79ers

Aspetuck Wildcats 21, 79ers Gold 6: Newtown’s 79ers Gold team played its first home game of the season in front of an energetic home crowd on a balmy Saturday afternoon against rival Aspetuck. The Nighthawks’ stingy defense, led by standouts JP Iaropoli, Connor Haywood, Michael Haddick, and Jack Mulligan, made the methodical Wildcat offense scratch and claw for every yard but ultimately surrendered two first-half touchdowns to the throw-back single wing attack. Newtown had a chance to close the gap late in the second quarter when a long drive stalled inside the Aspetuck 10 yard line, forcing them into the break down 14-0. Newtown’s offense came out of halftime strong after being fired up by their talented and enthusiastic cheerleading squad and marched down the field behind the strong running of Jack Kuligowski, Jeffrey Garrity, and Iaropoli. who powered into the end zone from seven yards out on a quarterback keeper. After a failed point-after attempt, Newtown trailed 14-6. Aspetuck responded a few minutes later, driving down the field with their “four yards and a cloud of dust” offensive attack for another score to make it 21-6. After a see-saw fourth quarter battle, Newtown was threatening late when time expired.

79ers Blue 26, Ansonia Coppers 6: The Newtown 79er Blue team played a stellar game against the Ansonia Coppers this past weekend, capitalizing on their first home field contest. Even with Ansonia scoring a touchdown at the game’s onset, the Nighthawk team kept its composure by quickly taking charge and taking a 14-6 lead into the halftime break. Members of the Newtown defensive line made it clear they wanted to win the game by persistently undermining any attempts of advancement from the Ansonia team. Gus Coffey, Kyle Good, Stephen Sedensky, Brett Pierce, Luke Wellman, Matt Heinlein, and Ryan Chieffo all contributed in making key tackles and defensively containing almost every play made by the Coppers. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, the Newtown offensive line steadily marched down field and consistently racked up points throughout the game. Shane Luzietti, Jared Dunn, Connor Moran, and Aidan Finnegan all scored touchdowns, three of which were on 35-plus yard runs. None of this would have been accomplished without key blocks from Jack Stenz, Sean O’Sullivan, Luke Hannan, Chris Frascatore, Will Archiere, Colton Stergue, and TJ Merrick.

Grade 4

Wildcats 27, Nighthawks 13: Game Captains were Derrick Lewis, Luke Fischer, Nikolas Accousti, and Tanner Stergue. A hot fall sun baked Taylor Field last Saturday when the Nighthawks took on the Aspetuck Wildcats. The first quarter was a battle for field position behind great offensive plays and bone-jarring defensive stops. The back and forth play spilled into the second quarter until Matthew Dubios broke the cycle with a power run to the left for six points. Minutes later, the Wildcats answered with a TD and extra point conversion. The game was 7-6 at halftime. Tucker Garrity scored a TD late in the fourth quarter, and Luke Melillo converted the extra point on a QB keeper. Aidan Shugrue, Robbie Morrill, John Albanesi, Jordan Fulton, Ryan Tani, and Garrett Norberg brought the noise for the Newtown defense. Reid Harrison, Griffin Cross, Daniel Mason, Garrity, Dubois, and Mellilo racked up the yards for the offense. The team sends out a special thanks to the “Snack Shack Moms.” The Nighthawks (3-2) are away at Norwalk this Saturday.

Grade 5

Ridgefield Raiders 6, Nighthawks 0: In staying with the theme of keeping their parents’ fingernails short the Nighthawks played another nail-biter on Sunday. Ridgefield started the game on offense and it looked like the Newtown defense might hold when a 55-yard run on fourth down resulted in the only score of the game. Newtown held on the extra point try but couldn’t overcome the TD. On the ensuing kickoff, Ridgefield was able to recover an onside kick. The Newtown defense held stout, stopping Ridgefield on fourth and two. Late in the first, Ryan Kost completed a pass to Nick Weiland, setting up the offense in Ridgefield territory. Later in the drive, Ryan Kost was able to draw Ridgefield offside with a hard count for a first down. The drive came to an end on a fourth and long that Newtown could not convert. In the third quarter, CJ Shambelan got off a nice run behind the blocking Wes Scriven, Doug Carriero, and Andrew Deluca.

