New Britain to be in the South Region Blue Division
By Matthew Cannata | Sports Correspondent at February 6, 2024 | 4:19 pm | Print
High School sports will have a new look beginning with the 2015-2016 school year. That’s because the CCC has re-aligned the divisions in all sports and with that comes new and old opponents for New Britain.
For boys and girls soccer, boys and girls cross-country, girls volleyball, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls outdoor track, boys and girls tennis and boys golf, there will be three regions: the North, Central and South. Each region will be divided into two divisions – the Blue and White. These were put together based on geography, size, winning percentage and more.
New Britain will be in the South Region Blue Division along with Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, Newington and Wethersfield. In the South Region White Division, it will be Berlin, Maloney, Plainville, Platt and Rocky Hill. Each school will play every school in its region at least once and each school in its division twice. All games played against regional opponents will count in the division standings.
That means New Britain will see some new opponents, some familiar ones, and ones that they’ve played in the past but haven’t played in quite some time due to the re-alignment several years ago. For Len Corto, athletic director in New Britain, it means that old rivalries will be brought back.
“This will be great for our kids, coaches and fans. We are now playing teams again that we once played years ago. It will bring a lot of the old rivalries back not just for us, but for the other schools as well. We are excited about both Bristol schools being added back into the mix and we’ll also be seeing Berlin a lot more than we used to. This is a good thing for high school sports.”
Roberto Mercado, head coach of the baseball program at New Britain High, is also excited about all of the old rivalries coming back into the fold.
“We look forward to renewing those old rivalries with these great baseball towns in Berlin and Bristol. Hopefully we can work something out where we play Berlin every year at New Britain Stadium.”
On the football side, we’ll see three divisions based on school enrollment. These three divisions also have two subdivisions. New Britain will be in Division 1 – West with Southington, Simsbury, Hall and Conard. In Division 1 – East, it will be Glastonbury, Hartford Public, Farmington, Manchester and East Hartford.
This is very similar to what we’ve seen the past several years. Due to the size of New Britain High School, there’s not much place to move anywhere else within the conference. Therefore, the opponents that they see in the coming years will be the same as before with familiar foes in Southington, Simsbury, Hall, Conard, Glastonbury, Manchester and East Hartford. The only real change will be that they will likely now see Farmington and Hartford Public.
Other sports, such as girls’ golf and wrestling, were adjusted on a case-by-case basis due to limited participation in some schools. For New Britain, that means girls’ golf will be placed in the South Region along with Middletown, Berlin, Newington and Plainville. For wrestling, New Britain will be placed in the West Region with Conard, Farmington, Hall, Newington, Simsbury and Southington.
It will certainly be an exciting time for high school sports beginning with the 2015-2016 school year and one that is sure to raise the competition as we see more local match-ups and old rivalries brought back.
