'We're Ready': Ludlowe Football Prepares For Season Ahead

FAIRFIELD, CT — Hopes are high as Fairfield Ludlowe High School’s football team begins its season with its first game Friday evening against the Norwalk High School Bears.

After the pandemic sidelined the league last year, around 130 Falcons are ready to take wing with the varsity, JV and freshman teams, respectively.

“They’re a good team,” Coach Mitchell Ross said of Norwalk, which Ludlowe will face 6 p.m. at home. “They’re very, very athletic.”

The Falcons varsity squad will begin the season going up against a team that includes a state-recognized running back, Cam Edwards, who also doubles as a defensive back.

“We’re ready,” Ross said. “We’ll see how it goes.”

He said that last year the cancellation of the seasons forced his team to play in a private league, where they got four games in before the state had to shut down football entirely.

“So the comparisons are difficult,” he said, between last year and this.

This year, however, he said the majority of the team has already been vaccinated and every player has been encouraged to do so.

“Thus, we don’t expect COVID to seriously affect our team,” the coach said.

Beginning his fifth season, Ross is confident with a group he was watched scrimmage since they first came to Ludlowe in ninth grade.

“This year we have our largest and most talented senior class ever,” he said.

Ross explained that this particular group has stayed together since their early days playing youth football, not parting ways for private school or other endeavors.

“That has resulted in a very talented and tight group of seniors and leaders,” he said.

Among them are Ben Zane, 17, one of the five co-captains, who likewise spoke to the chemistry of this team.

“We’ve been together since elementary school to now, and we’ve worked hard together, faced adversity, dealt with COVID … So now we’re ready,” he said.

Co-captain Lucca Iannone, 16, concurred.

“We’re super ready and we’re super excited,” he said. “It should be our best season.”

He pointed out that this is the first group to have worked entirely under the leadership of Ross.

“We’ve been running this system for four years,” he said, “and now we know the ins and outs of everything.”

In terms of the younger players, Stephen Muller, freshman coach, is pleased with the prospects going forward.

“This group has the potential to be very successful over the next four years,” he said.

He said his players have shown dedication to weight training and the results are translating to play on the field, where they’re also quickly learning Ludlowe’s varsity system.

“I am confident that many of these players will be able to make positive contributions to the program over the next four years,” Muller said, noting that with close to 45 freshman students on the squad, it’s the largest turnout of ninth graders in the school’s recent history.

“We should be competitive this year with some of the top freshman programs in the state,” he said.

On Sept. 17, the varsity team will travel to Wilton for a game under the lights, after which it will host competitor Trumbull for a big match on Sept. 24.

Ross noted that along with Darien and New Canaan, Trumbull will present a literally big challenge to the Falcons.

“With an offensive line that average over 280 pounds,” he said, his squad will have their work cut out for them.