Out Of Reach — Nighthawks Fall In Conference Title Game

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s football team contained the high-scoring Masuk Panthers throughout the first quarter. There was no stopping the Panthers the rest of the way, however, in a 46-7 loss in the South-West Conference championship game at Blue & Gold Stadium on November 23.

The unbeaten Panthers topped Newtown in the conference title game for the second year in a row. The game, originally scheduled to have been played in Monroe, was moved from Masuk’s grass field to the Blue & Gold turf when rain came into the forecast. An estimated 2,000-plus fans packed the stands and stood around the perimeter of the stadium to brave the cold and support the local pigskin players.

Newtown’s defense forced Masuk into four straight punts following three and outs, but had an almost equally hard time moving the ball against Masuk’s D. The Panthers, who scored at least 49 points in each of their nine games — all wins — coming in, didn’t even muster a first down until the second quarter. The game remained scoreless until a few minutes into the second when the Panthers broke the ice and started to pile on the points.

“I was real happy with the way we started the game. I was hoping we could move the ball a little bit more, but we weren’t able to do that with our running game,” Newtown Coach Steve George said. “We just kept giving the ball back to them and I knew, eventually, by doing that we were going to get ourselves in trouble.”

The trouble began with Masuk finally breaking through on a third down play. The Panthers struck for a 20-yard pass on third and one to get inside Newtown’s red zone, then punched the ball into the end zone on a third and eight strike from the 18 yard line. Masuk quarterback Casey Cochran connected with Brandon Cusmano for the 6-0 lead with 9:52 to play in the opening half. The Panthers doubled their point total when Pat Tripodi intercepted the ball near midfield and ran it back for a score to make it 12-0 with 8:50 left. The Panthers missed on an extra point kick after the opening score and failed on a two-point conversion after the second TD.

After the Nighthawks punted the ball away, they appeared to have the Panthers caged in their own end. Cochran, however, escaped a defender in the backfield, scrambled, and connected with receiver Colin Markus, who went on to earn championship game Most Valuable Player honors, for a 73-yard play to set up Thomas Milone’s four-yard run for a TD.

Newtown trailed 19-0 at the half, then made some noise to begin the third quarter. The Nighthawks received and opened the second half with an impressive drive that lasted 6:39 and culminated with receiver Dan Hebert lining up to take the snap and throwing to Julian Dunn for a 16-yard score over the middle. Jake Tolson’s extra point made it 19-7. The Nighthawks again had life, but they didn’t threaten to get any closer as the Panthers answered with a score on their next drive and kept pulling away.

The Panthers improved to 10-0 and Newtown fell to 8-2, but advanced to play in the Class LL state playoffs on Tuesday (see related story).

NOTES: The SWC lost out on title game gate money for the second consecutive year. The championship game, originally scheduled to be at a neutral site on November 16, became a combination regular season-ending/championship game based on the fact the two finalists were already scheduled to meet in the finale; and the teams would have had to play an extra game against each other on short rest before an already abbreviated layoff before the start of the state playoffs. Despite the fact the game was held in Newtown, it was considered Masuk’s home game. The Masuk program collected the gate money after deduction of expenses incurred by the NHS athletics program for hosting the game, NHS Athletic Director Gregg Simon said.