Newington has had two tough games in a row over the last two weeks and it’s only going to get tougher as they go after the state championship.

When discussing Sunday’s opponent, Newington coach John Acquavita said Windsor doesn’t have many weaknesses. He also talked about their strong offense, which averaged 41.1 points per game in the regular season, making them a dangerous team.

“For the most part, there are no real vulnerabilities,” Acquavita said. “They’re big, they have great team speed, they have a pocket passer and two really good running backs. On offense there aren’t many points, on defense you can say: “We’ll close it down.” They’re very balanced and good offensively.”

Windsor has mostly outlasted its 10 regular season opponents. Like Newington, they are a CCC (Central Connecticut Conference) team, but had an exciting alliance matchup against FCIAC opponent Darien in Week 3.

In a back-and-forth game between two top-ten teams in the state, Windsor emerged victorious in a 41-35 double-overtime thriller. This helped them secure the No. 1 seed in the state for much of the season.

Windsor had two more “close” games this season against Simsbury and in the season finale against Bloomfield. In Week 2, Windsor was tested against Simsbury, who held Simsbury to 27 points (their second-lowest total all season) while also scoring 10 points. The week before Thanksgiving, Bloomfield held Windsor to 20 points but was shut out.

Windsor’s defense has also been good this season, recording three shutouts and allowing just 11.6 points per game. Speaking of good defense and shutouts, half of the Nor’Easters’ regular season games ended in shutout wins while allowing just 5.2 points per game. Newington averaged 25.3 points per game as a team.

Interestingly, Simsbury is the only common opponent Newington and Windsor have faced all season. The Nor’Easters defeated Simsbury 19-0, while Windsor won 27-10. Newington had the larger margin of victory than Windsor over Simsbury (19 to 17).

Acquavita said his team watched film of Windsor’s game against Simsbury and will continue to do so, but didn’t pay much attention to the result, saying Windsor was a much different team than it was in September.

Before Sunday’s game, Windsor will benefit from home advantage and will also be very rested. Windsor was the only team not to play a playoff game on Tuesday as its original opponent NW United lost the game. With their final game being against Bloomfield on Saturday, November 23, the Warriors have taken a 15-day break since their last game.

While Windsor has reaped the benefits of being even healthier, rust could be an issue for the team that hasn’t taken the field against competition in two weeks. Although this is all circumstantial evidence, Acquavita does not believe that Windsor will suffer any disadvantages from this strange situation.

“I’m going to say no,” Acquavita said. “Maybe they’re a little rusty. Chris Roberts, one of our assistants, once had a crazy playoff game before a playoff game when he was quarterback at New Britain. I don’t think it’s a disadvantage for them. The only thing that might happen is that they might have to get used to the excitement of the game and keep their adrenaline levels under control.”