The rivalry between the Newtown and Pomperaug Pop Warner football programs has seen its share of thrilling games (like in the 2001 and 2002 Candlewood Valley League championship games) and last week it was more of the same on the Midget field.

Jake DeVellis scored a pair of touchdowns to stake the Nighthawks to a 14-0 lead, but he needed to intercept a pass late in the fourth quarter to enable the ‘Hawks to hold off the Warriors for a tense 14-12 win.

Newtown started the game with great field position after John Aminti picked up a Pomperaug onsides kick attempt. DeVellis carried the ball six times, finishing the drive on a one-yard bootleg. Joe Scarpelli, Dan O’Connor, Nick Piretti, Matt Hill, Sean Gill, and Kris Arndt did a great job on the offensive line while Charlie LoBosco booted the PAT kick to give the ‘Hawks and 8-0 lead.

Neither team could get a sustained drive for the rest of the first half.  The Nighthawk defense bent a little, but always managed to stop the Warriors. Jason Kostecki caused a fumble, which was recovered by Kyle McNamara on the Newtown 24 for one of the key plays of the half.  Free safety Ian Cooper had a good game as well, nearly picking off two passes and breaking up several more Warrior pass attempts.

Brett LaBlanc, Arndt, Justin McGrath and Ben Collins put a lot of pressure on the Pomperaug quarterback.

The Warriors opened the second half on offense and tried using their biggest player as a tailback to pound the ball down the Nighthawk defense. After giving up a first down, the defense adjusted and stopped the Warrior assault … again.

Late in the third quarter, Pomperaug punted the ball on fourth down and as the ball bounced at the Nighthawk 38, DeVellis scooped it up and raced around the left side of the advancing punt team. At the Newtown 35, Kenton Lord put a bone-crushing block on two Warrior players that sprung DeVellis for the score.

Newtown led 14-0.

But at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Pomperaug got the ball back in Newtown territory and put together a drive that finally resulted in a touchdown, but since the PAT kick attempt went wide right the locals held on to a 14-6 lead.

Later, a punt by Newtown pinned the Warriors at their own 20 with about six minutes left to play. But seven plays later, the Warriors scored on a 30-yard run. On the point-after attempt, LeBlanc broke through the line and blocked the potential tying kick.

With three and a half minutes left, Pomperaug tried another onsides kick and recovered the ball. But this time the Newtown defense would not yield as DeVellis intercepted the ball on the Newtown 24 to end the threat.

The Midgets boosted their record to 2-0 and will be playing Bethel, in Bethel, on Sunday at 2 pm.

Junior Midgets

After a solid win over Aspetuck to open the 2004 season, the Newtown Pop Warner Junior Midgets suffered a heartbreaking, 12-0, loss to Pomperaug on Sunday.

Neither team gained much of an advantage in the first period, each team battling up and down the field and heading deep into their opponent’s zone. But Pomperaug scored once in the second period and once in the third.

The first quarter started with Newtown choosing to receive the kick after winning the toss from Pomperaug. Pomperaug attempted an onside kick, but the sure hands of Kurt Nacewicz gathered the ball in for Newtown.

The highlight of the first drive was a 20-yard pass from quarterback Kyle ‘O.C.’ O’Connor to Jaime Vavrek. Behind the superb blocking of Mike Poeltl, Dana ‘The Driver’ Hansen, Mike ‘Animal’ Hadgraft, Zack Dent, and Keith ‘The Truck’ McGrath the locals ended up deep in Pomperaug territory. But they eventually relinquished the ball after failing to earn another first down.

On defense, Newtown held Pomperaug scoreless through the first quarter thanks to tremendous efforts by Rob ‘The Diesel’ O’Donnell, Nick ‘Bones’ Tarantino, Brendan Blawie, and Dylan Huebner. In the second quarter, Newtown spent most of the time on defense and crushing hits from Brian Reszoly, Vavrek, Matt Taylor, Hansen, and Dent kept Pomperaug out of the endzone until Pomperaug succeeded in scoring on an eight-yard run.

Reszoly, though, kept Pomperaug from converting the PAT kick. It was one of two blocked kicks Reszoly registered.

The third quarter started off strong when Rezoly booted a 30-yard kick in the air. When the ball carrier from Pomperaug came up with the ball, Tucker Schmidt laid him out for one of the hardest hits of the day. Unfortunately it was not enough to stop Pomperaug, which later scored on a 65-yard run off tackle.

Reszoly and AJ Ritchie blocked the second kick to keep the score at 12-0.

On one of the final plays of the game, Brian Kuruc and O’Connor forced a fumble on a quarterback sack. Huebner scooped the loose ball. But strong play by their opposing defense kept Newtown from driving upfield for the two scores it needed.

Strong performances by O’Connor (105 yards passing, 30 rushing, two broken tackles), Reszoly (2-for-35 receiving) and Vavrek (2-for-42 receiving) led the passing attack for Newtown while O’Donnell, Kevin ‘Legs’ Canavan, and Kurt Nacewicz led the rushing attack.

The locals will look to rebound against Bethel next Sunday.

– Matthew Kuruc

Pee Wees

Kyle Vignone put together several nice runs and safety Sean Ross picked off a pass late in the game, but the Newtown Pop Warner Pee Wees still suffered a disappointing, 12-0, loss to Pomperaug last week.

The Pee Wees were led by captains-of-the-week Max Nacewicz (who was unable to play and clearly missed), Andrew Seymour, Cody Fischer and Bryan Kilmurray.

Despite the loss, the team did display some very positive improvements in many areas … like the punting game, with long snapper Conner Byrne and punter Keith Reszoly prevented the Warriors from getting any good field position most of the day.

The Pee Wees will battle Bethel on Saturday at 10 am.

Might Mites

Nick Lotrecchiano rushed for 163 yards on nine carries and quarterback Drew Tarantino was 3-for-4 for 26 yards as the Newtown Pop Warner Mighty Mites dropped a tough 26-19 decision to Ridgefield last weekend.