Greyhounds keep it simple in the spring

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Dave Sollazzo –UMASS ATHLETICS

NAUGATUCK — After spending his first two and half months on the job in Naugatuck High’s weight room, new football coach Dave Sollazzo was eager to finally get his team on the gridiron for spring practice.

Sollazzo wrapped up his first spring practice session as the Greyhounds’ coach with an intrasquad scrimmage June 9. The former longtime college Division I assistant coach quickly found that the limited, 10-day window allowed by the CIAC forced him to prioritize his goals.

“It’s not a lot of time, especially when it’s a new coaching staff,” said Sollazzo, a former defensive assistant at Maryland and Georgia Tech, among others. “Our No. 1 goal was to teach technique and fundamentals. I’m a stickler about that, and I really believe that’s how the game is won. We spent a lot of time on blocking, tackling, how to get off blocks and make plays on defense, how to execute and move the chains on offense.

“We wanted to keep it simple, and I felt like we did. We did incorporate a piece of our offense and a piece of our defense. As far as X’s and O’s on offense and defense, I felt like we accomplished a foundation.”

Sollazzo was hired March 9 to replace Craig Bruno, who resigned in January after going 30-13 in four seasons at Naugatuck. As soon as Sollazzo took over, he wasted no time in getting his returning players into the weight room.

“Obviously that’s the No. 1 priority in the offseason for a football team: to get stronger so we’re more physical at the point of contact,” Sollazzo said.

Sollazzo said that the team’s returning starters — about a dozen sophomores and juniors saw starting time last season — “stepped up and took leadership of the team” after Bruno’s resignation. He conducted one-on-one interviews with each player to find out their accomplishments, strengths and weaknesses.

“I let them tell me where they’re most comfortable,” Sollazzo said. “They’re going to play faster if they’re more comfortable.”

He also assembled a coaching staff that features some familiar names. Kevin Cretella, a 1993 Naugatuck graduate who has assistant coaching experience at Yale, Western Connecticut, Post and Watertown High, among others, is Sollazzo’s defensive coordinator.

“He brings a lot to the table in terms of helping me understand the tradition of Naugatuck football,” Sollazzo said. “That’s something that’s very important to me, that I embrace the tradition because it’s a very close-knit community. There are a lot of people still involved in the program who have been here their whole lives.”

Ollie Gray, a former assistant coach at Crosby, Torrington, Sacred Heart and Nonnewaug, is the offensive coordinator. Among the positional assistants is one of the Naugatuck Valley League’s all-time great players, Torrington’s Scott Langenheim.

“He played for coach (Paul) Pasqualoni at Syracuse, and he has a Division I mentality, which I like,” Sollazzo said of Langenheim, who will handle the offensive line and linebackers.

Whether it’s because of the new coaching staff’s optimism, a buzz around town or the growing size of the school, Sollazzo said about 60 players participated in spring practice, and another 30 will be joining as part of the incoming freshman class.

“I guess there’s a lot of positive flow going on in the school, so we’ve got guys coming out who didn’t play last year,” Sollazzo said. “I was impressed with the numbers, for sure. Mostly every one of those guys is in the weight room every day.”

Naugatuck, which went 7-3 last season, will open the fall slate Sept. 8 against Derby.

The Greyhounds are the only local team that will be playing in a larger state playoff division than it did last year. Naugy made the jump from Class L to Class LL when the CIAC released its 2017 divisional alignments last week.

The CIAC uses male enrollments from the 2016-17 school year to determine the divisional placement of each of the 143 football programs in the state.

With a male enrollment of 672, Naugatuck will be the smallest of the 35 programs in Class LL. The Greyhounds were last in Class LL in 2012, and their most recent postseason berth came in Class L-Large in 2014.