79ers

Monroe 13, 79ers Gold 0: Newtown’s 79ers Gold resumed their regular schedule this past Saturday and traveled a few miles down Route 25 to face the Monroe Lions on a wind-swept field at Wolfe Park.

The brisk breeze had spectators bundled up for warmth, but didn’t affect the enthusiastic Newtown team. With regulars Danny Ingersoll and CJ Giacin sidelined with injuries, the Newtown Gold team played an inspired game against a tough Monroe squad. Grant Baker, Kevin Curry, Tommy Gies, Patrick Grover, Doug McIntyre, Justin Engler, and Jack Lydon helped backfield stalwarts Jeffery Garrity, J.P. Iaropoli, Connor Haywood and Jack Kuligowski move the ball down the field only to run into some red-zone hard luck with several drives stalling inside Lion territory.

Defensively, the swarming Nighthawks hustled from sideline to sideline and made the Monroe offense earn every inch they gained. Hard-nosed play in the trenches by Nick Sabillon, Eamon Doherty, Kyle Shelton, Lyle Petrellese, and Jack Mulligan kept the Monroe line under wraps, allowing Nick Kalra, Michael Haddick, and Nick Fisher to pursue the play and team up on several gang tackles. Late first-half and fourth-quarter scores proved too much to overcome and sealed the 13-0 victory for Monroe.

With just a few games left on the schedule, the Gold team will look to get back to its winning ways next week.

Norwalk Ramblers 19, 79ers Blue 13:  Pumped up and raring to play perhaps their hardest game of the season, the Newtown 79er Blue team players went up against the division's undefeated Norwalk Ramblers.  The Nighthawk defensive line demonstrated an intensity second to none in the first quarter, preventing Norwalk from gaining any ground. Quickly penetrating the Norwalk offensive line, Jared Dunn was able to make a few key backfield tackles, one of which resulted in a fumble recovery to give the Nighthawks good field position in Rambler territory. Offensively, the Newtown team showed some promise by marching the ball down field to within inches of the Rambler goal line but just couldn't get it into the end zone. The second and third quarters proved to be challenging for Newtown, which gave up three touchdowns to Norwalk.  The fourth quarter unveiled a new found hope for the 79er Blue team, which executed on a signature play by offensive linemen Stephen Sedensky, Matt Heinlein, Brett Pierce, Will Archiere, Kyle Good, Gus Coffey, and Ryan Chieffo paving way for Jared Dunn to run 80 yards for a touchdown. Showing spectators their intensity to win, the 79er defensive line turned up the heat with a key tackle made by Shane Luzietti yielding a 20-yard loss. After regaining possession of the ball, the Nighthawks bulldozed their way down field, allowing Aidan Finnegan to score a second touch-down to bring the score to 19-13. The 79er defense held its ground, fending off all attempts from the Ramblers and preventing them from racking up anymore points. With less than two minutes remain-ing, the Newtown team gave a valiant effort to get back on the scoreboard but ended up losing posses-sion deep in Rambler territory.

Grade 4

Nighthawks 26, Bobcats 7: A beautiful fall day welcomed the Nighthawks and Bobcats to Treadwell Field on Newtown Day two weekends ago.

Team Captains were Riley McCafferty, Gavin Connors, Jack Hannan, and Brandon Giglio. Bethel received to start the game, but were quickly shut down by a jacked up Newtown defense. Great field position greeted the offence, and Griffin Cross ran for the first of his two TDs on the day. The first extra point attempt was no good, but Daniel Mason pounded up the middle for the extra point on Cross’s second TD on the next possession. The half’s other score came late in the second quarter as Reid Harrison streaked into the end zone for the TD. Luke Melillo added the extra point on a keeper run left.

The third quarter opened at 20-0, but not for long. Hard runner Mason quickly added 6 to the score, where it stayed until late in the fourth quarter when Bethel went in for a TD and extra point. Chris Maturo, Nikolas Accousti, Karl Kelly, Matthew Dubois, Ryan Tani, Aidan Shugrue, Kyle Cascone, John Albanese, and Tucker Garrity had exceptional plays during the game. The Nighthawks head into the postseason with a bye.

