By Kim J. Harmon

They had fire – lots of fire – and an unmistakable desire to right the wrongs of a two-game losing streak, but that only took the Nighthawks so far in their South-West Conference football match-up with Foran on Saturday night.

The ‘Hawks – despite a rather shocking start to the game, a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by the Lions – played inspired football. Just as one would have thought that two bombed-out losses to Bunnell and New Milford would have damaged their spirit, the ‘Hawks rallied together.

It just wasn’t enough.

Foran won, 33-14.

Newtown, though, was in the game – even after Foran took the opening kick all the way back for a touchdown to take a very quick (just 15 seconds elapsed) 7-0 lead. Starting at the Newtown 37, quarterback Tom Ryan (10-32-4, 148 yards, 2 TD) got right to work. After an incomplete pass and sack set the ‘Hawks back a bit, Ryan hit Tim Byrne over the middle for a 34-yard gain and on the next play tossed a bullet to Joe Gantert in the flat, about 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. All Gantert did was juke his way 28 more yards into the end zone for a touchdown.

With 10:13 left in the first quarter, all was tied at 7-7 and the game had all the markings of a shootout.

Foran had another nifty run back on the ensuing kick, but Casey Kirch – the kicker – made what could have been a touchdown-saving tackle. The Lions marched 34 yards but had nothing to show for it after a 30-yard field goal attempt by Karl Kubiokoff fell short.

The game then turned into one of hot potato. A punt by Newtown, an interception by Newtown (Rob Konkos), an interception by Foran, a fumble recovery by Newtown, and an interception by Foran marked the possessions for the remainder of the first quarter.

Things settled down in the second quarter, but still nothing was accomplished on either end until Foran quarterback Garrett Walker hit Ryan LaPlante on a 33-yard scoring strike at the right corner flag. Foran had gotten the opportunity to make that play after Newtown fumbled a punt return.

Down 14-7 in the second half, Newtown went on a long 16-play drive (18 if you count two Foran penalties) drive that brought the ‘Hawks from their own 29 right down to the Foran 7. Kyle Nowak had three carries for 26 yards, Mark Boland had a couple carries for four yards, and Ryan scrambled for 20 yards on a broken play.

But the drive stalled on the seven and Kirch’s field goal attempt from the left hash was just wide left.

Foran took that opportunity and put together an 80-yard drive (gulped up largely on an 18-yard run, 13-yard pass play, and 22-yard run) and scored on a one-yard run by Matt Franco to take a 20-7 lead with 11:26 left in the fourth quarter.

The game really started to slip away from the ‘Hawks then. Ryan – who played pretty well but was victimized by some dropped passes as well as a strong Foran secondary – was intercepted twice more. The second led to Foran’s fourth touchdown of the game, a 25-yard pass from Walker to Rob McGeary.

Down 26-7, the ‘Hawks did still have some life left. Starting at the Newtown 35, Ryan hit Konkos on a 10-yard pass play and then dumped off to Byrne for three yards to start the ‘Hawks moving. In the big play of the evening for Newtown, Ryan fired a 25-yard seam pass to Konkos – who had to reach out with just one hand to gather it in. That put the ‘Hawks at the Foran 27. Ryan then hit Gantert for 16 yards and then hit Gantert again – on a slant – for an 11-yard touchdown.

With 4:30 left, the ‘Hawks had trimmed the Foran lead to 26-14, but the Lions answered back just three plays later on a 14-yard run by Jeff Cash for the final score of the game.

Foran           7   7    0  19 - 33

Newtown       7   0    0    7 - 14

I.                  

First Quarter

F – LaPlante 75 kick return (Kurbiokoff kick)

N – Gantert 38 pass from Ryan (Kirch kick)

Second Quarter

F – LaPlante 34 pass from Walker (Kurbiokoff kick)

Fourth Quarter

F – Franco 1 run (kick blocked)

F – McGeary 25 pass from Walker (conversion fails)

N – Gantert 11 pass from Ryan (Kirch kick)

F – Cash 14 run (Kurbiokoff kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

 

Rushing

NEWTOWN: Nowak 10-46, Whipkey 5-15, Boland 4-7, Ryan 2-23 (Totals – 21 carries, 91 yards). FORAN: Cash 9-69, Franco 19-65, LaPlante 1-13, Williams 4-8, Ruggiero 1-4, Crespo 1-2, Kurbiokoff 2-0 (Totals – 37 carries, 161 yards).

Passing

NEWTOWN: Ryan 10-32-4, 148 yards, 2 TD; Whipkey 0-1-0, 0 yards. FORAN: Walker 7-16-1, 116 yards, 2 TD.

Receiving

NEWTOWN: Gantert 3-64, Byrne 3-44, Barrett 2-6, Konkos 2-34. FORAN: Laplante 2-34, Crespo 2-37, McGeary 1-25, Marino 2-13, Franco 1-0.