89ERS

 

NEWTOWN 19, NEW CANAAN 0: Brian Reszoly and Jake DeVellis both scored touchdowns to help lead the 89ers to a 19-0 win over New Canaan.

Reszoly scored the first touchdown on a well-executed reverse from 12 yards out. The extra point was earned on a perfect pass from DeVellis to Kyle McNamara. Later, Newtown caused a fumble, which was recovered by DeVellis, and then march 60 yards with impressive carries by Jaime Vavrek and Reszoly. DeVellis ran in a QB sneak for the touchdown.

Newtown controlled the action for most of the second half. Chris Dennis, Rob Norling, Travis Fletcher, Chris Matthei, James Sharoe, Browning and Anthony Corleto all blocked well. Nick Tarantino, David Hutchinson, Brian Mesko and Kevin McCarthy ran the ball hard.

Charlie LoBosco made a nice catch, too.

Josh Adams, CJ Portolese, Brandon Marshall and Michael Hadgraft also had notable performances.

JUNIOR PEE WEES

 

NEWTOWN 20, NEW CANAAN 7: Coming off a tough loss last week to Brookfield, the Junior Pee Wees found the winning ways again with a 20-7 victory over New Canaan.

Newtown took over the game right away as Ryan Manning recovered a muff on the opening kick. In three plays, Tyler Tarantino was able to push the ball 43 yards down to the New Canaan four-yard line. Zach Conger got the call, then, to carry the ball into the end zone. Even though the extra point was no good, Newtown had a 6-0 lead.

Tom Jackman and Conger made solid plays on defense while Justin Craparo and Matt Mascolo broke up a fourth-down pass play to give the ball back to Newtown.

The offense then mounted a 13-play, 72-yard drive thanks to the work of offensive linemen Michael Maher, Chris Elias, James Post, Greg Rodden, Josh Friedman, Lucas Vendel and Brett Mauro. Tarantino, Mark Scheunemann, Conger and Chuck Brooks all took turns carrying the football with Tarantino finally bringing the ball into the end zone. Kris Kling added the extra point and Newtown held a 13-0 lead.

Nice defensive plays by Robert Morlath, Dan Curtis (nice open field tackle) and Dan DeLaVega held New Canaan out of the end zone by the close of the first half.

In the second half, the Jr Pee Wees had to start deep in their own end. On fourth and four, an option pass from Tarantino to Scheunemann gave Newtown a first down and some breathing room. Justin McGrath picked up two more first downs and the ‘Hawks were on the move. Great blocking up front by Chris Cardelle and Mauro helped get the ball all the way down to the New Canaan eight, but a fumble halted the drive.

The defense forced New Canaan to punt, but Mauro nearly tackled the punter in the end zone. The punter scrambled out, but was brought down on the one, and Newtown took over on downs. McGrath quickly scored the TD and Kling added the extra point, putting the Jr Pee Wees up 20-0.

Robert Eckenrode, McGrath, Matt Taylor, Post, Dan Cody, Sean Ryan, Cody Marus, Derek Calderara, Jamie Goodwick, Chris Elias and Matt Mascolo all made nice defensive plays, but New Canaan was able to push the ball across the goal line on its final drive.

The Jr Pee Wees will play in Bethel this weekend.

 

PEE WEES

 

NEWTOWN 23, NEW CANAAN 7: Joey DeVellis threw a pair of touchdown passes to Ryan McGrath and then rushed in for one of his own to lead Newtown to a convincing win over previously unbeaten New Canaan . . . and putting the 4-1 Nighthawks into first place.

And it was all in a come-from-behind effort.

Tommy “Rambo” Gaboriault’s opening kick and DeVellis tackle put Newtown in good position for its first defensive stand. But, despite the play of Joe Collins (first tackle for a loss of yardage), Tucker Kass, Drew Adamek, Grant Speer, David Modzelewski, Brian Stickles, Erik Dreher and Joe Bowen (who all registered tackles), New Canaan marched down the field. Even a nice tackle by cornerback Brian Poeltl couldn’t prevent New Canaan from completing a 15-yard TD pass to take a 7-0 lead.

