79ers

Bethel 19, Newtown 12: The season opener for the Newtown Nighthawk 79ers was an away game and featured two evenly-matched teams. The game was a tale of big plays. Following a fumble recovery by Ben Stubbs, the Nighthawks struck first on an 8 yard touchdown run by Andrew Swierbut. The TD run was set up by a 10 yard run by Dylan Magazu and a 33 yard run by quarterback James Iaropoli.

Bethel struck back with a 58 yard run to tie the score at 6-6, and then took the lead with a 50 yard run and extra point conversion to make the score 13-6. Newtown responded on the next possession with a 70 yard TD run on a keeper by Iaropoli. The half ended with Bethel leading 13-12.

The second half featured big plays for both teams on defense. The Nighthawk defensive line was tough, led by Ben Carley, Phillip Cappelli, Richie Wilford, and Ava Foss. But the Bobcats sustained a long drive that ate up the entire third quarter and part of the fourth quarter. The drive culminated with a goal line stand. Bethel scored the only TD of the second half on fourth and one. The drive featured several touchdown-saving tackles by Iaropoli, Michael Ihlefeld, Dylan Magazu, and Anthony D’Amico. Newtown got the ball back and pushed into Bethel territory, but with time running out came up short and turned the ball over on an unforced error.  Bethel took a knee to end the game.

Grade 4

Newtown 28, New Milford 0: The Nighthawks traveled to New Milford on Sunday to take on the Saints and left town with a shutout. Newtown got on the scoreboard early after quarterback Jack Street hooked up with CJ Demers for a 44 yard touchdown pass. Jeffrey Garrity then kicked the two point conversion to give the Nighthawks an early 8-0 lead. Newtown’s defense quickly gave the ball back to the offense which went right back to work. Newtown showed its power running game on the possession with running back Eric Burbank carrying the workload. Burbank capped off the drive with a 3 yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 14-0. Newtown opened up air attack again with a 39 touchdown pass from QB Michael Haddick to receiver Mathew Carpenter to give Newtown a 20-0 lead. The Nighthawks closed out the scoring with Carpenter taking a handoff 46 yards for a touchdown. Jeffrey Garrity came on and kicked the two point conversion to cap the scoring. Newtown’s defense, led by Zach Reilly, Colton Stergue, Matt Sortino, Connor Smith, Nevin Bell-Hill, Aiden Foss, and Grant Baker, blanked the Saints’ offense to give Newtown (2-0) its first shutout of the year.

Grade 5

Newtown 38, Danbury 6: The Nighthawks looked to continue their solid early season play against the Danbury Hatters, at Newtown’s Taylor Field. Newtown showed its dominance on both sides of the ball, scoring often and shutting down the Hatter offense. On the opening drive, Quarterback JP Iaropoli took Newtown down the field, completing all four passes he threw, the final one to Miles Ricks for a 16 yard touchdown. After Newtown got the ball back, following a Hatter punt, Jack Carpenter broke the first play for a nice 23 yard touchdown run. The second quarter saw much of the same Newtown offensive efficiency. Miles Ricks scored on 19 yard run and after Matthew Bradbury pounced on the ensuing kickoff, Connor Moran hit a wide open Jack Mulligan for a 39 yard catch and run for a touchdown.  That closed out the first half scoring, with Newtown ahead 26-0. In the second half, the star of the day, Miles Ricks, scampered in for his third and fourth touchdowns, with runs of 43 and 29 yards, making numerous would-be Hatter defenders miss along the way.

As good as the offense was, the defense may have been even better. Newtown played great team defense with 22 players making tackles, many of those for losses. Connor Haywood and Brett Pierce led all tacklers, with Martin Godbout, Kevin Curry, and Justin Engler right behind them. Ben Pinto snagged a late game interception to seal the win. The defense allowed only one first down and one net yard gained. Only a 51 yard run by the Hatter QB put Danbury on the scoreboard and in the plus column for yards from scrimmage.

