The high school football state playoffs continue on Monday, December 7, with semifinal round games on tap. Fourth-seeded Newtown, coming off its 21-20 win over Glastonbury in the quarterfinal round, will visit top-seeded and unbeaten Shelton, 120 Meadow Street; kickoff is at 6:30 pm. The Shelton Gaels advanced with a 40-20 win over West Haven.

The winner will play in the December 12 championship game against either No. 2 Darien or No. 3 Southington (time and location to be announced).

Newtown, competing in the South-West Conference, went 9-1 during the regular season, falling only to a New Fairfield team that has advanced to the Class M semifinals. Shelton, a Southern Connecticut Conference team, went 10-0. Both squads earned lopsided victories with regularity. The Nighthawks, including their win over Glastonbury, have outscored teams 400-102. Shelton, meanwhile, has outscored its 11 opponents 446-129.

Because of the rainy, slick conditions in the semifinal contest, Newtown kept the ball on the ground for 52 of the team’s 67 plays on offense. Jared Pearson rushed 16 times for 120 of Newtown’s 236 yards on the ground. Ethan Carpenter had four receptions for 70 yards; quarterback Justin Dunn completed eight of his 15 pass attempts, for 98 yards. All three of Newtown’s scores came via the ground attack as Ben Mason found the end zone twice, and Pearson also scored.

On defense, Tom Long had six solo tackles and assisted on another. Christian Morlock and Pearson both had four solo tackles, and Morlock assisted on two others and had a quarterback sack. Cormac Roe also had a sack. Sam Czel intercepted a pass, and Mike Doyle and Brandon Hensel recovered fumbles.