TONIGHT

- RHAM-HEBRON (1-2) at MALONEY (2-1), Falcon Field, 6:30 p.m.

Matchup: CCC Division IV.

Last Week: Maloney throttled Fermi in Enfield 48-14; RHAM beat Plainville 30-14 on Monday night in a game rescheduled by rain.

The Archives: First meeting. RHAM is one of the eight Nutmeg League teams that joined the CCC this year.

Scouting Report: After their 39-14 loss to Rockville in Week 2, the Spartans righted the ship with a thorough pounding of Fermi, scoring on each of their first four possessions. There's no reason for them not to keep it rolling tonight. Having played Monday night, RHAM has had only three days to recover and prepare. What's more, the Sachems lost to Fermi 28-19 in Week 2. But the Spartans need to ignore all that. Their own Week 2 defeat was a lesson in what can happen when complacency sets in.

Besides, the Spartans have a pretty good running back to keep in check tonight. Senior Eric Brainard is the featured ballcarrier in RHAM's Delaware wing-T. He rushed for 175 yards and two TDs Monday vs. Plainville. "If we can take away their No. 1 weapon, then we should have a good chance to win the game," said Maloney coach Bob Zito, who knows the ins and outs of a wing-T offense as well as anyone in Connecticut.

Defensively, the Spartans need more of what they did last week, and that was holding Fermi's Jake Lavender to 64 yards after he had rushed for 301 against RHAM.

Offensively, the Spartans have diversified their attack by putting junior Christian Smith at fullback. On his first play against Fermi, Smith turned a screen pass into a 57-yard touchdown. He wound up with three TDs, including a 98-yarder one yard shy of Johrone Bunch's school record.

- PLATT (1-2) at BRISTOL EASTERN (2-1), Muzzy Field, 7 p.m.

Matchup: CCC Division III.

Last Week: Platt lost 38-16 to Rocky Hill. Eastern, a week after beating Rocky Hill 17-14 on a last-second field goal, suffered its first loss, 14-0 to Northwest Catholic, a team that beat Platt 32-0 on opening night.

The Archives: In this era of ever-changing and expanding conferences, some things do remain the same. Platt and Eastern have met for 50 straight years. The Lancers have won the past four meetings, including 12-7 a year ago in a game with playoff and division title ramifications. Eastern holds a 28-21-1 series lead.

Scouting Report: Same challenge, different week as the Panthers face a second straight wing-based running team. Eastern does employ some spread, but is likely to come out in its double wing after Platt struggled against Rocky Hill's double wing and wing-T.

Platt coach Jason Bruenn believes his team got overwhelmed by the muscle, speed and deception of Rocky Hill's attack. The Panthers cannot have a repeat performance of that tonight. "We've got to be tougher than we've been and we've got to be more precise," Bruenn said. "Last week we were slow and soft, and that's not a good combination."

Eastern is down a few notches from its strong run of the past two years, which featured an unbeaten regular season in 2007 and an 8-3 campaign in 2008. Also, head coach Paul Philippon resigned abruptly after last season, though his staff and playbook have remained intact under new skipper Mike Archangelo, who came over from Plainville. QB Matt Yopp leads the Eastern offense. He has big targets in Tom Tarantino and Tyrell Holmes. Brandon Lopez is one of the feature running backs. The defense is solid, having allowed only 28 points so far this season.

- SOUTHINGTON (1-2) vs. NEW BRITAIN (2-1), Rentschler Field, 7 p.m.

Matchup: CCC Division I.

Last Week: Southington lost 24-21 to Windsor, losing in the fourth quarter for the second straight week. New Britain bounced back from its 33-27 loss to Windsor in Week 2 to pin a 48-26 verdict on Hall, which lost to Southington 47-27 on opening night.

The Archives: The game that in recent years came in November for the CCC North crown and a place in the postseason is now an early-season battle for survival. New Britain won last year's meeting, the first at Rentschler Field, 3-0 on Juan Duque's 27-yard field goal. Southington had won the previous three.

Scouting Report: See related story.

- NOTRE DAME-WH (2-1, 1-0) at CHESHIRE (3-0, 1-0), 7 p.m.

Matchup: SCC Division I East.

Last Week: Cheshire beat Wilbur Cross 21-18 on a fourth-quarter pick by Brian Havlicek and a go-ahead TD run by Greg Palmer. ND rebounded from its 29-28 Week 2 loss to Xavier to whip West Haven 46-21, taking a 26-21 lead on the final play of the first half, then scoring 20 unanswered points in the second half.

The Archives: Billy Ragone accounted for all the points in Cheshire's 31-20 win last year. Cheshire has 7-3 advantage in series, which began with 1992 Class L state title game, won by Cheshire 28-14.

Scouting Report: After surviving last week's slugfest with Wilbur Cross, Mark Ecke talked about how every game in SCC Division I East will be more of the same. "We've got to play this game three more times," he said. The first repeat is tonight, and there's no reason to believe it won't be another battle royale for the Rams.

