Overtime with Kyle Brennan

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Kyle Brennan

Round of Applause

Mick Pernell has had an excellent season for Naugatuck and continued that last weekend when he scored three more times to give him 25 touchdowns on the season. There was some talk after the game that Pernell’s 25 touchdowns set a new school record, but my colleague Steve Gesseck checked an old record book and found Wayne Edmonds had scored 28 touchdowns way back in 1963, which actually set a state record at the time. Pernell has two more games (this week at Kennedy, Thanksgiving at Ansonia) to tie or break the record, but that achievement won’t change the fact that he’s had an incredible season and led Naugy to a better year than many — including me — thought it would have after everything that happened in the offseason.

Woodland football deserves a ton of credit for playing one of the best games I’ve seen all season in the Hawks’ NVL Copper Division-clinching shutout of Holy Cross. It was probably the best single-game defensive performance I’ve seen this season as Woodland kept the ball in the Crusaders’ territory almost all night and didn’t allow any sort of offense. There’s plenty of work left to be done for the Hawks, though, as they face a tougher test Friday at Wolcott. A win in that game could give Woodland an almost-definite berth in the Class S playoffs but it will be a much more difficult task than it had last weekend.

Voter turnout was pretty good around these parts on Tuesday. I took a check of the rough numbers Wednesday morning and found about 74 percent turnout in Beacon Falls and 65 percent turnout in Naugatuck (Prospect’s numbers weren’t completely in when I checked). That’s something to be proud of, especially in my hometown. We may like or dislike who won, but we’re doing our part. Now it’s time for them to do their part, although I’m not holding my breath.

Halloween was a lot of fun, even though it seems like forever ago. Since the holiday didn’t really happen last year, it was refreshing to come back with a vengeance in 2012. I thought I really did a nice job scaring the pants off some children. I’ve really got it down to a science: Make the first few kids think I’m a fake ape holding a bowl of candy, then freak out on the most apprehensive one who comes last. It’s really like taking candy from a baby, but it’s not limited to babies. I got a bunch of kids to just not come up for candy out of sheer fear, got a few others to drop theirs as they ran away and made three children cry. (Sorry) The way I look at it, you have to earn your keep. Kudos to you if you did. Also: Scaring children’s mothers is even more fun.

Chorus of Boos

NHL owners are just dumb. Only in the NHL would these clowns allow another lockout just a few years after probably the most debilitating labor dispute in American sports history wrecked the league. The last lockout alienated casual hockey fans; this one is helping get rid of the rest of them. I hope every one of the owners, plus the embarrassment of a commissioner that is Gary Bettman, loses all of their money within a year.

On the Air, On the Web

Woodland-Wolcott football: The Hawks can almost assuredly wrap up a Class S playoff berth Friday with a victory over the one-loss Eagles. You can listen to Steve Gesseck, Bob Sagendorf and me broadcast it live on WATR 1320 AM and watr.com starting Friday at 6:50 p.m.