The interest in the renewal of a longtime Valley football rivalry was easy to notice – in Watertown, of all places.
Prior to the start of the Oct, 16 football game at John Mills Field between the Derby Red Raiders and the Watertown Indians, a man dressed in dark blue walked to the visitors’ bleachers.
It was clear he did not have a major rooting interest in the game. That he was wearing a wool hat with an Ansonia Chargers logo indicated his attendance had a purpose beyond just seeing a good gridiron contest.
Here to do a little scouting, perhaps?
“Two more weeks, man. Two more weeks,” he said just before the teams took the field.
Those two weeks have passed and it’s more than likely that interested observer in Watertown will be among the hundreds of fans packing Lou DeFilippo Field on Friday for the restart of the legendary Ansonia-Derby football rivalry.
It will be the first time in six years that the Red Raiders and Chargers will share a football field, continuing a series that began in 1902.
Read Steve Fainer’s story for a personal look at the history of the rivalry.
The match-up became possible after the Derby Board of Education voted last winter to accept an invitation to join the Naugatuck Valley League, where fellow Valley schools Ansonia and Seymour were already members. Derby had been a member of the Southern Connecticut Conference since its creation in 1994.
The Chargers and Red Raiders last played in 2003 as non-conference opponents in a game Ansonia won, 48 – 0. The sides will now get very used to each other all over again as foes in the NVL’s Brass Division.
Since the conference move, fans, coaches and players on both sides of the rivalry have eagerly anticipated the game.
Derby Athletic Director Joe Orazietti is excited.
The 1972 DHS graduate and former Red Raiders football player said he’s reminisced about Derby-Ansonia games he was involved in. He remembers “very intense” action on the field and thousands of spectators watching.
“There’s a lot of hitting going on. It’s fun for the fans and there’s a lot of history in the game,” he said. “It felt like we were playing in Yale Bowl.”
Ansonia Athletic Director Luba Soldra, a 1966 AHS graduate, remembers being in the stands for many Chargers-Red Raiders games, including a 1976 CIAC playoff victory for the Chargers in freezing cold temperatures.
“It was the heart and soul for the individuals both on and off the field that played a part,” she said. “There’s always emotion in that game, just like there is with Naugatuck,” referring to Ansonia’s traditional Thanksgiving Day opponent.
Ansonia Coach Tom Brockett said the schools should never have stopped playing and he’s glad to have Derby back on the Chargers’ schedule to continue “probably the greatest rivalry in the state of Connecticut.”
“Since January, when we found out about it, people have been looking forward to it. Most of the players remember it as kids. They know the history of it,” Brockett said. “It’s Ansonia-Derby. There’s extra meaning to this game. There’s no way to downplay it.”
Derby Head Coach Carmen DiCenso said his Raiders have anticipated the showdown for months.
The players on both sides “are all friends with each other, they know each other, they hang out with each other…it should be a lot of fun,” DiCenso said. “If you can’t get up for Ansonia, then you shouldn’t get out of bed.”
Though none of the current players have faced off in the game before, Orazietti said many of the players know about the history of the game because of the coaches and their parents who played in the game in years past.
“They know about the excitement. They know about the bragging rights,” Orazietti said. “Twenty years from now, they’ll be in the local area saying they beat Ansonia or they beat Derby.”
Chris Jeanette, a senior center and captain for the Ansonia Chargers, will enter that unique fraternity.
He’s relishing the chance to face off with his friends from Derby, including Red Raiders senior running back Nick Slowik, whom he last played against in Pop Warner football. But he’ll also get a chance to carry on a family tradition in a unique way.
His father, Joe Jeanette, played center for Derby before graduating in 1975.
“It’s very special to him,” Chris Jeanette said. “He always took me to Derby-Ansonia games and said I’d get a chance to play in it, too.”
Jeanette will also play against friend Angelo DiSorbo, a senior center and linebacker with the Red Raiders. Like Jeanette, DiSorbo has relatives that have worn the other side’s jersey. His cousins Joe and David DiVincenzo played for Ansonia in the 1980s.
DiSorbo said his teammates are looking forward to the game as much as the fans have.
“The fact that there’s so much history in it makes it a big game,” he said. “We think that they’re as big a rival [as Shelton], but since we haven’t played them in six years makes this special.”
DiSorbo also acknowledged that his team has spent a little more time at practice to prepare for the Chargers’ arrival at DeFilippo Field. “I’m glad that this game is going to be at our house,” he added.
While nearly everyone is looking forward to renewing acquaintances on the gridiron, there’s a slight difference of opinion on which color – Derby Red or Ansonia Blue – will emerge victorious.
Soldra expects the Chargers to come out on top with relative ease. “Of course, Ansonia’s gonna win. We’ll win by two touchdowns,” she said.
Orazietti, true to his Derby roots, disagrees.
“We’ve won a lot of games in the fourth quarter,” he said. “Tell her Derby says ‘no way.’”
Friday’s game in Derby starts at 7 p.m.
