Memorable Season Ends For Nighthawk Gridders As Class LL State Title Hopes Get Wrecked By Staples

By Andy Hutchison

STRATFORD — Newtown High School’s football team saw its strong season come to a bitter end in a 44-20 defeat to Staples High in the Class LL state playoff semifinals at Bunnell High School on December 3.

The second-seeded Wreckers overcame an early 14-0 deficit to knock off the sixth-seeded Nighthawks and advance to the championship game at the University of Connecticut’s Rentschler Field.

Staples (11-0) remained unbeaten and Newtown finished a memorable campaign — which included an appearance in the South-West Conference championship tilt and a Class LL quarterfinal round win — with a 9-3 mark.

The Nighthawks jumped out to a two-touchdown lead on the back of Lou Fenaroli’s first-quarter scores before the Wreckers reeled off 30 unanswered points and finished the game on a 44-6 run.

“It hurts to lose ’cause I thought we were doing really well in the beginning,” Newtown Coach Steve George said. “Nobody picked these guys to do anything. They were up 14-0 against a state championship caliber team.”

“It’s tough to go out this way,” said Newtown senior standout receiver and kick returner Dan Hebert. “We got farther than people thought we would but, in the end, we wanted to get to UConn and we fell short. But we had a great season. I’m just proud off all of the seniors — the way they played.”

It looked for a while, even after Staples put together its string of 30 unanswered points, that the Nighthawks might be able to grind out another playoff win.

Newtown pulled to within ten at 30-20 in the third quarter when sophomore quarterback Drew Tarantino connected with Justin DeVellis for a 30-yard TD, but Newtown couldn’t complete the comeback effort. The late touchdown was set up by Cory Fisher’s fumble recovery of a ball lost by a Staples punt return player.

Early in the game, Newtown held its lead by holding Staples to a 21-yard field goal after the Wreckers got inside the NHS five yard line. It was 14-10 early in the second quarter, but that was the last time NHS would find itself on top.

The Wreckers came up with enough big plays, including a go-ahead 21-yard score on third and 11 when Staples quarterback Jack Massie hooked up with James Frusciante making it 17-14 with 4:52 remaining in the opening half, to seize control and eventually pull away.

The Wreckers made it a ten-point advantage at the intermission following Nick Kelly’s ten-yard scoring reception.

Early in the third, Peter Bonenfant intercepted a pass in Newtown territory and returned the ball to the 24 to set up Massie’s one-yard score for a 30-14 lead. The extra point attempt clanked off the upright.

After the DeVellis TD catch, Fenaroli was stopped just short of the goal line on a two-point conversion try which would have given the Hawks a chance to knot the score with another TD and two-pointer. Nonetheless, it was down to a 30-20 Staples edge with 5:25 remaining in the third. But the Wreckers quickly responded.

On the ensuing drive, the Westporters got their momentum back as Joey Zelkowitz had a long run into Nighthawk territory, which led to another one-yard Massie QB keeper score. The TD, which made it 37-20 Staples with 1:48 left in the third, was also made possible by a clutch fourth down conversion by the Wreckers.

The Nighthawks kept fighting. In the fourth quarter, DeVellis came up with a nice catch after juggling the ball, and later made an acrobatic reception over the middle, but the Hawks couldn’t cut into the Staples lead.

The Wreckers put the game away on Zelkowitz’s 18-yard scamper into the end zone.

George was proud of the season his Hawks had, especially given the fact Newtown wasn’t so highly regarded in area media football rankings.

“I hope they’ll leave their mark on Newtown football forever because what they did this year — to get this far and accomplish what they accomplished is truly amazing,” the coach said.