Fifth Grade Football Team Blanks Ansonia In Preseason Finale

The Newtown Youth Football fifth grade Nighthawks kicked off the campaign with a preseason game against the Ansonia Coppers, at Newtown’s Taylor field on Saturday, August 25.

Newtown showed no rust in the first game action of the season, beating Ansonia 32-0, showing a balanced offensive attack and a stiff defense. Newtown outgained the Coppers by 200 yards, racking up more than 300 yards on offense and holding the Coppers to 101 yards on the day.

Newtown’s balanced offense was led by JP Iaropoli who completed 10 of 16 passes, including three touchdowns, for 133 yards to six receivers. Jared Dunn, Miles Ricks, and Jack Mulligan were on the receiving end of touchdown passes of 21, 16, and 8 yards.

The running game was clicking too, totaling 168 yards on 12 carries. Connor Moran put the icing on the cake, scampering 64 yards for a TD to close out the scoring in the fourth quarter.

Jack Kuligowski also scored on 16 yard run and Jack Carpenter broke a 44 yarder, but was dragged down near the goal line. The offensive line of Jacob Riley, Evan Prestera, Stephen Cheh, and Kyle Good opened up holes all day and gave the quarterback time to find receivers. Kyle Good was also flawless in executing the newly-implemented shotgun snaps.

The defense was equally dominant in shutting out the Coppers. The D was led by Jared Dunn and Jack Zingaro with six tackles each. Connor Moran and Stephen Sedensky pitched in with five each and Chris Frascatore contained the outside run at the linebacker spot. The defensive line, anchored by Matt Heinlein, Justin Engler, Will Swierbut, Sean Roche, and Owen Meeker, controlled the line of scrimmage, allowing the linebackers and secondary to attack the Copper ball carriers.

The fifth graders open the regular season at home against Bethel on Saturday, September 1 at 10am, at Taylor field.

The team is coached by Adam Carley, who is assisted by Sean Dunn, Rich Giacin, Keith Cheh, Neil Curry, George Moran, and Doug Haywood.