The first round of the Candlewood Valley Football League playoffs was not a kind one to Newtown Pop Warner, as the Junior Midgets and Midgets both suffered first round losses to see their seasons come to an end.

The Junior Midgets fell, 20-6, to Ridgefield while the Midgets fell, 33-0, to Monroe.

Here are the results –

 

Tie, Friendship Game

Conclude JPWs Season

With a 6-6 tie of Aspetuck on October 25 and a nice effort in a Friendship Game against Danbury last weekend, the Junior Pee Wees concluded their 2003 campaign.

In the tie with Aspetuck, William Arndt ran wild over the Wildcat defense, ripping off more than five carries of 10 yards or more. Max Nacewicz also bulldozed his way through the line for the majority of the Nighthawks carries.

With 1:30 gone in the second quarter, Arndt followed his blocking into the end zone to give Newtown an early 6-0 advantage. Aspetuck came right back with a blocked punt and touchdown return to knot the score.

Newtown’s offense stalled in the second half, but the defense took it up a notch and stopped the Wildcats offense twice inside the Newtown 15 with key tackles by Andrew Murphy and Brian Kilmurray … as well as interception by Brendan McNamara. 

In the game with Danbury, all the players had the opportunity to play both offense and defense, getting valuable playing time to keep their football batteries charged until next year.

With the offensive line opening holes the size of Rhode Island, backs Nacewicz, Fracker, Arndt, Udiskey and Byrne racked up yard after yard of turf on all of Newtown’s offensive series. On the defensive side, strong tackles by Seymour, McNamara, Burry, Ross and Fischer kept the Vikings under wraps for most of the game.

Junior Midgets Stopped

IN CVFL Semis

Although the Junior Midgets had defeated Ridgefield, 8-0, during the regular season the Raiders were able to exact a measure of revenge in the first round of the Candlewood Valley League playoffs last weekend.

Ridgefield defeated Newtown, 20-6, to drop the Junior Midgets to 6-2-1 and conclude their 2003 campaign.

The signs were not good right from the start as Ridgefield rushed for a 65-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. On the Raiders’ following series, a 10-play drive ended with another touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

The Newtown offense could not move the football in the first quarter, despite the efforts of Cody Marus. The defense started to hold Ridgefield and that gave the offense a chance to put something together. Quarterback Stephen Oberstadt faked a handoff to Marus and then gave the ball to Jake DeVellis on the counter. DeVellis broke through the line on the right side, behind the blocking of Mike Rodriquez, Mike Iorfino, and Ian Cooper, and broke three tackles on his way to a 54-yard touchdown.

The first half ended with the Nighthawks down, 14-6.

In the second half, a low snap on a punt attempt forced the Newtown punter to his knee, giving Ridgefield great field position. Four plays later, on a fourth and five, the Raiders scored on a 21-yard pass play to take a 20-6 lead.

The balance of the game was a defensive struggle, with neither team able to sustain a drive.

Midgets Pounded By

Monroe, 33-0

 

The Midgets entered the CVFL playoffs with a respectable 5-2 record, but it didn’t matter to Monroe, which rolled to a 33-0 victory.

The Nighthawks had some fine offensive performances from Ryan Manning, Eric Dreher, Matt Mascolo, Eric Puffer, Will Mahony and Tyler Tarantino. Manning had a couple nice runs to pick up some yardage on one drive.

Despite the score, the defense came up with some solid plays. Dreher blocked an extra point while Conor Martin, John Aminti, Dan DeLaVega, Kurt Kolonairis, Matt Boland and Jamie Goodwick made some strong tackles. Martin recovered a fumble in the second half while Jon Wright and Alex Dahlmeyer played well.