Hut Hut … Highlights From The Grid Iron

Grades 2-3

Newtown 32, Bethel Silver 13: The 79ers came back with a solid win in their home opener. Josh Dunn, CJ Shembelan, Owen Walsh, Tucker Garrity and Riley McCafferty scored touchdowns behind outstanding blocking in the trenches by the offensive line, including Mike Garner, Griffin Cross, Daniel Badiola, Alex Street, Ryan Campbell, Ryan Williams and Jacob Duffy.  On the defensive side of the ball Newtown gave up little ground until late in the game. Big tackles were delivered by CJ Shembelan, Dunn, and Simon Preston. Other key contributors were Derrick Lewis, Ethan Tousiant, Larry Deluca, AJ Salaris, Ryan Tani and Gren Paynter.

Grade 4

Newtown Nighthawks 26, Bethel Bobcats 14: The Nighthawks scored first on a touchdown by Mitchell Savoca. Bobby Haskins  had a long run to set up a TD by Justin Dunn. Patrick Conte ran it in for the extra point bringing the score to 13-0. Dunn added a 10-yard score and a 60-yard TD run. Bobby Haskins recovered a fumble and Colin McCafferty, Scott Bauer, Adam Bell, Seth Willis Liam Garrison, Ryan Norton, Thomas Addessi, Mitchell Long, Ryan Norton, Anthony Falbo, River Low and Phillip Coffey and Dunn.

Grade 5

Newtown Gold 25, Bethel 0: After tackled by Ethan Carpenter and Shaun “Scooter” Mccarthy, Jared Pearson picked off a Bethel pass and ran 62 yards for Newtown’s first score of the game. Michael Doyle ran it in for the extra point. The Newtown defense held Bethel behind great plays from Declan Sullivan, Bryan Kiley, Jeremy Salaris and Gabriel Barrett. Defensive ends Bryan Kiley and Charlie Fletcher had sacks and Tim Mamman, Stephen Faxlanger, James Accousti, Kyle Martinez, Matt Carrino, Nick Bourgeouis and John Delrossi added strong defensive plays for Newtown.

Halfback Michael Doyle lined up as quarterback and connected with quarterback Ethan Carpenter, playing as the slot back, for a 55-yard touchdown. Offensive lineman Michael Dutsar opened holes for the offense. Jared Pearson scored from 35 yards out. Safety Nick Genovese came up with a big interception. Doyle capped the scoring with a 60-yard run set up by Key blocks from Charlie Fletcher.

Newtown Blue 21, Monroe 0: Quarterback Matt Maturo benefited from pass protection led by center Gordon Walsh, guards Andrew Svanda and Nick Samuelson and tackles Jim Payne and Jake Lapp. Austin LeBlanc, Colin Thies, Sam Duffy and Nick Rohrbacher played strong defense and helped give Newtown the ball near mid field. After four consecutive punishing runs up the middle by Andrew Svanda, Maturo connected for the game’s first score on a 47-yard pass to Matt Elias. Svanda added the extra point making it 7-0 just before the half.

In the second half, Ryan McIntyre and John Reardon stuffed Monroe’s running game while Samuelson and Maturo shut down the corners. Nick Samuelson caused and recovered a fumble to set up Maturo’s TD pass to Elias. James Burdette broke through the line on an inside handoff scampering for 41 yards and the games final score. The TD was made possible by the blocking of Matthew Pindell and Michael Vitti.

Newtown gained 209 yards on offense and Maturo passed for 80 yards on a 6-for-13 passing effort. Devin Luzietti led all tacklers with nine, Duffy and Svanda had seven each and Geoffrey Santore, LeBlanc, Thies and Rohrbacher each had four.

Grade 6

Newtown 33, Bethel Blue 0: Colton Smith and Jacob Boots Burden combined to complete six passes for 130 yards and a TD. On the receiving end of the Newtown air attack were tight end Connor Roche with three catches for 45 yards, wide receiver Troy Fragione with two receptions for 30 yards and wing back Jaret DeVellis with a reception for an impressive 55-yard score. On the ground, running backs Nick Lotrecciano, Shane Quimby, Jaret DeVellis, Forest Speed, Joe Santella and Nolan Walsh combined for 330 yards.

The line was led by the blocking of Nick Rubino, Eric Cascone, Griffin Davis, Eric Street, Jacob Lambert and Aiden Petershack. Defensive end Jacob Lambert applied pressure on Bethel’s backfield while the Newtown secondary stopped Bethel’s running game.

Linebackers Bubba Condon, Nick Rubino, and Kevin Ross all made substantial contributions through hard hitting defense, safety Nick Lotrecciano and cornerbacks Sean McCaffert and David Bauch also contributed.

Grade 7

Newtown 14, Mahopac 8: The offense was led by the running of Cooper Gold and Justin Saint who each had a touchdown. The defense bent but didn’t break, and was led by Chase Wurtz, Connor Noonan and Pat Afriyie. Matt Hoyt had a interception, and almost broke a punt return for a touchdown.