79ers

Newtown Nighthawks 79ers 13, Monroe Lions 0: Held to ties in their two previous games, the Nighthawks 79ers were fired up and ready for a victory as they faced their nearby rivals, the Monroe Lions, at Wolfe Park on a perfect fall afternoon. From the opening plays, the strong defensive line of Miles Capener, Richard Guman, Ben Carley and Julian Crone were tough for the Monroe offense to run against. After trading possessions, the Monroe offense got on track, but the swarming defense of the Nighthawks, led by Andrew Swierbut, Luca Manfredi and James Iaropoli, stopped the Lions at the 10 yard line. With only one and half minutes left in the first half, the Nighthawks got the ball deep in their own territory and struck quickly on a 90-yard touchdown run by running back Dylan Magazu. Quarterback Iaropoli added the extra point on a bootleg keeper and the score at the half was 7-0.

Opening the second half with the ball, the Newtown offense launched an impressive long drive behind good blocking and a critical fourth down run for 40 yards by Iaropoli. Running backs Andrew Swierbut, Khalil Vessup, and Anthony D’Amico tacked on nice runs, but the drive stalled inside the Monroe 10 yard line. Pinned down deep at their own 10 yard line, Monroe could not budge the immovable Nighthawk defense, with Sam Steare, Capener, and Guman making key tackles and Richie Wilford and Connor Faxon sacking the quarterback, almost forcing a Monroe safety.

Monroe chose to punt and Newtown took over with good field position and wasted no time driving down the field with a 25-yard run by Iaropoli and a 10-yard touchdown run from Magazu, helped by a nice block from wide receiver Adrian Wadhwa. The extra point attempt failed and the score was Newtown 13, Monroe 0. The Nighthawks defense continued to hold strong and kept the Lions scoreless, with strong play from Ava Foss, Ben Stubbs, and Faxon. Newtown’s offense took over on downs and ran out the clock for an impressive and much-celebrated 13-0 victory.

Grade 4

Bridgeport Chargers 28, Newtown 21: The Nighthawks suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday in a hard-fought game against the Bridgeport Chargers. Newtown rallied from an 8-0 deficit late in the second quarter when Mathew Carpenter took a handoff and outraced the Charger defense 61 yards for a touchdown. Jeffrey Garrity kicked the two-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8. Bridgeport, however, answered back with time running out in the half to take a 14-8 lead into the break.

Bridgeport got the scoring started in the second half on a long run to extend the lead to 21-8. The Nighthawks would fight back. QB Jack Street hit running back Shaine Luzietti with a screen pass that Luzietti took all the way down to the Charger 11 yard line. After a nice run by Garrity, Michael Haddick on a QB keeper ran it in to shrink the lead to 21-14.

Bridgeport answered back with another long touchdown run to extend the lead to 28-14. The Nighthawks would once again rally. Garrity took a handoff from QB Street and picked up 14 yards on a nice outside run. Street went back to Garrity and after picking up a first down fumbled the ball, however Luzietti scooped up the loose ball and ran it for a touchdown. Street then hit Garrity on a screen pass for the extra point to narrow the lead to 28-21 with time winding down.

Newtown’s defense fought hard to get a turnover on downs to try to give the offense back the ball, but fell short and Bridgeport was able to run out the clock and come away with a 28-21 victory.

Grade 5

Newtown 28, Monroe 14: Newtown set the tone early in this game, when after pouncing on the ball on the opening onside kick, the team needed just three plays to put up its first score. After the Monroe defense held tough on first and second down, the Nighthawks were faced with a third down and 8. Jack Kuligowski went in motion to the right and took the handoff. Solid blocking opened a nice hole and a sweet cutback gave Kuligowski more daylight and he was off to the races for a 45-yard score. The Jared Dunn kick gave the Nighthawks a quick 8-0 lead. Monroe’s first offensive play was a muffed snap and Matt Heinlein was there to pounce on the ball and set up the Nighthawks on the Lion 26 yard line. Again, Newtown did not waste any time. On the second play of the drive Kuligowski ran left for a 21-yard score and the Dunn kick made it a 16-0 Newtown lead in the first quarter. To close out the scoring for the half, after the Lion defense appeared to stiffen, JP Iaropoli scored on a nifty 56-yard bootleg, avoiding a host of would-be Lion tacklers. The Nighthawks headed to halftime ahead 22-0.

The defense, as it has been all season, was very tough on the Lions. In the first half, the defense allowed less than 50 total yards, only two first downs and forced the Lions to turn the ball over on downs four times. The defense was led by middle linebacker Dunn and the defensive ends Stephen Sedensky and Jack Mulligan, each with six tackles. Mulligan recorded two sacks that spoiled any chance for the Lions to sustain a drive.