Grade 5

Nighthawks, 18, Brewster Bruins 0: The boys came out and played a game that personified all that Coach Chris Stenz had taught them over the years. The first half of the game was a defensive struggle with Tyler Rising, Will Stenz, and Mark Hall all making big plays to help keep the Brewster offense off the field. Early in the third quarter Stenz delivered a ball-dislodging hit and David Daria scooped up the fumble. On the next offensive series Daria took advantage of the turnover and broke loose for an 81-yard touchdown run for the game’s first score. Doug Carriero and Cayden Dunn made big plays on defense, putting the ball back in the hands of the Newtown offense.

Once again, Daria broke outside for another touchdown, bringing the score to 12-0. On the next series, a tackle by Andrew DeLuca set up a fourth and long and a great play to break up a pass by Ethan Tousignant turned the ball back over to the Newtown offense. A pass play from Ryan Kost to CJ Shambelan brought the score to 18-0. The Brewster offense came out one last time, but tackles by Connor Marlin and Jake Holman combined with a sack by Simon Preston and Stenz secured the shutout.

Grade 6

Nighthawks 26, Southern Dutchess Patriots 12: The Nighthawks started their first Candlewood Valley League playoff game with a 50-yard drive, capped off by a four-yard touchdown run by Ben Mason. Later in the first quarter, Noah LaFerriere’s block sprung a touchdown run by Justin Dunn. In the second quarter, the Nighthawks kept the ball moving with two first-down runs by Colin McCafferty, a pitch to Matthew Bucci for another first down, a run by Ryan Brello to the two-yard line and a pass to Ellis Hubbard for first and goal. Bobby Haskins finished the job by catching a touchdown pass. The Nighthawks defense, led by Matthew Krasnickas, Patrick Conte, Bobby Haskins, Alex Morganti and Adam Bell, kept the Patriots from getting a first down in the entire first half.

In the second half, Jack Phelps forced a fumble that was recovered by Conte, but the Nighthawks turned the ball over on downs and the Patriots made a touchdown despite tackles by Mitchell Long and Steven Moccio. Joe Accousti blocked the extra point. Later, Haskins deflected a pass to force a fourth down and Mitchell Savoca recovered a fumble.

The Nighthawks approached the goal line with a 40-yard run by Savoca and a 25-yard run by Nevin Zink, but Southern Dutchess intercepted and ran for 92 yards to score. Will Whitlock’s tackle prevented the extra point conversion.

The Patriots tried the onside kick, but it was recovered by Mason. Two strong runs by Zink and Savoca set up a 20-yard touchdown run by Mason, through a bunch of Southern Dutchess defenders. Despite a strong effort by Connor Barrett and Krasnickas, the Patriots scored another touchdown, but Edward Lovely stopped the extra point attempt.

At the end of the fourth quarter, another onside kick was recovered by Peter DeBona at midfield, keeping the Patriots from scoring again.

Grade 7

Newtown 32, Southern Dutchess 0: Newtown prevailed in the first round of the CVL playoffs this past Sunday at Taylor field. The defense limited SD to 42 yards from scrimmage on 37 plays (a miserly 1.14 yards per play), never letting their opponent inside the 40 yard line. The offense used a couple of big gainers to secure the lead, and then a power running game to control the clock. Jared Pearson started the scoring as he took a short pass and darted through the SD secondary on his way to an 89-yard touchdown. He then added the extra point kick. After a Newtown punt, Bryan Kiley had a sack and a pressure that led to a Nick Samuelson punt block. A Declan Sullivan sack forced another SD punt and a safety due to a poor snap. Just before halftime, Pearson took a toss around left end and outran the SD defense for a 55-yard touchdown. Ryan Shaw added the extra point kick for an 18-0 lead.

The second half started with Samuelson making two tackles and a registering a sack with Mark Urso on fourth down. Three plays later, Devin Luzietti ran it in from 16 yards for the score. The following series saw Matt Carino make back-to-back tackles and then knock down a fourth down pass to give possession back to the Hawks. Chris Blanco’s 22-yard run behind a Nick Bourgeois block led to Steven Flaxlanger’s two-yard touchdown plunge, which was made possible by blocks from Nick Rohrbacher and Gordon Walsh.

SD tried to move the ball after the ensuing kick-off, but Geoff Santore and Michael Roche each had two tackles, while R.J. Oliveria, Charlie Fletcher, Peyton Manning, and Nico Janiak added solo tackles to end the short-lived drive. Newtown ran out the clock with a nine-play drive, featuring first down runs by James Accousti (six carries for 27 yards on the day) and Andrew Svanda (seven carries for 36 yards). Newtown faces off against Norwalk next Sunday at Taylor field.