The championships keep coming as the Newtown fifth-grade football team defeated Monroe, 39-13, while the fourth-grade football team blanked Norwalk, 18-0, to cap a wildly successful Candlewood Valley League season.
The championships keep coming as the Newtown fifth-grade football team defeated Monroe, 39-13, while the fourth-grade football team blanked Norwalk, 18-0, to cap a wildly successful Candlewood Valley League season.
Last year the fourth- and sixth-grade football teams both captured CVL titles with the fourth-graders earning a trip to Florida to represent the New England Region in the nationals. Now, add two more CVL titles to the pile.
Read on â
FIFTH GRADE
Newtown 39, Monroe 13
Call âem a juggernaut.
A year after capturing its first Candlewood Valley League championship and making a trip to the national tournament in Florida, the Newtown fifth-grade football team added to its legacy with a 39-13 pounding of Monroe in the 2007 CVL championship game.
The Nighthawks finished 10-0, out-scoring their opponents by an incredible margin of 324-63. The locals rushed for more than 2,900 yards and passed for more than 550 yards and, in so doing, scored 47 touchdowns (37 rushing, 10 passing).
And donât overlook three touchdowns scored on defense.
All told, 13 different players on a 33-man roster scored a TD or an extra point during the season.
Last weekend, the Hawks amassed 452 yards of offense while pummeling Monroe. And as has been the case most of the season, the Hawks struck early. On the second play from scrimmage Colton Smith jetted around the right side and went 48 yards for the opening score of the game putting the Hawks up 6-0.
After a quick three and out by Monroe, the Newtown offense once again came up with a big play. This time Nick Lotrecchiano blasted off the left tackle and went 53 yards for the second Hawk score of the first half. QB back Troy Frangione then connected with Colton Smith on a quick slant for the PAT putting the Hawks up 13-0.
Monroe however kept on fighting and managed to put together a TD with just minutes left in the half after a nice 50-yard drive.
A tough battle in the first half appeared to have woken the sleeping beast in Newtown as they rattled off 26 points and four more touch downs in the second half.
On their opening offensive series, the Hawks drove 56 yards to rack up the first score of the second half. Strong running once again by Jaret DeVellis, Smith and Lotrecchiano was capped off by a powerful three-yard TD run by Jack âBubbaâ Condon. Frangione once again added his two cents by sprinting to cone for the PAT to put the locals up, 20-7.
Next, after a 20-yard circus catch by tight end Connor Roche, Lotrecchiano once again busted off the left corner and went 44 yards for his second TD of the day. Bubba Condon then pumped the PAT in with a nice dive up the gut to put the locals up, 27-7.
As the second half wore on it became obvious that the big offensive line made up of Stephen Grasso, Jake Lambert, Eric Cascone, Eric Street, Griffin Davis, Roche and Tim Krapf were just too much for the Monroe defense. The big lineman punished the Monroe through out the game and blasted huge holes for the Hawk running backs.
The Newtown offense opened the fourth quarter with a nice pass play. Smith this time hit Frangione on a 10-yard out to get the ball rolling. It was then Devellisâ opportunity to showcase his talent as he burst around the right side for a 26-yard touchdown blast, increasing the Hawk lead to 33-7.
A seemingly bent, but not yet broke Lion offense managed to pull together a nice offensive drive on the next series and scored a TD to trim the Newtown lead to 33-13.
But in the waning moments of the game, Smith must have sensed this seasonâs end was near as he took off running with a QB draw and went 63 yards to close out the game.
On the final stat sheet, Smith led all running backs with 201 yards rushing and two TDs, followed closely by Lotrecchiano with 141 yards and two TDs. Devellis added 47 yards and a TD, with Bubba Condon also scoring a TD.
Jonathan Sherman, Shane Quimby and Max Rucinski all gave the starters a well earned breather and added another 20 yards on the ground. Roche lead all receivers with two catches for 37 yards as Frangione added his grab for 10 yards.
Meanwhile, the defense limited Monroe to just 140 yards of total offense. Rucinski led the way with a team-high 10 tackles, but got lots of support from Condon (5 tackles), Smith (5 tackles), Lotrecchiano (5 tackles), Krapf, Markus Elkin, Logan Walsh and DeVellis.
The interior defensive line play of Ryan âMonsterâ Szalay, Kevin Conte, Grasso, Davis, Cascone, Nick Rubino and Lambert stuffed the middle of the field and forced the Lion backs into the waiting arms of the linebackers.
Other Hawks who played a significant part in this spectacular season were Aaron Beckett, Matt Bouton, Jacob Burden, Michael âthe Hammerâ Cirone, Will Dalton, Harry Duffy, Nolan Fisher, Chris Koch, Kyle Mangold, Brandon McIntyre, Aidan Petershack, Jonathan Rospenda and Ryan Sullivan.
