79ers

Newtown Gold 26, Meriden 13: Newtown Gold evened their record to 1-1 Sunday with an impressive win against a tough Meriden squad. The 79ers set the tone for the game during a 14-play opening drive that ate up the entire first quarter. Quarterback JP Iaropoli capped off the methodical, 60-yard drive with the first of his three touchdowns on the day. The offense continued to cruise, scoring 20 unanswered points.

The offensive onslaught was led by 90 all-purpose yards from the elusive Jeffrey Garrity, a thrilling 55-yard scoring run by the speedy Jack Kuligowski, a rumbling 58-yard, fourth quarter gain by Connor Haywood, and the aggressive blocking of the offensive line: Grant Baker, Kevin Curry, Tommy Gies, Patrick Grover, Justin Engler, CJ Giacin, and Jack Lydon

The Nighthawk defense swarmed the Meriden ball carriers all day long, keeping the determined Raider team out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter. Newtown’s dominant defensive performance was led by Jack Mulligan’s six tackles and fumble recovery, Eamon Doherty’s four tackles and quarterback sack, and the overall hard-nosed defensive play of Haywood, Kuligowski, Michael Haddick, and Danny Ingersoll.

Newtown 79ers Blue 19, Bridgeport Chargers 0: Newtown 79ers Blue team once again came out strong, gaining a 13-point lead against the Bridgeport Chargers the first half of the game. Touchdowns were made by Jarred Dunn and Connor Moran, each with 20-plus-yard runs that were assisted by key blocks from Ryan Chieffo, Colton Stergue, Gus Coffey, Luke Hannan, and Shane Luzietti.

Defensively throughout the game, Jake D’Andrea, Aidan Finnegan, Kyle Good, Jack Street, and Luke Wellman all contributed in derailing any Bridgeport attempts to getting on the scoreboard by executing backfield tackles and recovering a Charger fumble. Determined to win, the Newtown offensive lines bulldozed their way down the field, making a final touchdown toward the end of the fourth quarter, finishing the game with a 19-0 victory against Bridgeport.

Grade 5

Newtown Nighthawks 12, Norwalk Jaguars 13: Newtown lost a heartbreaker in the final seconds on Saturday. Newtown opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 45-yard pass play from Ryan Kost to Charles Shambelan that set up a one-yard TD run by Kost on the next play. Newtown was not able to convert the extra point, however. Norwalk answered with a 70-yard touchdown run and extra point, making the score 7-6.

In the second quarter, Norwalk scored another touchdown to make the score 13-6. Late in the second quarter Will Stenz recovered a Norwalk fumble, stopping Norwalk from taking control of the game. The Newtown defense held the Norwalk Offense scoreless in the third quarter, keeping their team in the game. Early in the fourth. the Newtown offense rewarded the defense’s hard work when a short pass from Kost turned into a 45-yard scamper by Simon Preston for a touchdown. Newtown was not able to score the extra point, making the score 13-12.

With time winding down in the fourth quarter, Doug Carriero stripped the ball from Norwalk, setting up his offense on the Newtown 49. The Newtown offense was able to march down the field, but in the end came up inches short of a go-ahead touchdown, leaving the final score at 13-12.

Grade 6

Nighthawks 30, Norwalk Buccaneers 14: The Nighthawks continued their four-game winning streak with a victory over the Norwalk Buccaneers. Passes from Patrick Conte to Mitchell Savoca and Ben Mason earned the Nighthawks two first downs, but a fumble recovery by Mason put the ball in the hands of the Buccaneers. In the next play, however, Peter DeBona recovered a Buccaneers fumble and got the ball back. Conte passed to Nevin Zink, who fumbled on the tackle, but Bobby Haskins immediately recovered the fumble and ran for a touchdown.

In the second quarter, the Nighthawks gained yards with completed passes from Zink to Joey Accousti and Noah LaFerriere, but the ball was turned over on downs. Later in the quarter, Zink went out to punt on the fourth down, but did a surprise quarterback keeper and ran for a first down. Conte then passed to Haskins for a touchdown, and Zink kicked for two extra points. Stops by Matthew Bucci, Jack Wellman and Erik Benson kept the Buccaneers from scoring in the first half.

