By Kim J. Harmon

LAKELAND, Florida – In a battle of young titans, the Newtown Nighthawks fourth grade football team bested the Osceola Panthers in a best-of-three series to capture the American Youth Football championship last week in Lakeland, Florida.

After teams from Texas and California opted not to attend, the prize was up for grabs between the Nighthawks, the undefeated champions of the Candlewood Valley League, and the Panthers, a central Florida All-Star team put together to contend for the AYF title.

The locals won 18-7 in the opener, dropped a 25-19 overtime decision in the second game, and then captured the title with a 25-20 win in the deciding third game last Thursday.

“It’s very exciting,” said head coach Pat Smith. “I couldn’t be happier. The kids had the time of their lives and it was a good experience.”

The locals were cruising, 25-6, with about six minutes to go in the championship game when Osceola rallied and rallied hard. The Panthers ran a kickoff back for a touchdown, converted an onsides kick, scored another touchdown to trim the Newtown lead to 25-20, and converted another onsides kick all in under a minute.

But the rally stopped there.

“The defense really stepped it up and held them over the final seven plays,” said coach Smith. “(The Panthers) had a kid who scored six touchdowns a game (during the season) and we really frustrated him.”

And it earned the ‘Hawks the tournament trophy.

“The kids had the greatest time,” said coach Smith. “Even some of the kids who just played the minimum plays, the look on their faces when we won the last game was great.”

In the 18-7 opening win, Nick Lotrecchiano and Colton Smith each scored a touchdown – Lotrecchiano opening up the second half with a nifty 55-yard blast around the left side and Smith punching one in from three yards out in the fourth quarter. Harry Duffy, Ryan Szalay and Bubba Condon opened the hole for Lotrecchiano.

Condon and wingback Max Rucinski also did their part keeping two key drives alive with runs of 15 yards each on critical third and long situations.

The offensive play of the game came on a fourth and 20 situation from the Nighthawks’ own 40. Smith, a running back, shifted to quarterback and hit quarterback Troy Frangione, now at halfback, on a QB sweep pass for a 60 yard TD. After making the catch, Frangione zigzagged his way 25 yards down the field for the score.

Rucinski recorded 101/2 tackles in the contest and returned a fumble 60 yards. Lotrecchiano and Smith recorded four tackles each as the Hawk defense forced three fumbles to shut down the high octane Panther attack.

In the second game of the series, backup quarterback Jacob Burden stepped in for an ailing Frangione and led the Hawks on a seven-play touchdown drive on the opening series. Throughout the game, Erik Street, Jake Lambert, Stephen Grasso, Markus Elken, Griffin Davis, Eric Cascone, Aiden Petershack, and Brandon McIntyre all played incredibly well and drove back the Panther defense. Smith and Lotrecchiano once again carried the mail for the Hawks and combined for 235 yards rushing and three touchdowns.

Lotrecchiano registered eight tackles while Logan Walsh, moving from end to linebacker, added six.  Rucinski, Lambert and cornerback Shane Quimby each had four tackles while cornerback Jonathan Sherman, Petershack, Grasso, and Nolan Fisher all had two apiece.

With less than four minutes to play and down 19-13, the manufactured a 45-yard scoring drive to tie the game. On the conversion run, though, Smith was stopped just short of the goal line to force the overtime.

The Panthers converted in the Kansas City tiebreaker to force the third and deciding game.

And the game belonged to Newtown.

Smith and Lotrecchiano combined for 261 yards and four touchdowns on 35 carries to lead the locals to the 25-20 win. Lotrecchiano had 136 yards while Smith added 125 yards on a balanced attack of counters, blasts, sweeps, tosses and reverses to keep the Panthers defense off balance all game.

Condon added three carries up the middle for 16 yards and two first downs.

The Panthers tried to contain the Nighthawks’ two dynamic running backs by stacking up the left side at first, then the right, but each time the locals would adjust and keep the Panthers guessing who would carry the ball next. Street, Davis, Grasso, Cascone, Lambert and Elken were once again superb on the line while Michael Cirone stepped in at the second tight end position to give the Hawks an extra lineman.

Other outstanding blockers were Duffy, Fisher, Petershack, Szalay and Rory Phillips.

Frangione was 2-for-2 for 29 passing yards, including a beautiful deep slant pass to Smith for an 18-yard TD pass on third and goal. Smith also added a pass completion for 21 yards on a toss pass to Lotrecchiano for a big first down on third and long.

On defense, Smith led the way with 11 tackles, including three behind the line of scrimmage. Rucinski, moving all over the field due to the separated shoulder injury of Condon, contributed seven tackles.  On the line, Cascone set the tone with six tackles, including two in the backfield while Grasso chipped in four stops and a big QB hit on third and long.

In a surprise move, Joey Santella was moved to nose guard and was in the backfield many times to disrupt the handoff by the Osceola QB. Elken provided outside support at DE with 31/2 tackles and constantly putting pressure on the Panthers outside running game and turning them inside.

Nick Rubino contributed five tackles and made two big stops on the final Panthers possession.

The champion Nighthawks – closing out the season at 11-1-0 – were led through the season by head coach Pat Smith and assistants Ken Condon, Anthony Cascone, Jeff Grasso, Eric Lambert and Rob Frangione.

“All we wanted was to play someone outside our league, one or two games,” said coach Smith, “to challenge ourselves. We felt we had a special team, a talented group of kids who can work together and pick each other up. It was a team effort.”