In theory, a rainy and muddy day should slow down a football team – but Andrew Cebry wasn’t slowed at all as he scored three touchdowns to lead the Newtown 89ers to a 31-18 Pop Warner football win over Ridgefield last weekend.

Meanwhile, Will Mahony scored two touchdowns of his own (and made a defensive play that led to a third) as the Midgets defeated Ridgefield 19-6 last weekend.

Here are the results:

89ers

Shrugging off the effects of the rain and mud, the Nighthawks unleashed a potent ground attack and rushed to a 31-18 win over Ridgefield.

With Mike Lord and Mile Allwein setting the stage with first-down runs, Andrew Cebry broke free for a 47-yard touchdown to start the ‘Hawks off. Danny Hebert scampered 35 yards on a QB keeper for a touchdown and Lord added a 40-yard off tackle blast for a touchdown to give the ‘Hawks a 19-12 lead at halftime. With Ridgefield inching close in the second half, but Cebry scored on a reverse and later intercepted a pass and brought it back 45 yards for another touchdown – his third of the game.

Justin Spath chipped in with an extra-point run in the first half.

Mac Morlock, Will Fletcher, Kory Kling, Mike LoBosco, and the line of Nick Dinelli, Mike Fitzsimmons, Max Lopez and Kuler Harmeling powered the Newtown defense.

Junior Pee Wees

 

Like the Energize Bunny, the Nighthawks kept on going and going and going – but, nevertheless, came up on the short end of a 9-0 loss to Ridgefield. A safety and a late touchdown was all the scoring in the game.

Newtown played tough in the first quarter with Andrew Murphy making a tackle to keep Ridgefield behind the line of scrimmage, Will Arndt recovering a fumble to keep a Newtown drive alive, a first down on a reverse play to Keith Reszoly.

The second quarter was dicey for Newtown when a short punt allowed Ridgefield to take possession on the Nighthawk’s 15-yard line. But Brendan McNamara stuffed a reverse and Newtown was able to take possession on its own 15-yard line. A failed reverse left Newtown with a loss of yards and in the next play Ridgefield tackled Newtown in the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 lead.

But the defense – led by Sean Ross – did a good job of making sure Ridgefield didn’t make any more progress. Later, with Ridgefield camped on the Newtown 28, Max Nacewicz and Arndt sacked the QB and gave their team possession on the 11.

Ridgefield soon took over, though, and with just a little more than five minutes left in the game scored its touchdown.

 

Pee Wees

Kyle O’Conner and Jaime Vavrek scored touchdowns to lead the Nighthawks to a tough, 12-0 win over Ridgefield.

In the first half, an 81-yard scoring drive was fueled by a 10-yard first-down rush by Nicky “Bones” Tarantino and capped by a 61-yard run by O’Connor. Robbie “the Diesel” O’Donnell and Zach Dent had stopped Ridgefield on defense, setting the stage for the Newtown drive.

Later, after driving 48 yards on carriers by O’Connor, O’Donnell and Tarantino, Vavrek – the QB – rambled in from 15 yards out to cap the scoring. The defense of Lewis Thomson and Jeremy Schaniel helped keep Ridgefield at bay the rest of the way.

Tucker Schmidt, Mike “the Animal” Hadgraft, Dana Hansen, Keith McGrath, Mike Poeltl (pass defensed), Brian Kurus and AJ Ritchie sparked the defense during the game with some strong tackles and other fine plays.

Junior Midgets

 

It was a sloppy defensive struggle and a 78-yard touchdown run by Jake DeVellis was all the offense required to lead the Nighthawks to an 8-0 win over Ridgefield.

In the early going it was the defense that held sway – with Charlie LoBosco intercepting a pass on the first Ridgefield possession and, later, the ‘Hawks stiffening as the Raiders moved the ball all the way down to the one-yard line.

After Newtown recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchback, DeVellis hit the left side of the line and broke through – dodging two tackles cutting to his right towards the home team’s sideline, and then stiff-arming one final defender on his way to a 78-yard touchdown. Brian Reszoly booted the PAT kick through the uprights and the ‘Hawks had the eight points they would need for the win.

Key blocks by fullback Zach Conger and offensive linemen Jason Kostecki, and Gabe Guisti were critical in giving DeVellis the opening to score.

The Nighthawk offense was not able to mount a drive for the rest of the game, even though the team used eight ball carriers during the game – Cody Marus, Brendan Martin, Dan Curtis, Mitch Rucinski, Babbage, Kenton Lord, Mark Scheunemann, and DeVellis. The offensive line was anchored by Kris Arndt, Guisti, Kostecki, Jacob Browning, and Kevin Nunnally to start the game. 

On the defensive side of the ball, the Nighthawks bent, but did not break.  In the second quarter, the Raider quarterback broke free of a tackle in the backfield and ran about 55 yards down the sideline, but was tackled on the 5-yard line by Collin Babbage. Reszoly had an interception and a fumble recovery (caused by Brendan Martin).

On the last drive of the game, Ridgefield drove down to the Newtown four and with one second left to play, the Raider quarterback completed a shot pass but Rucinski hit the receiver, causing him to fumble. Conger finished the tackle with a bone-crushing hit.

Midgets

Will Mahony scored a pair of touchdowns and forced a fumble that led to another TD as the Nighthawks rolled to a 19-6 win over Ridgefield.

Mahony was ready to go, rushing 30 yards on Newtown’s first play from scrimmage (thanks to blocks from John Aminti and Kurt Kolonaris). Three players later, Mahony followed a Dreher block to a first down and then – on fourth and goal – broke through for a touchdown.

Later, on defense, Mahony wrapped up the Ridgefield quarterback and forced a fumble that Dreher recovered and ran back 50 yards for a score. Then, after Ridgefield scored a touchdown, Mahony took the ensuing kick and scampered 75 yards for his third touchdown of the day.

Mascolo ran in the extra point to close out the scoring – all of which took place in the first half.

Matt Boland (knocking down a pass), Tyler Tarantino, Ryan Manning (forcing a fumble), Conor McNamara (forcing a fumble and recovering another fumble), Matt Kuruc (forcing a fumble). Aminti (forcing a fumble), Conor Martin (sacking the quarterback) and Alex Dahlmeyer (sacking the quarterback three times) and Jamie Goodwick (intercepting a pass) made some spectacular defensive plays.