Grade 6

Nighthawks 40, Wolverines 6: The Nighthawks hosted Oxford’s Wolverines at Taylor Field last Sunday. Team captains were Ben Talbot, Joseph Pagett, Reed Hammond, and John Albanesi. The first quarter of the contest saw the Nighthawks score in three facets of the game: A 41 yard touchdown run from Matthew Dubois, a 37 yard pick-6 interception return from Tucker Garrity, and a 55 yard punt return for a TD from Garrity. Shea Talbot booted the extra point on two of the three scores, closing out the quarter with a 22-0 Newtown lead. In the second quarter, Ben Talbot scored on a QB keeper from 15 yards out after Jack Kuhn and Kyle Burbank brought the ball deep into Wolverine territory. Gren Paynter took the handoff on the extra point but was kept out of the end zone. On the next set of downs, the Wolverines took the ball the distance and punched in their lone score of the day, making it 28-6. On the ensuing kickoff, special teams gave the offense good field position on the Oxford 45 and on the very first play of the series, Daniel Mason blew open a hole for Griffin Cross, who went the 45 yards for the final score of the half.

The Nighthawks took their foot of the gas in the second half, allowing the defense to dictate pace of play and keep the clock running. Asani Vessup and Kuhn both had interceptions in the half. Jack Hannan, Jack Swanson, Brandon Giglio, Aiden Jasinski, Easton Ricks, Kyle Cascone, and Brandon Smith played great defense. The D forced a turnover on downs at its own 11 yard line. On the next play, Shea Talbot burst through the line into daylight and 89 yards later, scored the Nighthawks’ final points of the day, a TD to make the score 40-6. Tyler Clure, Paynter, Pagett, and Luke Melillo kept the Wolverine offence off the field with time-consuming drives to run out the clock. Jack Clark, Karl Kelly, and Shane Demers had a great day up front.

Grade 7

Newtown 32, Danbury Hatters 0: On their second possession, visiting Danbury moved down the field inside the Newtown 10 yard line before Simon Preston intercepted a Danbury pass. Newtown quarterback, Ryan Kost completed two 20 yard passes, one to CJ Shambelan and a the other to Simon Preston.  With the ball at the 4 yard line David Daria was able to carry into the end zone for Newtown’s first score of the day.

The Newtown defense held strong and forced Danbury to punt the ball back. After driving into the red zone Newtown found itself facing a fourth and long when Ryan Kost connected with Liam Deakin. After the catch, Deakin was able to get the ball down to the 1 yard line. From there, Josh Dunn punched the ball in for a touchdown for a 16-0 lead.

Newtown widened the lead early in the second half when Kyle Roche found himself on the receiving end of another Ryan Kost touchdown pass. Newtown ended the scoring in the fourth quarter when Liam Deakin ran the ball around the Danbury defense for a touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, David Petrini made a big tackle on the Danbury return man to preserve the shutout.

Grade 8

Newtown 22, Bethel 0: Newtown’s defense set the tone early when defensive back Justin Dunn caused a fumble when he stripped the Bethel running back of the ball and Safety Hunter Cobb recovered. Newtown’s offense couldn’t capitalize but the defense went back to work. George Padgett sacked the Bethel quarterback for a 10 yard loss and Mitchell Savoca deflected a pass to cause a turnover on downs. With great field position and several Bethel penalties, the Nighthawk offense went to work. After a 20 yard run by Ryan Marusi, quarterback Patrick Conte — behind the great blocking of Jack Phelps, Adam Bell, Thomas Long, Jack Riley, and Mitchell Long — ran in Newtown’s first touchdown of the day. Mitchell Savoca came on and kicked the two point conversion to give Newtown a 8-0 lead late in the second half. Newtown’s next touchdown came when linebacker Ben Mason picked off a Bethel pass and took it 65 yards for a touchdown. On Bethel’s next possession, Mason picked off another pass to close out the first half.

In the third quarter, Newtown’s swarming defense continued to dominate with great tackles by Savoca, Dunn, Bell, and Mason, along with a sack by Ryan Marusi. Newtown’s last score of the day was set up by a Marusi fumble recovery deep in Bethel territory. Savoca then took a handoff for a 10 yard touchdown run and kicked the two point conversion to close out the shutout.