Olivia Flaherty-Lovy, Editor-in-Chief
@ofl_courant
On November 22nd, the New Canaan and Darien football teams met for the 25th annual Turkey Bowl, held at Boyle Stadium. Led by senior Wyatt Wilson’s 16-yard touchdown with 6:58 remaining, New Canaan overthrew previously-unbeaten Darien 17-14 to capture the Turkey Bowl title for the second year in a row and secure a spot in the state tournament. While the two teams were battling down on the field, though, behind the scenes another team was hard at work. The NCTV football crew and Darien Athletic Foundation came together to collaborate on a large-scale live broadcast of the game that has been viewed over 18,000 times as of December 13th.
Last June, the HAN network completed its three year contract with the FCIAC for the right to broadcast high school sports games and announced that it would be exiting the live sports broadcasting business. This meant that both New Canaan and Darien had the right to broadcast the Turkey Bowl, but instead of running two separate productions, the schools teamed up to produce one broadcast, sharing everything from equipment and technique to passion.
The preparation for the broadcast began on November 5th and was led by NCHS TV Broadcasting teacher Roman Cebulski and junior co-producers Cortland Parrott and Luci Savini in collaboration with Darien Athletic Foundation Vice President of Media Bruce Ferguson and Head of Video Production Damian Andrew. Though Darien High School does not have an official broadcasting class, a team of students from the broadcasting club also helped to execute the broadcast. “The planning was a very intricate process,” said Mr. Cebulski. “We met at Boyle Stadium to see the facilities and meet each other, and from there we made decisions about how we wanted to produce everything.”
For Cortland and Luci, along with the rest of the student football crew, this meant staying after school many days until as late as 7 pm testing equipment and troubleshooting. “That was one of my favorite parts of the process,” said Cortland. “Planning was exciting because the process was something that we’ve never done.”
One of the biggest challenges for the production crew was adapting to the new facilities of Boyle Stadium. To prepare, the crew made several trips to the stadium before the day of the game to set up and practice filming. “We had never done a broadcast that wasn’t at New Canaan,” Luci said. “It’s definitely difficult, but also exciting to try and learn new ways to shoot a game.”
Working side by side to announce the game was two-time Emmy-award winner Damian Andrew and NCHS sophomore Ian Nicholas. Mr. Andrew provided the play-by-play analysis of the game, while Ian served as the color commentator.
Though some would be intimidated by working with a professional from the Darien Athletic Foundation, Ian found the process exciting. “Commentating at one of the biggest games in the state is something I will never forget,” Ian said. “To learn so much from Damian Andrew at the beginning of my career means a lot to me. He was passionate, just like I am, and you could tell how much he loves what he does.”
Mr. Andrew, who recently finished a 20-year career at News 12, was equally impressed with the work of the mainly student-run NCTV crew. “Working with the high school students on a collaborative broadcast that was seen by thousands of people was great,” he said. “New Canaan and Darien were really coming together for this. It was a true community adventure.”
As the football teams clashed down on the field, the students on the production crew ran into very little difficulty in working with one another. “The rivalry didn’t make it awkward or anything,” said Cortland. “It was actually a lot of fun to get to film the game with the town we were playing against.”
Fueled by the success of the Turkey Bowl broadcast, the production crew hopes to continue to expand their partnership, meaning that it is very likely the two towns will collaborate on another large-scale production in the future. “Our two towns are so similar, and we think that should be celebrated more than anything,” said Mr. Cebulski. “While our teams were fighting on the field for one winner, behind the scenes off the field we are working together so both schools win.”
