Kenton Lord rambled 52 yards for a touchdown and rambled 51 yards for another touchdown as the Junior Midgets rallied to pound Aspetuck, 36-12, and earn a second-place finish (at 6-1-1) for the upcoming Candlewood Valley League playoffs.

Newtown will host Ridgefield at 9 am on Saturday at Taylor Field in the first round of those playoffs.

Against Aspetuck, Lord had two touchdowns while Brandon Martin, Zack Conger and Cody Marus had one touchdown apiece. But the locals did not start scoring until after Aspetuck took a surprising 6-0 lead on a 52-yard kick return to open the game.

Despite some solid running by Mark Scheunemann and Dan Curtis, Aspetuck held on to its six-point lead throughout the first half. The Nighthawks recovered an onside kick attempt to open the second half and quickly moved downfield on the legs of Lord and Martin. Martin finished the drive on a 16-yard touchdown run while Brian Reszoly added the PAT kick to give Newtown an 8-6 lead.

Conger stopped Aspetuck cold by recovering a fumble on the ensuing series and the ‘Hawks were on the move again Stephen Oberstadt hit Collin Babbage on a corner route for a 33-yard gain down to the four. Mitch Rucinski picked up a couple, but Conger punched it in on the next play for the score.  The interior line of Jake Woolf, Mike Rodriquez, Ben Collins, Kris Arndt, and Ed White took control of the line of scrimmage on the series and Newtown led 14-6.

Mike Rodriquez recovered the ensuing onsides kick and the ‘Hawks were on the move again. On the first play from scrimmage, Kenton Lord blasted up the middle, executed a perfect stiff arm on one of the middle linebackers, and raced 52 yards to the end zone to give Newtown a 20-6 lead.

Aspetuck was unable to handle a pooch kick and Babbage recovered at the 37. Newtown drove the ball down to the two with good runs by Babbage, Oberstadt, Cody Marus, and Jake DeVellis. On fourth and goal, DeVellis and the offensive line of Jacob Browning, Mike Rodriquez, Paul Murphy, Kris Arndt, Mike Iorfino, and Ian Cooper opened a hole for Marus to score.

Stephen Osmolik booted the PAT through the uprights and the Newtown lead was 28-6.

Aspetuck finally held on to the football and made the most of the opportunity, scoring on a swing pass down the right sideline, but on the ensuing onsides kick attempt Lord grabbed the ball off a perfect hop zipped through the Aspetuck line for a 51-yard touchdown.  Dan Curtis added the PAT kick to put the ‘Hawks on top 36-12.

Later, Ian Cooper made an interception at the eight-yard line to stop Aspetuck and close out the game.

Midgets Blank Aspetuck

As Boland Scores 3 TDs

 

Matt Boland scored three touchdowns and Will Mahony scored one as the Midgets blanked Aspetuck, 28-0, last weekend.

The Nighthawks got on the board quickly. After the opening kick, Boland followed Brett Mauro, John Aminti and Nick Ciarelli around the left side to score on a 44-yard run. Chris Salvatore added the PAT kick to put Newtown ahead, 8-0.

Mahony, Will Paskey, Travis Dachenhausen, Eric Puffer, Dan DeLaVega, Tanner Schmidt, Matt Kuruc and Tom Jackman made some strong defensive plays to stop Aspetuck cold. That enabled the ‘Hawks to get on the move again, but despite some solid carries from Lucas Vendel and Boland, the locals were intercepted.

Strong plays by DeLaVega, Jon Wright, Kris Kling, Ryan Manning and Chris Elias forced Aspetuck to cough up the ball on downs. Mahony and Erik Dreher (with blocking from Kurt Koloniaris) moved the ball to the Aspetuck 13, but a TD run by Jamie Goodwick was called back on a penalty and another drive stalled.

On Aspetuck’s ensuing series, Conor Martin made a sack of the QB to force a punt and after a nice return by Boland, the offense was set up at the enemy 31. Good blocking up front by Lance Bennet and Connor McNamara opened the holes as the offense moved the ball to the 17. Boland got the call and followed blocks by Vendel and Martin into the end zone. The Salvatore kick was good and Newtown led 16-0.

Tyler Tarantino intercepted a pass at the close of the first half to stop Aspetuck.

Although the locals opened the second half on defense, plays by Kuruc, Aminti, DeLaVega, Dachenhausen and Puffer forced Aspetuck to lose the ball on downs. Manning and Dreher ran the ball well and Mascolo hit Salvatore with a first down pass to bring the ball deep into Aspetuck territory. Although a Mahony touchdown was called back on a penalty, Boland scored on the very next play behind a Paskey block to put the ‘Hawks ahead, 22-0.

Karl Seiling made a fine defensive play on the next Aspetuck series and soon Newtown had the ball again. The penalty bug stifled the next Newtown drive, but the defense took over again as Tarantino, Mahony, Aminti, Elias and Ciarelli made the big stops.

Back on offense, Mahony picked up 18 yards behind the blocking of Martin and Manning and then Manning followed a Bennet block down to the 10. Mahony then followed McNamara, Koloniaris and Martin into the end zone for the final touchdown and a 28-0 Newtown lead.

Puffer recovered a fumble to close out the game.