Inside Week 9 of CIAC football: A record-breaker, eight remain perfect and who's No. 1 now?

St. Joseph's Justin Daniels (5) is chased across the backfield by New Canaan's Liam Danaher (56) during the CIAC football game between No. 2 St. Joseph and No. 3 New Canaan high schools. Friday November 6, 2026, New Canaan High School, New Canaan, Conn. (H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media) You can almost smell the turkey cooking.Hard to believe, but we're already through Week 9 of the 2026 CIAC football season, and the annual Thanksgiving rivalry games are only three weeks away.The second half of the campaign has really picked up the pace in terms of drama and key matchups.One question still remains: Who's No. 1?Coaches and even some players will say the rankings in the GametimeCT Top 10 poll don't matter. After all, rankings don't win championships.Others are more outspoken and are definitely paying attention.It's great for discussion, and the past two weeks have especially brought that to light.New Canaan had held the No. 1 spot since the final poll of the 2024 season but has now lost two straight - to Ludlowe 34-31 and St. Joseph 21-14.That has knocked the Rams (6-2) down a couple of rungs, although they remain in the top half of the poll, currently at No. 3.Last week, three teams split the 21 first-place votes. Ludlowe (8-0) took 11 and was propelled all the way from No. 6 to No. 1, the first time in the program's history it has been on top of the GametimeCT poll.St. Joseph (7-0) took nine first-place votes and held in the No. 2 spot, and No. 6 Southington (7-1) earned one first-place vote.And although it didn't receive a first-place vote, a case could be made for No. 5 Hand (8-0), which has the state's longest win streak at 16 and just knocked off Lyman Hall 35-14 in a battle of unbeatens.Now, St. Joseph has its own win over New Canaan after holding off a comeback bid by the Rams for a 21-14 decision on Friday.Is that enough to push the Hogs past the Falcons?"Oh, we're No. 1 by far," said St. Joseph's Wisconsin-bound lineman Will Zaccagnino, clearly not mincing any words.A week earlier, Ludlowe lineman Carlo Noecker gave his thoughts on who is the best."It's a little hard to believe 10 years ago this team couldn't get a single win," Noecker said. "Now we just knocked off the best powerhouse (New Canaan) in New England. It's unbelievable, but we know we're No. 1."Time will tell, of course, and the next GametimeCT Top 10 comes out Monday.Stay tuned.Dae'Sean to rememberTwo down, one to go.Holy Cross senior Dae'Sean Graves broke a second state receiving record and moved closer to a third during the Crusaders' 38-14 win over Woodland on Friday.Graves, a UConn commit, had six catches in the game and now has 227 in his career, breaking the old state mark of 226, set just last year by East Catholic's Joey Montalvo.Montalvo, by the way, is a freshman on the Central Connecticut State football team.The guy who has been throwing those passes to Graves for the past two seasons, quarterback Brady Lombardo, also hit two milestones on Friday, surpassing 2,000 passing yards for the season and 5,000 for his career.The Lombardo-to-Graves combo has helped Holy Cross (7-1) win seven straight since an opening-week loss to Naugatuck.Graves added to his state record with a touchdown reception, giving him 53 career touchdown receptions. He set that mark during a 52-13 win over Crosby on Oct. 23, surpassing the old high-water mark of 50, which had been held by Southington's Alex Jamele.That's two, and Graves has a little more work to do for the trifecta. With 94 yards on Friday, he now has 3,434 career receiving yards, 437 short of Montalvo's 3,871.He'll have a shot at it. The Crusaders have two more regular-season games remaining, against GNH on Nov. 12 and Wolcott on Thanksgiving, and are in good shape for a Class MM playoff berth, currently ranking second in the standings.And then there were eightEvery year following Week 9 of the football season, GametimeCT puts together a breakdown of the remaining undefeated teams and looks at their chances of going 10-0 in the regular season.It's pretty amazing how little consistency there is in the group from year to year.In the four seasons since 2023, 33 teams have made it through Week 9 with perfect records. Only four teams have done it twice. That group includes Killingly and Windsor in both 2024 and 2025, Naugatuck in 2023 and 2026, and Hand in 2024 and 2026.It shows just how tough it is to win football games.There were nine teams unbeaten following Week 9 last fall, and this season, there are eight, after Southington fell to New Britain 28-27 on Thursday, and Lyman Hall lost to Hand 35-14 on Friday.The undefeated teams left are Hand, Ludlowe, Masuk, Naugatuck, New London, North Branford and Plainville, all 8-0, and St. Joseph, which is 7-0.All eight have at least one difficult test remaining, so 10-0 is by no means a lock for anyone.Giddy up.Bullet pointsNew Britain scored a 28-27 win over previously unbeaten Southington (7-1), with the difference being a blocked PAT by Javier Zenquis, a scout player. The Golden Hurricanes are 6-2, with their only losses coming against defending state champs Greenwich and New Canaan.Hand senior running back Lucca Boyce surpassed 3,000 career rushing yards during the Tigers' 35-14 win over Lyman Hall (7-1). No. 5 Hand (8-0) owns the state's longest win streak at 16.Guilford (7-1) overcame Branford (5-3) in a low-scoring affair 7-6, with Shane Connelly scoring the Grizzlies' lone touchdown on an 81-yard pass from Ryan Lynch.No. 1 Ludlowe followed up its huge win at New Canaan with a 40-13 win over Trumbull.Naugatuck (8-0) got two rushing touchdowns and a touchdown pass from Qwentarvus Lee and won 41-12 over Seymour (5-3).Maloney (6-2) gave itself a massive boost in the Class L playoff hunt with a 55-40 win over Windsor (4-4). The Spartans have been averaging more than 40 points per game.Simsbury (7-1) defeated Newington 27-7 for its seventh win of the season. The Trojans had just four wins combined in the last three seasons.Cheshire (6-2) won its third straight game 35-10 over Sheehan (4-4) and is now in third place in the Class M standings.Darien (5-3) jumped into the top eight in Class L with a 34-14 win over Ridgefield (4-4). The Blue Wave will finish the regular season against Stamford and New Canaan.Up nextTime has flown by.We are getting down to crunch time, as we amazingly get ready to enter Week 10 of the football season.There are a bushel of key games on deck, including a pair of matchups of ranked teams, when No. 1 Ludlowe faces No. 8 Staples in Westport on Friday at 7 p.m., and No. 2 St. Joseph hosts No. 4 Greenwich on Saturday at noon.The SCC is loaded with big games, including Lyman Hall looking to rebound from its first loss of the season by hosting Law on Friday at 6:30 p.m.Here are some other games to watch for Week 10:Thursday, Nov. 12Berlin at Platt, 6:30 p.m.Friday, Nov. 13Naugatuck at Torrington, 6 p.m.New London at Waterford, 6 p.m.Woodstock Academy at Ledyard, 6 p.m.Law at Lyman Hall, 6:30 p.m.Southington at Maloney, 6:30 p.m.Guilford at Cheshire, 7 p.m.Fairfield Prep at Shelton, 7 p.m.Ludlowe at Staples, 7 p.m.New Milford at Masuk, 7 p.m.Saturday, Nov. 14Greenwich at St. Joseph, noonSign up for the Connecticut Briefing from CT Insider. Get the biggest headlines of the day from our network of journalists around the state.This article originally published at Inside Week 9 of CIAC football: A record-breaker, eight remain perfect and who's No. 1 now?.