Freshman Gridders Beat Bunnell

Newtown High School’s freshman football team improved to 7-1 with a 40-12 win over Bunnell of Stratford this past week.

After Bryan Kiley had one of his two sacks to force a fumble recovered by Ryan Shaw, the Nighthawks scored when quarterback Matt Maturo (10-for-13, 161 yards passing) found Sam Czel (89 total yards, two touchdowns) streaking down the sideline for a 45-yard touchdown.

The next series saw Ethan Carpenter (84 total yards, two TDs) score on a four-yard run after Andrew Svanda (74 total yards) turned a shovel pass into a 50 yard gain.

Carpenter added the two-point conversion run. Newtown’s next drive was taken care of on one play — a 44-yard TD end-around by Czel. The final score of the half was on a 38-yard touchdown pass from Maturo to Mark Urso (60 total yards).

Sam Duffy had  a 10-yard reception for a first down, and Devin Luzietti added his second red zone interception in as many game. Carpenter started the second half with a 65 yard kickoff return for a TD (his second of the season).

With a big lead, the Hawks went to the ground game. Michael Doyle, John DelRossi, RJ Oliveria, and Matt Carino had carries as Newtown maintained field position and ran down the clock. Newtown’s Sam Czel, Christian Morlock, and Chance McMahon recovered fumbles on kickoffs.