79ers

Nighthawks 19, Southern Dutchess 0: The 79ers played great ball on a rain-soaked Taylor Field this past Saturday. Tucker Garrity ran the first play from scrimmage in for a touchdown, and Luke Melillo tossed the ball to Griffin Cross for the extra point. The defense forced a punt and, on the next set of Nighthawk downs, Cross ran for another TD. Kyle Sullivan narrowly missed recording the extra point on a timing pass. Jordan Fultan had an impressive would-be TD run called back for holding. The score stayed 13-0 until early in the third quarter when Garrity scampered for the final TD. Outstanding offensive effort by Jack Hannan, Chris Maturo, Gavin Conors, JP Iaropoli, and Kyle Cascone led the way. John Albanisi’s 2 sacks led a stingy defense.

Grade 4

Newtown 21, Somers Red 0: Josh Dunn broke free for a touchdown on the outside behind the blocking of Michael Garner, Alex Street, and Owen Walsh. Dunn rushed for 39 yards to put Newtown up by 6.  On a bobbled snap for the extra point kick attempt, Dunn then carried the ball to the corner of the end zone and the Hawks were up by 7. CJ Shambelan who broke it up a potentially big play for Somers.  The defense held firm in the first half with solid play by Doug Carriero, Ryan Williams, Ethan Tousignant, and Simon Preston and went into the break leading 7-0. Preston also had a clutch fumble recovery.

The second half belonged to Newtown. Ryan Kost rushed for two scores. Newtown executed a point after kick: the snap by Tousignant, held by Dunn, and kicked by Kost sailed clear through uprights. Jacob Duffy, AJ Salaris, Justin Coelho, Andrew Deluca, Nicholas Weiland, and Wesley Scriven all contributed to the win in various ways. This week Newtown heads to the Orange Bowl playoffs against a tough Southern Duchess Blue team.

Grade 5

Nighthawks 33, Somers Tuskers 6: Patrick Conte threw a pass to Mitchell Savoca for an early-game touchdown, then threw another pass to Justin Dunn for the extra point. Despite tackles by Matthew Krasnickes, Brandyn Chieffo, Thomas Cotton, and Billy Kase, Somers also scored a first quarter touchdown. With some fancy footwork, Dunn evaded several Somers defenders to score again in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Patrick Conte recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown, then scored the extra point on a quarterback keeper. Stops by Erik Benson, Ryan Norton, John Pierce, and Steven Moccio forced Somers to turnover on downs.

In the second half, Conte threw to Dunn for a touchdown and handed off to Bobby Haskins for the extra point. Dunn ran nearly 60 yards for the final touchdown.

Grade 6

Newtown 13, Norwalk 7: Another miserable day, another memorable victory. Newtown finished the regular season at 8-0 with a win over of a tough and large Norwalk squad, which was 6-1 coming into the game.

Newtown used its lights-out defense (the D yielded only 65 yards on 43 plays) to keep Norwalk pinned deep in its own territory for most of the first half. The result was two Newtown possessions inside the Norwalk 15 which produced touchdowns. Defensive linemen Carlo Fenaroli, Jeremy Salaris, Nick Samuelson, and Ryan Shaw consistently broke into the backfield to disrupt the Norwalk offense. Linebackers Michael Doyle, Jared Pearson, and Andrew Svanda pounded the running backs, while cornerbacks Steve Faxlanger and Ethan Carpenter, and safety Devin Luzietti didn’t let anything get outside. The defensive backfield successfully defended all six Norwalk passes, picking off three.

In the first quarter, Faxlanger followed his 11-yard run with a 1-yard plunge off tackle for the lead. Nick Rohrbacher, Brandon Hensel, and Matt Davis provided the blocking. Doyle scampered around right end for the important extra point behind a nice block by Colin Patrick for a 7-0 lead. Norwalk wasted little time responding, returning the ensuing kick off 79 yards for the score and a 7-7 tie. Pearson answered with a 30-yard return of his own to get the Hawks into scoring position. With about a minute left in the half, Doyle ran what looked like a sweep around the right side, but at the last moment he pulled up and lofted a perfect pass to the sure-handed Matt Meyers for a 14-yard touchdown.

As the weather deteriorated in the second half, neither team could produce much offense. Norwalk was able to get inside the Newtown 30 three times, but two of the drives ended on interceptions by Carpenter and Luzietti (his second of the day). Norwalk’s deepest penetration was to the Newtown 16. On fourth and 15 from his own 11, Doyle boomed a 31-yard punt in the pouring rain that pushed Norwalk well out of the red zone and helped preserve the victory.

Newtown will host either Aspetuck or Norwalk in the first round of the playoffs on Sunday at Hawley.

The young Hawks are hoping for a sunny (or at least dry) day.