Newtown High School’s football team defeated visiting Stratford 34-6 on Senior Night, also the Homecoming Game, at Blue & Gold Stadium, on October 30. The Nighthawk defense, coming off a shutout of Joel Barlow of Redding the week prior, held the Red Devils off the scoreboard until the final seconds to improve to 7-0; Stratford fell to 5-2.

The Nighthawks carried a 21-0 lead into halftime on a trio of Jared Pearson touchdown runs – a pair from four yards out and the third from three yards away. Newtown quarterback Justin Dunn completed a fourth down pass to keep the team’s first scoring drive alive. Newtown led 14-0 after one quarter of play. Pearson’s final score of the half capped off a 99-yard, 13-play drive executed by Newtown in just 3:59.

In the second half, Mike Doyle’s leaping grab in the back of the end zone, on a 20-yard pass from Dunn, extended the lead to 28-0. Dunn hooked up with Devin Luzietti on a 25-yard passing play to set up the score, with 2:27 to play in the third quarter. On the next play from the line of scrimmage, Newtown middle linebacker Ben Mason intercepted a pass and returned it 27 yards for a score, extending the lead to 34-0 with 2:20 to play in the quarter. The extra point was no good. This marked the third straight game in which Mason had a pick-six for the Hawks.

Although the Red Devils couldn’t score until the waning seconds, they moved the ball into Newtown territory several times, before the Hawks tightened up, throughout the game. Mason, along with Ryan Shaw, Christian Morlock, Nick Samuelson, Pearson, and Sam Czel played key roles in another solid effort from the defense.

Newtown will host New Milford for the Boot Game on Friday, November 6, beginning at 7 pm. The Hawks will honor members of the 1965 team and 50 years of football at Newtown High, and fans are encouraged to come out to see the men who were a part of the start of 11-on-11 football in town.

Read more about Newtown’s win over Stratford in the November 6 print edition of The Bee.