Hut, Hut ... Highlights From The Gridiron

Youth football game highlights from this past weekend are as follows:

Grade 4

Newtown 12, Bethel 6: Less than four minutes into the game it looked like Newtown could have been in trouble when Bethel took a counter sweep to the outside for an easy 6 points. On the ensuing kickoff Ryan Kost took the ball to inside Bethel’s 20 on a return of 35 yards, allowing the Nighthawks to settle down although they were unable to punch it into the end zone and lost the ball on downs. The defense stepped it up during the rest of the half with big tackles by Michael Garner, CJ Shambelan, Josh Dunn and Kost. On the offensive side of the ball big blocks by Alex Street, Andrew Deluca, Max Goldstein and Owen Walsh helped Newtown march down the field and with runs by Dunn, Shambelan and William Stenz out of the backfield. They put in the end zone on a bootleg to Kost to tie the score at 6-6 at the half.

The second half belonged to Newtown. On the second offensive series, Newtown ran a dive to Dunn behind blocking of AJ Salaris, Jacob Duffy, Jake Holman, Ethan Tousignant and Chris Faxon for a 32 yard gain where he was stopped by Bethel at the 1 yard line. Dunn scored on the next play to put Newtown up 12-6. Wesley Scriven knocked down two passes on defense while Justin Cohelo had a fumble recovery forced by Doug Carriero. Carriero also helped seal the fate of Bethel when he had a sack late in the fourth. Newtown faces Somers White this weekend at home.

Grade 5

Newtown Nighthawks 19, Bethel 6: Nevin Zink got the action started with an early-game touchdown, then tackles by Joe Accousti and Alex Morganti shut down Bethel’s offense. Behind blocking by Adam Bell and Noah LaFerriere, Patrick Conte scored on a quarterback keeper. In the second half of the game, Colin McCafferty intercepted a pass to set up a touchdown by Scott Bauer, then Mitchell Savoca ran in the conversion. Tackles by Billy Kase, Brandyn Chieffo, Ryan Norton and John Pierce helped keep Bethel scoreless until late in the fourth quarter.

Grade 6

Newtown 36, Southern Dutchess 7: Newtown’s ground game was firing on all cylinders as nine backs gained more than 250 yards. The defense again scored and forced three more turnovers, bringing the team’s turnover ratio to plus-10 for the season. Newtown is now 3-0. Newtown took the lead in the first quarter as Ethan Carpenter scored on a 16-yard bootleg. Steve Faxlanger converted the extra point behind the blocking of Carlo Fenaroli and Jeremy Salaris. The first defensive series saw Brian Kiley’s sack knock the ball loose, with Greg Harrison recovering the fumble. A 1-yard Devin Luzietti plunge and a Jared Pearson kick made the score 15-0. On the ensuing kick off, Pearson raced down field to recover the loose ball. James Accousti followed his 20-yard run with a 1-yard dive for a touchdown made possible by the blocks of Michael Roche and Matt Davis. Shawn McCarthy added the extra point. Near the end of the first half, Matt Elias intercepted a pass and raced 71 yards for another score. Carpenter passed to Pearson for the extra point and a 29-0 lead at halftime. The second half saw tough defensive stops by Andrew Svanda, Christian Thanasoulis (pass batted down), and John DelRossi.  Peyton Manning cut outside on a power and galloped 84 yards for the last score of the day. Nick Rohrbacher and Brandon Hensel helped lead the way. Carpenter passed to Declan Sullivan for the extra point. The defense held Southern Dutchess on downs due to the fine play of corners Matt Meyers and Colin Patrick, and linemen Kyle Martinez and John Reardon. The game ended as QB Austin LeBlanc was driving the team in for another score.

Grade 7

Newtwon 34, Bethel Blue 6: Newtown improved to 3-0 as five Nighthawks scored touchdowns — three coming through the air and two by land. Julian Dunn and Troy Frangione led the Hawks with four receptions for 70 and 63 yards respectively. Tim Krapf added three receptions for 48 yards and Will Dalton had a catch for a beautiful 45-yard run up left sideline for a touchdown. Colton Smith was 11-for-12 passing for 213 yards at the quarterback position while Jacob “Boots” Burden contributed with a pass completion for 13 yards. The great offensive line play of Kevin Conte, Griffin Davis, Markus Elken, Eric Cascone and Jake Lambert gave the QBs plenty of time to find their receivers. All in all, the passing game gained 226 yards in the air with Dunn, Frangione and Dalton each getting into the end zone by air. If the young Hawks were not putting the ball up in the air, they were driving down the field, gaining 120 yards on the ground. Nick Lotrecchiano, Bubba Condon, Jaret DeVellis, “Sugar” Shane Quimby, Bubba Condon and Smith led the ground attack with Lotrecchiano and Condon both crossing the goal line for six points. While the offense was rolling, the defense was once again dominating the line of scrimmage by shutting down any threat of ball movement. Defensive plays were made by many young Nighthawks with DeVellis, Logan Walsh, Sean McCafferty and David Bauch both getting big tackles at the cornerback position. Forest Speed added a tackle in the backfield with Rubino and Condon shutting down the middle at the linebacker position. Chris Hartley, Peter Manfredonia and Harry Duffy added pressure to the QB from the defensive end positions and Bobby Lydon and Stephen Grasso both contributed tackles from the defensive line. Will Dalton had his second interception of the year in the second quarter to end a scoring threat right before halftime.

The special teams were not going to be outdone by the offense or defense as Aidan “Shack Attack” Petershack had a big tackle on the second half kickoff return and Joey “Bug” Santella returned a kick 26 yards. Dunn added a point after kick with Krapf and Nick “Rat” Rubino both adding an extra point.  The seventh-graders will host Somers this Sunday on Taylor Field at Hawley School. Game time is 10 am.