Grade 6

Nighthawks 14, Aspetuck Wildcats 6: The Nighthawks continued their winning streak with a strong performance. Early runs by Mitchell Savoca and Ben Mason set the stage for a touchdown run by Nevin Zink. Tackles by Steven Moccio, Justin Dunn, and Edward Lovely caused a quick turnover on downs for Aspetuck, and Nevin Zink quickly scored again on a quarterback keeper. Following a pass interception by Matthew Bucci, Bobby Haskins ran for a first down, and Ben Mason broke through Aspetuck’s defense for an apparent touchdown run, but it was overturned because of a lineman downfield. Haskins caught a pass for another Nighthawks’ first down, but the clock ran out before the Nighthawks could score again. In the third quarter, tackles by Scott Bauer, Joe Accousti, and Patrick Conte shut down the Wildcats’ offense. In the fourth quarter, tackles by Ellis Hubbard, Jack Wellman, and Steven Macejko led to another turnover on downs, but Zink fumbled and the Wildcats recovered. Despite tackles by Haskins, Matthew Krasnickas, and Zink, the Wildcats finally scored a late-game touchdown.

Grade 7

Newtown 14, Aspetuck 0: In a defensive battle, Newtown improved to 4-1 as they defeated Aspetuck on Sunday at Taylor field. The Hawks D did not yield a first down and had 4 sacks on its way to limiting Aspetuck to negative 11 yards of total offense. In the first half, sacks by Jared Pearson and Mark Urso, and a fumble recovery by Nick Samuelson kept Aspetuck under control. Late in the first quarter, Pearson got outside for a 58-yard touchdown jaunt that put Newtown up 8-0. On its first possession of the third quarter, Pearson broke several tackles as he ran right through the heart of the Aspetuck defense for a 38-yard touchdown. Later in the third, Chris Blanco was able to break through for a nice gain behind the blocking of Scooter McCarthy, RJ Oliveira, and Justin Apply. Throughout the second half, repeated safety blitzes by Nico Janiak and Hunter Booker allowed the defense to overwhelm the Aspetuck offensive line, leading to several tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Highlights included sacks by Pearson and Samuelson, and tackles for losses by Charlie Fletcher, Matt Davis, Nick Rohrbacher, and Bryan Kiley. John Delrossi was all over the field, making several hard tackles. Newtown is on the road next week to face undefeated Norwalk in a rematch from last year’s Candlewood Valley League playoffs.

Grade 8

Newtown 26, Aspetuck Wildcats 0: In a Battle of the Titans and two of the more physical teams in local youth football, Newtown proved to be too much for the Aspetuck Wildcats. The Nighthawk’s defense dominated from the start and held the Wildcats to less than 20 yards and only one first down for the entire game. Sugar Shane Quimby was all over the field and led the Hawks with 8 tackles with Rat Rubino and Griffin Davis close behind with 5 stops each. James Leuci was a big contributor from the defensive tackle position as he had 5 tackles, and Pete Manfredonia chipped in with 2 and a big sack. Colton Smith made 4 tackles from strong safety with Bug Santella, Jaret DeVellis, and Julian Dunn adding 1 each. In addition to the defense was completely dominating Aspetuck, the Nighthawks’ offense put up huge numbers both by air and land. Newtown rushed for 284 yards and 2 TDs and threw for another 183 and 2 TDs. Smith, Julian Dunn, Nick Lotrecchiano, Rubino, Quimby, DeVellis, Logan Walsh, and Leuci all had carries on their way to 284. Touchdowns were scored by Smith on an 85-yard scamper across the field and Rubino on a 3-yard plunge up the middle. Lotrecchiano added 7 carries for 62 yards and Dunn 5 for 40 yards. While the running game was plugging away, it was the passing game that put the nail in the coffin. The combination of Smith to Roche and Lotrecchiano totaled 6 receptions for 114 yards with Roche coming up with a couple of big first downs. Then came the TD receptions by Dunn on a 20-yard out pattern and the long ball to Troy Frangione for an impressive 49-yard post for a back-breaking TD to start the second half. The Nighthawks (5-0) visit the Norwalk Packers on Sunday, in a rematch of last year’s CVL championship game.