 win over No. 8 Ridgefield.

Love has thrown for more than 1,200 yards and has 13 touchdowns without an interception this year, with nearly 3,500 passing yards and 27 touchdowns in his career.

His play has benefited from Ludlowe's high-wire offense, which did not have a punt against Ridgefield and was 4-for-4 on fourth-down attempts.

"My class has worked their tail ends off our whole career here," Love said. "I've never seen more mission-driven humans in a squad before. We got that dog in us."

In Monroe, Aaron Champagne popped the cork on another Masuk victory with five touchdowns, three rushing and two passing, when the Panthers defeated Bunnell 41-26 on Friday.

Champagne, a four-year starting quarterback, headed into the game against Bunnell having surpassed 1,000 passing yards this season, with 5,682 passing yards and 57 touchdowns in his career. 

Heading north, Plainville's Anthony Abarno fired off five touchdown passes in the Blue Devils' 43-6 win over Rocky Hill. Abarno and Chase Bouchard torched the defense for TD passes of 48, 62 and 24 yards, and Billy Putnam caught two TD passes.

"We've been playing with each other our whole life," Bouchard said. "We have signals, he just knows, he has the look in his eye that I am throwing it all the time. It is the same with me, Billy (Putnam) and Christian (Hairston), we are best friends and we all know when we are going to run something."

Abarno, a second-year starter, had 346 passing yards, pushing over the 4,000-yard mark for his career. He now has 4,078 yards and 54 touchdowns.

Ryan Casey and Lyman Hall cruised in their win, a 40-0 decision over Hillhouse on Friday.

Casey and the Trojans were 7-3 last season, but finished ninth in Class M, just outside the playoff bubble. They now have five wins against no losses and lead the rankings.

A second-year starter, Casey was closing in on 3,000 career passing yards and had 33 touchdowns with just four interceptions.

Having the steady hand of an experienced quarterback steering the ship has clearly helped those four teams, and there are plenty more examples throughout the state.

• Maddox Hoffman of New Canaan, a two-year starter, is unbeaten in 17 games as the starter for the top-seeded Rams.
• Phil Tarantino, a second-year starter,  helped lead Greenwich to a Class LL title as a sophomore and has them 5-0 this season.
• Matt Witteman of Law, now in his third year as the starting QB,  has surpassed 1,000 passing yards for the third straight season and has 5,390 yards for the 4-1 Lawmen.
• Eli Showerda of Maloney (4-1), a second-year starter, leads the state, according to MaxPreps, with 1,684 yards and 22 touchdowns.
• Brady Lombardoof Holy Cross (4-1), another two-year starter, has passed for 4,505 career yards, including 1,487 this fall, and has the Crusaders on a four-game win streak. He also has some of the state's top receiving weapons, including Dae'Sean Graves, who is closing in on some state receiving records.

Unbeatens down to 16

The undefeated ranks continue to dwindle, and the number is now down to 16.

That includes five teams reaching the five-win mark on Thursday and Friday, with Middletown, New Canaan, and St. Joseph, all 4-0, playing on Saturday.

Here's a rundown of the unbeatens by class. All teams are 5-0 unless otherwise noted.

• Class LL: Greenwich and Southington.
• Class L: New Canaan (4-0), Naugatuck and Ludlowe.
• Class MM: St. Joseph (4-0), Middletown (4-0) and Pomperaug.
• Class M:Lyman Hall, Guilford, New London and Masuk.
• Class SS: Hand, Plainville and Waterford.
• Class S:   North Branford.

Bullet points

• No. 7-ranked Notre Dame Prep (4-1) took its first loss of the season when it fell to Newtown 20-9 on Thursday. The Nighthawks (2-3) scored a much-needed win while snapping a three-game losing streak. Of bigger concern for the Lancers was the loss of Ja'cari Harris, the state's leading rusher, after the sophomore took a helmet to the knee in the second quarter. Coach John Johnson said Harris would be sent for X-rays.
• Rockville (3-2) was all over previously-undefeated Valley Regional/Lyme-Old Lyme (4-1), winning the Pequot clash via shutout 26-0.
• New Milford (4-1) handed Bethel (4-1) its first loss in a 35-34 decision. It was a nice rebound for the Green Wave, who had taken their first loss in a 41-0 shutout against Lyman Hall in Week 4. 
• Ledyard (4-1) scored on its first five possessions, and had four touchdown runs from junior Titus Streckfuss, during a 37-14 win over Branford (4-2) in an Alliance game. The Colonels have won four straight since an opening-night loss to Lyman Hall.
• Staples(5-1) earned its third shutout of the season and defeated Darien20-0. Grant Bozeman passed for a pair of touchdowns and Nick Triscari ran for one.
• Joe Lewie passed for two touchdowns and ran for three more when Granby/Canton (4-1) won 41-28 over Cromwell/Portland (1-4) in a Pequot battle.

Up next

Now that the biggest bye weeks are over, the schedule is ready to heat up and the Week 7 slate will feature as many as three games between undefeated teams, including a meeting between the teams currently ranked No. 1 and 2 in the GametimeCT poll.

No. 2 Greenwich will host No. 1 New Canaan on Friday at 7 p.m. at Cardinal Stadium and, provided they hold those spots in Monday's poll, it would mark the 10th 1 vs. 2 game since 2015. The Cardinals are 5-0, while New Canaan is 4-0 and hosts Bridgeport Central on Saturday.

In the SCC, Guilford and Lyman Hall will put their matching 5-0 records on the line when they square off Friday at 6:30 p.m., with Lyman Hall hosting.

And in an SWC battle of unbeatens, Masuk will play at Pomperaug, also Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Here are a few more Week 7 games to watch:

Thursday, Oct. 22

• North Haven at Fairfield Prep, 6 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 23

• Fitch at Waterford, 6 p.m.
• Woodland at Ansonia, 6 p.m.
• Cromwell/Portland at North Branford, 6:30 p.m.
• New Milford at Notre Dame Prep, 6:30 p.m.
• Cheshire at Law, 7 p.m.
• Hand at Shelton, 7 p.m.
• Ludlowe at Danbury, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 24

Platt Tech at Wilcox/Kaynor Tech, 4 p.m.

This article originally published at Inside Week 6 of CIAC football: Love, Champagne among veteran QBs leading 5-0 teams.