79ers

Nighthawks 13, Norwalk 6: The defense was led by Charlie Asetta, Jack Hannan and Riley McCafferty. Griffin Cross ran for a pair of touchdowns and Tucker Garrity had a couple of great runs for fourth down conversions and scored the extra point on a pass play following one of the touchdowns. Luke Mellilo also had a great game. The line, led by Robbie Morrill, did a great job.

Grade 4

Southern Dutchess Blue 6, Newtown 0: In the first half, Newtown only had three significant yardage plays. The first two were on broken plays that Ryan Kost took to the outside and in both instances was able to get into first-down territory. The third was a carry by CJ Shambelan who ran the ball 75 yards from Newtown’s own 15 yard line. Southern Duchess then caused a turnover on a lateral pass and Newtown was unable to capitalize and score. The game was scoreless going into the half. The second half was much of the same with neither team able to put together serious drives and it remained a defensive struggle. Late in the third quarter though Southern Dutchess broke the deadlock with a touchdown. Throughout the game, solid blocks were made by the Newtown front five of Andrew Deluca, Max Goldstein, Ethan Tousignant, Owen Walsh, and Alex Street. On the defensive side of the ball, solid effort and tackles were made by Shambelan, Kost, William Stenz, Josh Dunn, Doug Carriero, David Daria, and Michael Garner. This Sunday Newtown faces Somers Red on the road.

Grade 5

Nighthawks 6, Southern Dutchess Patriots 6: Mitchell Savoca threw a pass to Gavin Stubbs for an early-game touchdown. Fumble recoveries by Patrick Conte and Joe Accousti gave Newtown control of the ball for most of the second quarter. Despite several first downs — including a quarterback keeper by Patrick Conte, a 13-yard run by Thomas Cotton and a 15-yard run by Mitchell Savoca — Newtown was unable to score in the second half. Strong defensive play by Seth Willis, Brandyn Chieffo, Joe Accousti, Noah LaFerriere and Patrick Conte held Southern Dutchess scoreless until late in the fourth quarter. Bobby Haskins stopped the extra point to keep the game tied.

Grade 6

Newtown 20, Southern Dutchess 6: The rain, wind, and cold could not cool down Newtown as the locals posted their seventh straight win. Newtown compiled 200 yards on the ground and held the opposition to an average of 2 yards per play. Michael Doyle (57 yards rushing, 9.5 average) scored on an 8-yard run up the middle in the first quarter behind the power blocking of Nick Samuelson and Ryan Shaw. Devin Luzietti tallied the extra point. Early in the second, Peyton Manning swept around right end for 25 yards behind the blocking of Declan Sullivan and Matt Carino. On the next play, Ethan Carpenter ran the naked bootleg for a 14-yard score and a 13-0 lead. The Hawks held Southern Dutchess to negative 19 yards in the first half, due to the sure tackling of linebackers Andrew Svanda, John DelRossi, and Scooter McCarthy. The third quarter was scoreless, as both teams sloshed around and could not get into the end zone. Newtown recorded 2 sacks as they brought pressure from the outside (ends Michael Roche, Brian Kiley, Charlie Fletcher, and Sam Duffy) and up the middle (tackles Kyle Martinez, John Reardon and James Accousti). Early in the fourth, Newtown recorded its final score of the day as Gordon Walsh and Greg Harrison opened up a huge hole to allow Luzietti to go untouched from 7 yards out. The run was set up by a 19-yard burst by Doyle. Southern Dutchess scored on the last play of the game to foil the shutout. Newtown plays 6-1 Norwalk this Saturday at Hawley, with the winner securing the second seed in the CVL Playoffs.

Grade 7

Newtown 41, Southern Dutchess 7: The young Hawks racked up over 350 yards on the ground and five different Nighthawks made it into the end zone on their way to their seventh victory. Shane Quimby, Julian Dunn, Colton Smith, Ryan Sullivan, David Bauch, Forest Speed, Jaret DeVellis, James Leuci, and Rat Rubino shared the ball carrying. Smith scored twice with Dunn, Speed, Bauch, and Sullivan getting in once. Sullivan is the 11th Nighthawk to score this season. The linemen up front gave the backs wide open running lanes throughout the day with Erik Street, Aidan Petershack, Stephen Grasso, Chris Hartley, Pete Manfradonia, Griffin Davis, Markus Elken, Kevin Conte, Jake Lambert, Eric Cascone, Connor Roche and Time Krapf perfecting their assignments. The defense and special teams were outstanding as Bug Santella, DeVellis, Sullivan, and Kevin Ross made big tackles. Santella added his first interception of the year with Manfredonia getting in on a sack, forcing and recovering a fumble, and teammate Harry Duffy coming up big with a fumble recovery.  The Hawks have outscored their opponents by 197 points in only seven games and are looking to increase this total when they visit Mahopac on Sunday at 7 pm.