In the Green Knights, the Rams are up against a squad much improved from last year's 4-6 edition. Coach Tom Marcucci, who was 118-52-6 with one state championship as coach of ND from 1982-1998, is back for his second stint. The offense is in the hands of junior QB Sean Goldrich, who's got a cannon arm and can run. He takes over for senior Conor Keniry, who is now the leading target at wide receiver. Goldrich and Keniry hooked up for 3 TDs last week, including the one right at the end of the first half.

Justin Willis and David Rose are the feature backs behind a huge line anchored by 6-4, 297-pound Dom Diglio and 6-5, 270-pound Robert Bowman of Cheshire, cousin of the Bowmans who came through Cheshire High. The ND defense allowed just 39 yards after halftime against West Haven. "They're a very potent offense and defensively their huge up front and their secondary is quick," Ecke assessed. "We've got our work cut out for us."

The Rams, while averaging 445 yards a game, ran hot and cold last week. They'll look for better consistency tonight on offense to keep the ball out of ND's hands. "They're going to score their points," said Ecke. "We've got to limit their opportunities to score."

- HILLHOUSE (0-3, 0-1) at LYMAN HALL (1-2, 0-1), 7 p.m.

Matchup: SCC Division II West.

Last Week: Lyman Hall squandered first-half scoring chances and a 9-3 halftime lead in falling 24-17 at Guilford; Hillhouse lost to Branford 35-30.

The Archives: Academics have won four straight in dominating fashion, including 41-7 last year. LH last won in 2004, 34-13.

Scouting Report: It was a tremendous four-year run for Hillhouse from 2005 through 2008. The Academics went a combined 40-6, made three playoff appearances and won the Class M title in 2006.

Now the Academics are in a rebuilding phase. This is not the team that beat up the Trojans to the average tune of 38-6 over the past four years. Hillhouse lost many of the key pieces to its playoff teams and, with just 10 seniors on the roster, starts many juniors and sophomores.

Hillhouse opened the season losing 41-12 to Ansonia, a traditional power that appears to be in a down year (at least by its standards) and lost 20-18 to North Haven.

All the same, the Trojans, very young themselves, will have to contend with Hillhouse's option offense and trademark speed, as in the likes of Taurese Washington, who broke away for a 72-yard TD last week against Branford.

The Trojans, led by RB Joe DeSandre (508 rushing yards in three games) and his QB brother John, have shown they have the goods to win ballgames. But their two losses, by 3 and 7 points, show they're still learning how to get victory across the finish line. As coach Chip McKeehan said, "We wanted to be a more competitive football team. We are a more competitive football team, but we have to want to win football games now. It's not enough now to just be a competitive football team."

To get back in the win column tonight, LH needs to play good assignment defense against the option and finish offensively. The Trojans can't have the red-zone squanders they had last week.

- SHEEHAN (2-1, 0-0) at EAST HAVEN (0-3, 0-1), 7 p.m.

Matchup: SCC Division II East.

Last Week: Sheehan fell to Hand-Madison 38-13 in a SCC crossover. East Haven lost 41-27 to Foran in a D-II East game, dropping its 24th straight in the process.

The Archives: Sheehan won 39-7 last year and 21-14 the year before that. Teams tied 24-24 in East Haven in 2006.

Scouting Report: It's very simple. After playing Hand last week and with Cheshire looming next week, the Titans need to regroup from last week's disappointingly one-sided loss and take care of business with a divisional opponent that hasn't won since Thanksgiving 2006. What the Titans can't do is dwell on last week's defeat.

"We didn't go into last Friday thinking we were playing a team we couldn't beat," said Sheehan coach John Ferrazzi. "Obviously, we lost the game, but we saw we beat ourselves a lot when we went through the film. That's disappointing to the kids. At the same time, the message we've been sending is we've got seven games left. It's all about bouncing back."

The Titans will look to clean up the mental mistakes that have plagued them every game but, up until last week, didn't cost them. They'll also look to get their offense in sync, be it blocking assignments or reads or running correct routes. Star QB Brett Biestek has thrown for 454 yards and 8 TDs, but has completed just 37 of 78 passes.

- WILCOX TECH (0-3, 0-1) at CHENEY TECH-MANCHESTER (1-2, 1-1), 7 p.m.

Matchup: Constitution State Conference.

Last Week: Wilcox lost 39-6 to Platt Tech in Milford; Cheney Tech thumped Capital Prep/Classical Magnet 34-14.

The Archives: Cheney rolled 40-0 last year en route to a 10-1 regular season and trip to the Class M playoffs. Cheney beat Wilcox 40-28 in 2007.

Scouting Report: Of to an 0-3 start and out-scored 131-26, the Indians need a win in the worst way. That might not come tonight. While Cheney Tech is only 1-2, one of those losses was to the NVL's Sacred Heart. Cheney Tech also employs the sort or running game that Wilcox has been unable to stop this year. The Beavers lost Troy Wigmore and his 28 touchdowns to graduation, but did return play-making QB Johadd Easterling, who had a 100-yard game last week along with junior RB Al Colon. Cheney Tech is back in the hands of veteran coach Bill Bacarro, who formerly led the East Catholic-Cheney co-op team.