The Lions got the ball to start the second half, but were quickly demoralized when a Monroe fumble was scooped up by Luke Wellman and returned for a 55-yard touchdown. The Lions still had some fight in them and proceeded to move the ball down the field on a ten-play scoring drive that made the score 28-7. Newtown then got a little sloppy, putting the ball on the ground on their next two possessions, the second of which was returned for a Lion touchdown, making the score 28-14 and giving the Lions some hope. The Lions hopes were quickly dashed when Kuligowski ran the ensuing kickoff back 80 yards for what looked like a touchdown, but a block in the back nullified the TD and put the Nighthawks deep in their own territory. However, successive pass plays from QB Iaropoli to Jack Carpenter and Kuligowski netted 33 and 42 yards, and the Nighthawks were in business deep in Monroe territory. The Monroe defense stiffened at the goal line, but the damage was done and the Monroe offense could not sustain another drive, making the final score 28-14.

Grade 6

Nighthawks 32, Bridgeport Chargers 13: For their final regular season home game, the Nighthawks hosted the Chargers Saturday morning at Taylor Field. Game captains were Tucker Garrity, Jack Kuhn, Karl Kelly, Jack Swanson, and Jack Clark. Facing their stiffest competition of the season, The Nighthawks and Chargers traded blows on the game’s first two possessions. Griffin Cross broke through the secondary for a 50-yard touchdown run and Shea Talbot nailed the kick to make it 0-8. Thirteen seconds later, the Chargers answered right back with a long touchdown run and ran the ball in for the extra point, score 7-8. Midway through the first quarter, Garrity streaked into the endzone to make the score 7-14, kick no good.

In the second quarter, a Charger defender jumped a pass route for a Pick-6, score 13-14. Jack Hannan stopped the extra point attempt when he pancaked the Charger ball carrier. With a minute and a half left in the first half, Luke Melillo hit Matthew Dubois for a touchdown from the 5 yard line, and the score was 13-20.

In the second half, the Nighthawk defense stymied the Chargers at every turn. Huge sacks were recorded by Reed Hammond and Gren Paynter. Garrity scored on a 60-yard punt return and Daniel Mason scored on a 5-yard run up the middle, made possible by a Melillo to Gavin Connors connection. Connors showed tremendous concentration with the circus-act catch and dive for more yards. The final score was 13-32 and the Nighthawks improve to 7-0 on the season. The Nighthawks head to Shelton next Sunday for the regular season closer.

Grade 7

Bridgeport Gold 32, Newtown 0: The Nighthawks returned home to Taylor field Sunday to take on Bridgeport Gold. The Bridgeport offense came out fast and scored a touchdown on their opening possession. A tackle behind the line of scrimmage by Shale Gupta prevented the extra point attempt. Newtown was able to recover an attempted onside kick attempt and get the offense on the field. The drive was sustained into Bridgeport territory when Simon Preston carried the ball for four yards on fourth and one. Unfortunately the drive stalled out on the Bridgeport 35 yard line early in the second quarter. Bridgeport was able to put together another touchdown drive. Once again the Newtown defense stopped the extra point attempt when Josh Dunn tackled the Bridgeport ball carrier.

Bridgeport was able to recover their next onside kick attempt. With a short field to work with Bridgeport scored a touchdown and were successful on the extra point attempt bring the score to Bridgeport 19, Newtown 0.

With the first half winding down, Ryan Kost completed a pass to Liam Deakin to move the ball into Bridgeport territory. A long run by Simon Preston set Newtown up with a first and goal, but the Nighthawks were unable to score before time expired in the first half.

Bridgeport took advantage of their first possession of the second half by driving for their fourth touchdown of the game. Owen Walsh and Justin Coelho combined to stop the extra point attempt.

Grade 8

Newtown 30, New Milford Saints 6: Newtown got on the scoreboard on their first possession when Hunter Cobb took a handoff from quarterback Patrick Conte 60 yards to the house outracing the defense to the endzone. Mitchell Savoca kicked the 2- point conversion to give the Nighthawks an early 8-0 lead.

The Nighthawk D continues to dominate opposing offenses, led by Ryan Norton, Thomas Long, Ryan Brello, Justin Dunn, Willie Whitlock, Colin McCafferty, and Mathew Krasnikas. On New Milford’s first possession they caused a quick turnover on downs and the offense wasted no time in capitalizing. After great runs by Ryan Marusi and Joey Accousti, Conte went to the air, hitting receiver Bobby Haskins for a touchdown reception to extend the lead to 14-0.

Newtown’s offensive line of Sam Pellicone, Eric Benson, Mitchell Long, Sean Wallace, Stevie Macejko, Jack Phelps, and Mathew Fuchs controlled the line of scrimmage all afternoon allowing QB’s Conte and Justin Dunn to pick apart the Saints defense with great passes to Scott Bauer, Owen McInerny, and Ellis Hubbrd, which set up the Nighthawks’ next score. Inside New Milford territory, Conte on a QB keeper got to the outside and outran a Saint linebacker, diving to the pylon at the corner of the endzone for the Nighthawks third score of the game. Savoca kicked the 2-point conversion to extend the lead to 22-0

New Milford would cut the lead to 22-6 on a nice run by their quarterback, but Newtown would put the game away on their next possession. Newtown went back to Cobb, who again outraced the Saint defense for his second long touchdown run of the game. Savoca added his third 2-point conversion on the day to close out the scoring and give Newtown a 30-6 victory.