DeVellis started the Newtown offense off with a nine-yard gain, but a fumble stopped the effort cold. Since offensive disappointment often breeds defensive motivation, though, McGrath came out and quickly notched his first quarterback sack of the season. The defense rallied behind tackles from Poeltl, DeVellis, and Kass to keep New Caanan from earning a first down.

The Nighthawk offense took over and Kass confidently moved the ball down the field behind the blocking of Mario Roehrs, Ryan Martin, Collins, McGrath, Bowen, Steve Orrico and Cody Shpunt. Thomas Hutchison and Kass went back-to-back with 15-yard gains and moved Newtown down to the one . . . where New Canaan held tough and prevented a TD.

While Newtown did not score a touchdown, it did get on the scoreboard in short order. On defense, McGrath and Kass barreled their way into the backfield and registered the first safety of the year, trimming the New Canaan lead to 7-2.

The Nighthawk defense would deny any further New Canaan offensive advances. Orrico, Modzelewski, Collins and Grant Speer recorded tackles while the secondary of DeVellis, Kass and Modzelewski broke up a pair of pass attempts.

At the half, it was New Canaan on top, 9-7.

Brian Stickles led the rushing attack at the start of the second half. Displaying power football, Stickles made a series of gains behind the lead blocking of Matt Kuruc, Skyler Gajdosik, Scott Perry and Jackson Blawie. DeVellis broke open the offense with a 20-yard sweep and then, on a perfect halfback option, Kass found Gaboriault, who had to acrobatically pull down a 15-yard pass.

Running with determination and pure will, Kass broke three tackles to power the ball over the line for the second Newtown touchdown of the day. DeVellis found McGrath in the end zone for the conversion and the Nighthawks had a 16-7 lead.

Later, the play of the day was made by Grant Speer, who ignited the crowd by breaking through the line on a lead block from Orrico and scampered 42 yards for the tinal touchdown of the day. DeVellis snuck through the line for the extra point and a 23-7 Newtown lead.

The Nighthawks will play Bethel on October 7 at 5 pm at Bethel High School.

JUNIOR MIDGETS

 

NEWTOWN 21, NEW CANAAN 18: Mark Ingerman made a late, game-saving tackle that perserved a thrilling, three-point victory for Newtown.

New Canaan got on the board first, in the first quarter, but failed to get an extra point when the pass into the end zone was swatted away by Jeff Levasseur. Down 6-0, Newtown answered back with a 40-yard kick off return by John Lewis and a 40-yard touchdown run by Carey Olsen.

Lewis kicked the extra point, giving Newtown an 8-6 lead. But New Canaan scored again in the quarter and took a 12-8 lead.

In the second quarter, Ingerman scored on a pass from Kevin Wasicki and Newtown had a 14-12 lead. The defensive efforts of Max Rojo and Ingerman kept that margin steady into the third period when Levasseur exploded for a 60-yard run. The extra point was made by Dylan Borst and Newtown had increased its lead to 21-12.

New Canaan scored a touchdown to cut the gap to three points and, in the fourth, it was the Newtown defense that held the Rams off for the win.

MIDGETS

 

NEWTOWN 25, NEW CANAAN 0: In the second quarter Matt Selezan got the momentum going with the first touchdown, then again carried the ball in for the extra point. TJ Sequenzia followed this up with a fumble recovery.  The second touchdown was made by Keith Gotthardt to give the Midgets a half time score of 13 - 0.

Selezan broke many tackles on his way to the Midgets’ third touchdown, a run of 51 yards. Derek Pattison made an interception and return of 25 yards for a Newtown first down, followed by Bobby Pattison’s carry in for a touchdown during the third quarter action. The fourth quarter was closed out by a fumble recovery by Keith Gotthardt.

The defensive line, including Paul Altieri, Bobby Pattison, TJ Sequenzia, and Bob Harrison, dominated the line of scrimmage.  Kenny Stella had three sacks contributing to this victory over the New Canaan Rams.