Your guide to the New London high school football team ahead of the 2026 season

New London's Zhi'Mir Maddox-Moore looks for an opening on a rush during a CIAC high school football game against Berlin at Sage Park in Berlin, Conn., Thursday, September 11, 2025. (Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media)

Master list: CT high school football previews for 2026

NEW LONDON

[Vitals]

• COACH - Jack Cochran (fourth season, 23-2 at NL from 2005, 2006-8; Overall 163-31-2)
• HOME FIELD - Pat Cannamella Field, New London
• PLAYOFF CLASS - M
• CONFERENCE - ECC
• 2025 RECORD - 3-7
• RETURNING STARTERS (off/def) - 5/5
• TEAM SOCIAL MEDIA - Facebook:The Whaler Way

[They're Here]

• Lawrence Dulcice, Sr., OL/DL (6-0, 290)
• Xavier Bryan, Sr., OL/DL (5-10, 265)
• Zhi'Mir Maddox-Moore, Jr., WR/DB (5-10, 175)
• Keyandre Dixon, Jr., WR/DB (6-1, 180)
• Noah Neri, Jr., LB (5-10, 185)
• Mateo Ford, So., OL/DL (6-0, 245)
• Tajae Ross-Maloney, So., OL/DL (5-9, 295)

[Reason to Cheer]

For New Londoners: Jack Cochran has returned to coaching high school football, eager to take the program with which he won state championships as a player (1983) and coach (2008) back to prominence.

[Reason to Fear]

For opposing teams: Jack Cochran, winner of 163 games and seven state titles, has returned to coaching high school football, though he does inherit a young team coming off a 3-7 season.

[The Bottom Line]

After a 13-year absence, the mercurial Jack Cochran is back on the sidelines as a head coach, re-hired by his alma mater in June. He is as well known for his 163-31-2 coaching record compiled at Bloomfield, New Britain and New London - an .835 winning percentage that ranks fifth all-time in Connecticut history- as he is for the CIAC's former 50-point score management policy, euphemistically called "The Cochran Rule" for the lopsided wins his teams often rang up.

Cochran's last coaching stop was half a season at Harding in 2013. Prior to that he coached New London to the 2008 Class SS championship, his eighth and most recent state title as a head coach.

Now 60-years old, Cochran returns to New London 17 years later with a different perspective. "I put, in my first go-around, way too much pressure on myself," he said. "It was more business, about winning than about having fun. Now, it's more showing these guys a way to use football and athletics to further themselves in education and college, to use football to learn the things that are going to help them succeed in life."

Cochran's team is young, comprised almost entirely of underclassmen. Two of his five seniors, Lawrence Dulcice and Xavier Bryan, will anchor the Whalers on the line. They'll be joined there by a pair of sizeable six-foot sophomores, 295-pound Tajae Ross-Maloney and 245-pound Mateo Ford.

Juniors Zhi'Mir Maddox-Moore and Keyandre Dixon lead a strong receiving group. It remains to be seen who will be throwing the ball and who will be running it. New London has no returning varsity running backs. Junior Kaunan Goncalves and sophomore Carmelo Sylvestre are among the candidates vying for the QB job.

[2026 Schedule]

Sept. 10 - BARLOW, 6 p.m.@
Sept. 18 - at E.O. SMITH, 6 p.m.@
Sept. 25 - at Stonington, 6:30 p.m.*
Oct. 2 - MONTVILLE-ST. BERNARD, 6 p.m.*
Oct. 9 - FITCH, 6 p.m.*
Oct. 22 - at Killingly, 6:30 p.m.*
Oct. 30 - LEDYARD, 6 p.m.*
Nov. 6 - WOODSTOCK ACADEMY, 6 p.m.*
Nov. 13 - at Waterford, 6 p.m.*
Nov. 26 - at NFA, 10 a.m.*

* Conference game
@ CT HS Alliance game

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This article originally published at Your guide to the New London high school football team ahead of the 2026 season.