Newtown’s fourth grade football team concluded its season on top with a 26-12 win over the unbeaten Monroe Lions in the Shoreline Youth Football Conference Championship game, at the Madison Surf Club in Madison on November 18.

“I’m really proud of our players and how disciplined they were this game and throughout the season. We watched Monroe’s film as a team and our coaching staff did a great job preparing their positions for this game. Our fourth grade boys were hungry for this win,” Newtown Head Coach Marvin Taylor said. “Monroe is a long-time rival so this win was special. We went into halftime down 12-6. We made the necessary adjustment on offense and defense, and we executed it very well.”

In a highly-anticipated rematch of their week five contest, the Newtown Nighthawks demonstrated everything that had gotten them to this point: speed, discipline, and determination.

Team captains Brody Taylor, Austin Rekos, Chris Evans, Chase Pacuk, Jack Brackett, and Braxton Kuzma won the coin toss for Newtown and elected to defer to receive the ball to start the second half, which would prove to be a key factor in the game.

Monroe struck first with a touchdown on its opening possession, but had the point after denied by Rekos after Monroe’s quarterback was hurried by Hudson Levy. It was an otherwise quiet first quarter — Taylor and Rekos carried the torch on offense with Mario DiSanto, Chase Ibbitson, Chase Blank, Jack Fregoe, and Anthony Ripley battling it out up front. Tucker Lowe, Jake Kennedy, Jackson Dudow, and Ethan Lucian competed down in the trenches and, along with Garrett Hydeck and Nico Tadduni in the secondary, helped keep the Lions caged.

Monroe was driving on offense at the start of the second quarter until Levy recovered a botched snap, positioning the Nighthawks’ offense at midfield. From there, Evans and Pacuk ran right at the Lion defense, taking and delivering hits and coming back for more until, on fourth and seven from the Monroe 32 yard line, Evans connected with Brayden Andrews for a touchdown to tie the game at 6-6.

Monroe scored again, on the ensuing drive, but not after taking punishing hits from Levy and Kennedy and being denied the point after by Cole Willinger and Pacuk.

Newtown drove to Monroe’s 16 yard line after a 20 yard reception by Taylor with Charlie Tortora in at left tackle; however, time ran out in the second quarter before the Nighthawks could find the end zone, leaving the Lions with a six-point advantage at halftime.

Tensions were high for the Newtown faithful until, on the first play from scrimmage after receiving the ball to start the second half, Evans connected with Andrews who then broke multiple tackles, after a block from Luke Guagliano, for a 42-yard touchdown to tie the game and set the tone from that point on.

The Lions had to claw after every yard gained from then on, as Andrew Ross, Ryder Tiedemann, Shepherd Nelson, and Chase Voight dug in up front and Luke Salce, Jack Briante, and Anthony Scaglione swarmed in the secondary, eventually resulting in Monroe turning the ball over several times on downs at midfield.

Wasting no time, on first and ten from the Newtown 46, Andrews rushed 54 yards for a touchdown (point after by Evans) to give the Nighthawks the lead.

Monroe struggled for yardage and turned to a passing attack that was either sniffed out in the backfield or expertly broken up by Ben Weintraub in coverage. After the Lions turned the ball over on downs late in the third quarter, the Nighthawks executed a clock-eating, 11 play, 56-yard drive that culminated with a ten-yard TD rush by Evans (point after by Andrews) to put the game out of reach.

The Lions continued to fight, but ultimately miscues, and a fumble recovered by Levy in the final minutes, sealed the victory for Newtown, whose success this season could not have been possible without the discipline and “believe you can win” attitude instilled by Head Coach Taylor, along with Coaches Rich Rekos, Kevin Kuzma, Justin Lucian, John Brackett, Jeff Pacuk, and Chris Evans.