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"Go down. Mark, go down," Cochran yelled. An unidentified player or coach on the sideline said, "Coach, he's not going to go down."
Call it instinct, but Wysocki didn't go down. The Maloney defense finally encircled him and dropped him at the Spartans' 26.
On the very same play, New Britain's talented junior defensive end Josh Jennings lined up for the punt rush. Jennings had already blocked one punt, picked up the ball and walked in from the 2.
"Josh, don't rush. Don't rush," Cochran called out. Only Jennings knows whether or not he pulled up short but he ended up on the ground when the punt was executed.
Now I wasn't around for the brunt of Cochran's games when he was at Bloomfield, but his request for the players to ease up is clear-cut evidence that he had no intention of doing what he has been accused of so often around the state - running up the score.
Beating opponents mercilessly is not what drives Cochran. The Hurricanes were just so well-prepared and so anxious to hit somebody after 16 days of inactivity that they dominated Maloney about as completely as one team can dominate another. The hopelessness that enveloped the Maloney players from the opening kickoff only added to the disproportion.
Cochran is a master of preparation. He became head coach at New Britain in June, 2001, so he didn't have the benefit of implementing his year-round training regimen last season. Obviously it didn't stop him from winning the Class LL championship and gaining recognition as the No. 1 team in the state.
But this year's team, while it doesn't have the experienced skill people like former halfback Justise Hairston and quarterback Neil Johnson, is prolific in the trenches. The trenches are where games are won, lost and dominated. Get used to blowouts. The rest of the CCC South is not geared to deal with the likes of Jennings, George Burke, Dominic Madigan and the others along the New Britain defensive front. Nor are they equipped to deal with Jordan Raineault, Oliver Oron, Kyle Kummer and the snowplows in the offensive line.
Embarrassing his foe is not Cochran's fondest desire. Cochran would like to take Connecticut scholastic football to a new level. He would like the chance to meet some of the nation's finest teams and have the state well-represented on Division I college rosters across the land.
A dream like that has to start somewhere. Connecticut school administrators - the CIAC -- don't have the same view of football that they have in states like Pennsylvania, Florida and Texas, where the pigskin is worshipped. Connecticut imposes restrictions on out-of-season interaction between players and coaches.
"When the season ends you're allowed to work with players," Cochran said about the states where football rules. "You're allowed to coach and teach your kids."
Cochran was among 11 coaches cited and fined by the CIAC for participating in summer passing leagues with his student-athletes. Such practices are obviously accepted and encouraged elsewhere or the passing leagues wouldn't exist.
In states where football reigns supreme, a coach's teaching load is reduced to a few phys-ed classes, which in many cases involve the football players coming in for some calisthenics or a skull session.
"In the bigger states coaches have a reduced load or no load," Cochran said.
Cochran's principles in preparing young men for life are indisputable.
"I have to believe we're doing what's right in preparing them mentally and physically," he said. "I just try to do what I feel is best - lifting, running and study halls."
He doesn't restrict his guidance to just his own players.
"I'd do anything to help any of them," he said. "I've worked with kids in other towns."
Through intense preparation, and with talented kids coming into the school system in one way or another to be a part of hallowed Hurricane history, Cochran is forcing the rest of the state to take a close look at what is transpiring.
One reaction, understandably reflected by the emotionally charged post-game comments of Maloney coach Wayne Flis, is conference realignment.
"I was hoping to survive. What are you going to do," Flis said. "This (darned) league puts us in this situation. ..It's a (lousy) situation to put an 'M' school back to back against New Britain and Southington.
"We've got to realign the leagues. We had a proposal on the board last year that first met with approval but they somehow decided there was a discrepancy in the vote. They brought it back to a vote and people changed their minds."
Some CCC principals allegedly did not show up for the vote, an obvious reflection as to what they feel is important. Two who have been proponents of realignment, by the way, and who have worked to improve interscholastic sports, are Paul Salina of New Britain and Gladys Labas of Maloney.
Another shortcoming that is being addressed by the CCC is a mandatory crossover in scheduling so that the Hurricanes aren't punished for excellence by principals, athletic directors and coaches who put up stone walls.
"(The CCC) has had proposals and every one has been voted down by principals," Cochran said. "There have been some great proposals, but I don't know if realignment answers the problem. We need mandatory scheduling. That's what the league's set up for with 23 schools. They can set it up where one school plays another just once every 16 years or create one based on team strength."
The bottom line is this: something is terribly wrong with high school football in Connecticut and it's not Jack Cochran. Cochran is merely doing the best he can for his student-athletes. It's not in his power to re-write the rules and regulations. He's trying to change them the only way he can - by displaying the inequities through game results. Instead of administrators spewing venom over Cochran's tactics, they need to get in a room, close the door and come out with realignment and/or scheduling plans that are more equitable.
Ken Lipshez can be reached at Klipshez@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 222.
