By Michael Letendre
Long after the scholastic football season was complete, the postseason hardware continued to come the way for the program over at Bristol Central.
Dan Lauretti, Malachi Jones and Dan Rosa – under the guidance of head coach Jeff Papazian – helped the Rams to its first state playoff berth since 1987, going 9-2 overall and a Class L quarterfinal berth.
And that trio of players were tremendous over the fall scholastic season, earning CCC South All-Conference honors, but those awards were just the start of those postseason awards.
Lauretti was named to the 2021 Walter Camp All-Connecticut High School First Team on offense (offensive lineman).
He was a tremendous leader for the nine-win program and the 6-foot-1, 220 pound lineman could not be pushed around.
Lauretti’s play in the middle was a strength of the program as those linebackers were feared by opponents.
And then there was a leadership component that was unmatched.
For his efforts defensively on Thanksgiving against Bristol Eastern – over Central’s 38-8 victory – Lauretti was named the Thomas R. Monahan Defensive Player of the Game.
Malachi Jones earned CHSCA All-State on defense (defensive lineman).
He was one of the true leaders on the Class L playoff squad as the Rams went on to win nine straight games and earned a spot in the playoffs.
No. 60 on the field for Central is a strong defensive tackle and guard and goes 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds.
That’s the kind of size every collegiate program craves.
Next season, Jones will be playing for the East Coast Prep – a one year post graduate program designed to prepare players for the collegiate level of football.
And then Rosa, the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Connecticut, was also a First Team selection by the CHSCA and was the Walter Camp Connecticut Player of the Year.
Rosa was a CHSCA Top 26 selection to boot.
Add in a Division II championship in basketball and Rosa’s teams ended up going 37-2 between hoop and football.
That’s called pretty good seasons.
Football is just beginning for the talented Rosa as he heads up the street to the University of Connecticut this summer to begin his collegiate odyssey.
Rosa was one of the first athletes to commit under new UCONN coach Jim Mora.
The athlete, that’s the position he received awards for – like Dathan Hickey before him – and Rosa could be slotted at several different positions on the field for the Huskies.
That position could be at running back on offense.
Could that be safety if needed on defense?
He also could provide depth at a position like tailback and don’t be surprised if he returns a punt or two.
Rosa can flat-out throw the football and could see minutes as a Tim Tebow type quarterback if UCONN decides to put a wildcat option into its offensive sets.
Frankly put, Rosa turned himself into valuable, multi-positional player that can be slotted anywhere on the gridiron.
Just last December, Eric Serritella – known for his football intelligence – highlighted some of the qualities that UCONN should expect to see on the field in 2022.
“Fast, quick, and agile, give Victor Rosa an inch of daylight and he can take it the distance in a blink. Blessed with phenomenal change of direction capability, he is extremely slippery in the open field, possessing an elusive spin move and strong stiff arm. Rosa doesn’t go down upon first contact and does a nice job of breaking through arm tackles, while gaining valuable yards after contact.”
As a senior at Central, Rosa rushed for 2,728 yards, passed for 849 more, and scored 41 touchdowns to lead the Rams.
Rosa nearly averaged 250 rushing yards per game and who could forget the night of October 22 when Central outlasted Tolland, 68-50.
He established a new school record for yards in a game with 406 and scored eight touchdowns.
In all, he combined for 3,577 total yards and 49 TDs this year.
Defensively, Rosa tallied 50 tackles and three of those were tackles for losses.
An honor student at BCHS, he earned Academic All-Conference honors three times, was selected to the All-Conference Team all four years and ended up as a First Team All-State player this past year.
Rosa was also the MaxPreps Player of the Year.
There were other collegiate programs that wanted to sign Rosa but, in the end, there’s no place like home and the University of Connecticut.
A little about Walter Camp
Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889, a Yale University athlete and football coach.
Along the way of a remarkable coaching career, Camp was credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.
First Team Walter Camp All-Connecticut – 2021
Offense
QB: Victor Rosa (Bristol Central)
RB: Tighe Commiskey (Darien), Camryn Edwards (Norwalk)
WR: Nicholas Saccu (Masuk), Corbin Smith (Trumbull)
TE: Theodore Williams (Cromwell/Portland co-op)
OL: Ned Brady (New Canaan), Daniel Lauretti (Bristol Central), Kyshawn Togba (West Haven), Matthew Weiner (Shelton), Travis Wright (Maloney)
Defense
LB: Owen Brunk (Cromwell/Portland co-op), Ryan O’Connell (Fairfield Prep), Antwone Santiago (Platt)
DB: Jack Coughlin (Amity Regional), Ian Graham (Maloney), Tymaine Smith (Fairfield Prep), Parker Woodring (Wilton)
DL: Terrence Allen (Killingly), David Evanchick (Darien), Austin Pszczolkowski (Southington), Prince Samuels (Windsor)
Special Teams
PK: Christiano Rosa (Shelton)
P: Jack Barnum (Southington)
Returner: Logan Galletta (Greenwich)
Second Team Walter Camp All-Connecticut – 2021
Offense
QB: Andrew Nye (Morgan)
RB: Ethan O’Brien (Daniel Hand), Jack Sharpe (Killingly)
WR: Seth Sweitzer (Daniel Hand), Maxwell Warren (St. Joseph)
TE: Ben Carley (Trumbull)
OL: Johnni Bassani (New Fairfield), Jake Delfino (Trumbull), Joseph Hawkins (West Haven), Jake Kiernan (Greenwich), Michael Sinisi (Greenwich)
Defense
LB: Tayshawn Dixon (Notre Dame-Fairfield), Mark McLaughlin (Stafford/East Windsor/Somers co-op), Zachary Truting (Simsbury)
DB: Christian Alliegro (Darien), Mathyas Nieves (Wethersfield), Mysonne Pollard (Norwalk), Camyran Winder (Hamden)
DL: Jack Mullen (Fairfield Prep), Cole Murphy (Darien), Rakaigh Pettway (Notre Dame-Fairfield), Henry Tyus (Rockville)
Special Teams
PK: Tyler Groff (New Canaan)
P: Michael Cooper (Wilton)
Returner: Matthew Minicus (Darien)