In the third quarter, Conte handed off to Savoca, who passed to Zink for a first and one. Mason took the handoff for a touchdown and Connor Barrett kicked for two extra points. The Buccaneers finally lit up their side of the scoreboard with a touchdown and two extra points. In the fourth, Conte passed to Gavin Stubbs for a first down, then to Savoca for a touchdown. Zink kicked for two extra points. Despite tackles by Scott Bauer, Sean Wallace, and Ryan Brello, the Buccaneers scored the last touchdown of the game.

 

Grade 7

Newtown 39, Bridgeport 19: Newtown defeated Bridgeport Blue (Gold was the prior week) this past Sunday at Taylor field. The Hawks exploded for six touchdowns, as different players gained 250 yards on the ground. Newtown opened with an eight-play drive that featured two pass completions from Ethan Carpenter to Devin Luzietti, and a 21-yard run by Jared Pearson. Luzietti score on a six-yard run behind the blocking of Jeremy Salaris and Ryan Shaw. Shaw converted the extra point kick, and then boomed the ensuing kickoff 50 yards, allowing Carpenter to recover a fumble at the Bridgeport five yard line. Three plays later, Chris Blanco went left for the score behind the blocking of Greg Harrison and RJ Oliveira.

Early in the second quarter, a Nick Samuelson fumble recovery set up an eight-yard touchdown pass from Matt Maturo to Michael Doyle. Near the end of the half, the Newtown defense, led by John Delrossi and Nick Bourgeois, came up big to stop Bridgeport deep in their own territory. Luzietti scored on an eight-yard run and Blanco tacked on the extra point for a 27-7 half time lead. Other big plays in the half were a 15-yard pass reception by Steven Faxlanger and nine-yard reverse for a first down by Geoff Santore.

Newtown struck again early in the third quarter after a Carlo Fenaroli fumble recovery. Luzietti scored his third touchdown of the game on a 25-yard run around the left side behind the blocking of Nick Rohrbacher and Fenaroli. Newtown’s defense delivered some big hits in the half, led by Matt Davis, Mark Urso, Matt Carino, and Michael Roche. Newtown’s final drive and score of the day was all Pearson, as he had runs of 25 and 61 yards (the latter made possible by a key block from Peyton Manning) before scoring on a three-yard option left. Shaw recovered a fumble in the waning moments to stop a final Bridgeport threat.

Grade 8

Newtown 34, Ansonia 6: The Newtown 8th Grade Youth Football team welcomed the Ansonia Coppers to Taylor field for the Nighthawks’ home opener last Sunday and came away with a 34 to 6 victory. To no surprise, Newtown dominated from start to finish with their power running game and smothering defense, which has been the norm for opponents over the last five years. The Nighthawks running attack accumulated 286 yards on the ground with contributions from Nick Lotrecchiano, Julian Dunn, Colton Smith, Rat Rubino, Jaret DeVellis, Shane Quimby, Logan Walsh, and Bug Santella. Smith led all Hawks with 129 yards on five carries and two TDs. Dunn added 48 yards, and Lotrecchiano chipped in 30 and a TD. Rubino and Santella added 26 and 22 yards, respectively.

While the backs were making their way up and down the field, the line play was responsible for the gigantic holes all day. The anchor of the line, Kevin Conte, had his usual dominating role with Markus Elken, Davis, Jake Lambert, Aidan Petershack, Erik Street, Connor Roche, and Eric Cascone controlling their assignments.

While the running game was unstoppable, the passing attack chipped away when the Coppers stacked the defensive box. Boots Burden completed a TD pass to Jaret DeVellis for DeVellis’s second TD of the day and Smith completed two passes to Will Dalton for 25 yards and another completion to Lotrecchiano for another eight. The Swarming Nighthawk’s defense stopped any potential threats from the get go with DE Griffin Davis leading the team with five tackles, followed closely by Rubino and Tim Krapf with 4½ stops each. Krapf also caused a fumble with a monster hit. DeVellis chipped in with 3.5 tackles from the corner back and nose tackle position, and Santella, Quimby, Elken, Walsh, James Leuci and Peter Manfredonia added two tackles piece. The Nighthawks take their 3-0 record to Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport to face their first round playoff opponent from 2009.