By Michael Letendre

The Connecticut High School Football Alliance will once again put together a tremendous slate of non-conference games for the 2023 scholastic campaign.

This time around, 88 games will take place over eight weeks of the season.

All thirty teams from the Central Connecticut Conference will be involved in the games which will include the squads from Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern.

Also involved in the Alliance showdowns are teams from the Southern Connecticut Conference, the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference, the Eastern Connecticut Conference, the South-West Conference and even programs from the Connecticut Technical Conference.

Week 1 and Week 3 will see heavy involvement from the programs of the CCC and that’s where the Rams and Lancers come in.

On just Week 3 alone, thirty-eight Alliance games will be contested, and both the Bristol teams will be in action. 

Central stays home for its Alliance game, squaring off against Fairfield Warde.

On the flip side, Eastern must take the road to square off against Hillhouse.

For Central, it will be the first ever showdown against Fairfield Warde while Eastern has some history against Hillhouse.

The Lancers are 1-2 against the Academics over the years in non-conference confrontations.

In the first game for the Class MM defending champs in 1989, Hillhouse came to Bristol on September 15, 1989, in a battle from Muzzy Field.

Hillhouse was shutout 14-0 as Eastern drew its one and only victory against the program.

Eastern quarterback Steve Mills (8-for-16, 116 yards) made a 12-yard touchdown connection with J.C. Russell while Jason Abbott scored on a six-yard rush to give the Lancers its 14-0 victory over the Academics.

That was the final season for Eastern under the watchful eye of head coach Dave Mills.

QB Steve Mills (4,908 career yards passing, 44 touchdowns) also played his final season at BEHS that year and was off to Yale at the completion of his senior campaign.

More About the Alliance

This will be the sixth year the Connecticut High School Football Alliance has put together games.

In 2019, 99 total Alliance games were played and after the cancellation of the 2020 campaign, 93 games commenced between the various leagues.

Last season, 89 games took place with five additional technical schools joining the mix.

Last year, the FCIAC had the best record of all the leagues, going 21-10 overall in Alliance showdowns.

Central dropped its 2022 Alliance game last year, falling to Wilton 14-6.

And Eastern had its hands full at Fairfield Warde – Central’s opponent this coming season.

The Lancers lost its game to Warde by a 27-7 final.

Last season, Warde went 5-5 overall while Hillhouse – like Eastern – was 3-7.

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