And coaches Smith, Condon, Cascone, Frangione, Davis and Lambert made all of it possible.
FOURTH GRADE
Newtown 18, Norwalk 0
Great game. Great season. Great team.
The Newtown fourth-grade football team captured a Candlewood Valley League championship with a dominating 18-0 win and finished the season at 8-0-1, having recorded four shutouts while outscoring opponents 190-33 along the way.
On Saturday night, the Newtown 4th grade football team defeated Norwalk 18-0 to win the Candlewood Valley League Championship. The young Hawks finished the season with an 8-0-1 record. They recorded 4 shutouts as they outscored opponents 190 to 33.
Even a chilly evening start (5:15 pm) could not cool down this Newtown team. The Hawks continued to use their successful season-long formula of ball-control offense and lights out defense to frustrate a strong Norwalk team.
The Hawks out-gained Norwalk, 180-27, in a game that saw the opposition cross midfield only twice. Norwalk, in fact, had zero totals yards in the second half.
Devin Luzietti (10 carries for 55 yards, TD) started things off by returning the opening kickoff 30 yards. Michael Doyle (15 carries for 93 yards, TD) then took the first hand-off and rambled 24 yards to the Norwalk 18.
Two plays later Doyle went off left tackle for 10 yards and the score for a 6-0 lead just three minutes into the contest. Greg Harrison and Ryan Shaw provided key blocks.
The remainder of the first half saw the Newtown defensive line submarine the Norwalk line, which allowed the Newtown LBs and secondary to hammer the exposed Norwalk backs. Nose guards Tim Mammen and Brian Kiley cleared the way for Luzietti (9 tackles), Doyle (7 tackles), Joey Santella (5 tackles) and Jared Pearson (4 tackles). A Nick Samuelson fumble recovery ended one drive, while an Adam Robertson interception ended another.
The offense contributed a 10-play drive that kept the ball away from Norwalk. It stalled on downs at the Norwalk 24, but highlights included a 16-yard gallop by Luzietti off of left end.
The second half saw more of the same from the Newtown D. After the kickoff, the locals held Norwalk to a four and out behind the solid play of Colin Theis (2 tackles), Charlie Fletcher (2 tackles) and Steve Faxlanger (2 tackles).
The offense took over and went on another 10-play drive that consumed the remainder of the third quarter. Pearson (8 carries for 28 yards) led this drive with five carries for 18 yards. While the drive did not produce any points (it terminated at the Norwalk 8), it was a pivotal victory in the battle for field position.
Andrew Svanda and Jaxon Mills were dominating in the trenches.
On the subsequent possession (now in the fourth quarter), Norwalk decided to gamble and go for it on fourth and three at its own 17. The try fell a yard short due to the hard play of Ethan Carpenter and Rob McCabe.
With the game still somewhat in the balance, Newtown went in for the kill. On the fourth play of the next series series, Luzietti swept left for five yards behind the blocks of Gordon Walsh and Matt Elias to give Newtown a 12-0 lead.
After the next kickoff, the Newtown defense saved its best for last. The Hawks pushed Norwalk back an incredible 21 yards behind the solid play of James Frazetta, Jeremy Salaris and Nick Rohrbacher. On 4th and 31, Norwalk had no choice but to throw a desperation pass that was incomplete.
Newtown took over on downs and put the final nail in the coffin. On the first play QB Matt Maturo found wide receiver Matt Meyers open in the left corner of the end zone for a five-yard touchdown pass and an 18-0 lead.
John Delrossi and Mike Roche provided the pass protection.
As Newtown ran out the clock on its final possession to seal the victory, Santella ended the 2007 season with a 13-yard sweep around left end.
The 190 points the fourth graders scored was the most in the division. And the 33 points yielded by the defense was, by far, the lowest total in the league. The team had 17 players rush for a total of 1,630 yards (an average of five yards per carry).
On the year, Luzietti rushed for 519 yards (7.52 average), Doyle for 487 (6.16), Santella for 243 (5.06) and Pearson for 184 (3.17). The team also passed for 194 yards, with Maturo passing for 129 (7 completions) and Doyle for 65 (4 completions).
On the receiving end, Elias had seven grabs for 166 yards while Faxlanger, Meyers and Maturo combined for four grabs and 28 yards.
Nine different players got into the end zone and combined for 29 touchdowns and 14 extra points. Luzietti had seven TDs to lead the team while Doyle and Pearson had six TDs each. Santella had four TDs and combined with Luzietti and Doyle to provide 12 extra points.
Elias had three scores while Carpenter, Santore and Meyers all had TDs. Kiley provided an extra point, as did Santore. Maturo passed for two TDs and Doyle one.
The team was coached by John Villa (head coach), Tim Doyle, Bob Elias, Jim Luzietti, Mike Maturo, John Pearson and Stephanie Villa.