Fenaroli Sets Rushing Mark As Hawks Inch Closer To Playoff Berth

By Andy Hutchison

Lou Fenaroli eclipsed Joe Lato’s single season Newtown High School rushing record, set back in 1992, in Newtown’s 33-7 win over visiting Bethel at Blue & Gold Stadium on Senior Night, November 4. Fenaroli surpassed 1,400 yards to take over the distinction as Newtown High’s best single-season ball carrier.

The win pushed the Nighthawks to 7-1 this year, and put the team just one win away from a return to the South-West Conference championship game. The Nighthawks will battle Bunnell of Stratford for the right to play in the title game in a Saturday, November 12, clash at Bunnell (2:30 pm kickoff). If Bunnell wins, it looks as if the two teams will vie for the right to face defending conference champion Masuk of Monroe for all of the SWC marbles.

Fenaroli, believed to be a few yards shy of the mark as the Bethel game approached its end, nearly faced having to go for the record on the road it seemed. Newtown, however, got the ball back with just 1:22 to play when Dan Hebert intercepted a pass in the end zone.

Two carries later, Fenaroli was mobbed by his teammates and coaches as fans celebrated along with the Hawks. The old mark was 1,426 yards and Fenaroli surpassed it with a 200-plus yard performance against Bethel.

Fenaroli, it turns out, may actually have set the mark earlier in the game but there was some question as to the record number and Fenaroli’s rushing total as the game unfolded. Regardless, he was recognized as the school’s all time rushing leader on his home turf.

“He’s getting better every week. I’m trying to give him things he can improve on and he keeps listening and … he’s our horse,” Newtown Coach Steve George said.

“It feels great, but I couldn’t have done it without my [offensive] line — it’s at least half theirs as well as mine,” said Fenaroli, adding that he recognized that he might have to set the mark on the road but was confident he’d get the shot to do it in front of the home fans. “It was in the back of my mind but I had a gut feeling that my defense was going to be able to get it done for me,” Fenaroli said of the NHS defenders stopping Bethel to get the ball back in Newtown’s hands in the final minute-plus.

Fenaroli will have a chance to add to his record total against Bunnell and Masuk. Even if Newtown loses to Bunnell, the Hawks will face Masuk in the annual Thanksgiving Eve clash. Last year’s season-ending matchup became the championship game and the same stands to happen this year if Newtown can find a way to beat Bunnell.

“I know Bunnell’s very athletic and they run the ball well, and they’re going to play hard so it’s going to be a battle,” George said.

George was a part of Newtown rushing history twice. The former Nighthawk player blocked for Lato when he set the old mark. Now he guides Fenaroli, but attributes much of the running back’s success to his dedication to lifting in the weight room to build strength. “He’s a weight guy. He loves weights,” George said.

Early on in the game, both teams struggled to move the ball against stingy defenses. Newtown took a 6-0 lead on Jake Tolson’s first quarter field goals of 33 and 26 yards. The Nighthawks took a gamble to pad the lead shortly before halftime.

Halloween may have all but been canceled as a result of the freak October 29 snowstorm, but the Nighthawks had plenty of trickery up their sleeves and treated the fans to a touchdown play on a fake punt. George had punter Julian Dunn surprise the Wildcats and throw the ball to Chris Devaney who made the reception and turned the fake into a 41-yard scoring play with just 1:34 to go in the second quarter.

“You practice these things all year and I always kick myself in the [butt] at the end of the year saying ‘why didn’t we do this, why didn’t we do that?’ So we might as well use ’em and leave it all on the field,” George said.

“That was big. Half the team didn’t even know that was coming,” said Fenaroli, referring, of course, to the players on the sideline.

Newtown broke the game open in the second half. NHS quarterback Drew Tarantino hooked up with Justin DeVellis for a 28-yard score for a 19-0 cushion. The two-point conversion failed. In the fourth, Fenaroli, who is known for using his 5-foot-9, 225-pound frame for bulldozing his way through and over opposing players for yardage, took a handoff from deep in Newtown territory and made a series of quick moves to weave his way all the way to the end zone for a 97-yard score to make it 26-0.

Bethel ended Newtown’s long shutout streak late in the fourth. The Nighthawks had held opponents off the scoreboards for nearly ten full consecutive quarters going back to the second half of the October 21 win over Stratford before the Wildcats finally broke the bend-but-rarely-break NHS D.

The Wildcats attempted an onside kick, and Newtown’s Matt Vavrek not only recovered the ball at midfield, but used his speed to dash past the Bethel special teams players and go all the way across the goal line to extend the lead. Tolson’s extra point made it 33-7. Vavrek’s teammates piled on him in celebration.

George was thrilled with the play of his last-year players on Senior Night — everyone from Fenaroli to Tolson to Erik Samuelson who had to step in and play his first game as a center because Newtown’s starting center was out with mononucleosis.