Nighthawk Football Team Wins Game, Loses Standout Player, Prepares For Masuk

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s football team rolled over the competition yet again. The Nighthawks shook off a Superstorm Sandy-caused slow start to pile on five second-quarter touchdowns en route to an easy 42-8 trouncing of visiting Bunnell of Stratford (2-6) at Blue & Gold Stadium on November 9.

It was Newtown’s eighth win in as many games, another blowout in a season full of lopsided triumphs for the likely South-West Conference championship-bound Hawks. Unfortunately for the Hawks, they lost do-it-all player Dan Hebert to an apparent arm injury. Hebert went down while defending a play in the second quarter and walked off the field holding his arm. He didn’t return to the playing field, but Coach Steve George and Hebert’s teammates remained optimistic, immediately after the game, that their senior captain could return this campaign. There was no word on his status in the days following the game.

“I have a feeling he’ll be around,” Newtown Coach Steve George said after the win. “I don’t think it’s a season-ending injury.”

Hebert is a wide receiver, kick returner, and cornerback. He also takes handoffs and can catch the defense off guard by becoming a running back turned quarterback, throwing the ball downfield at any given time when a trick play is called.

“We have a lot of other good players. We just use Danny a lot, in every single way, so we’ll just have to go to other players” if Hebert can’t play, George said.

While George remained hopeful that Hebert would be back in the mix, he knows his Hawks have plenty of other weapons, including running back Cooper Gold and receivers Julian Dunn and Justin Devellis. “It’s going to take a lot from these other kids in order to make up for what Dan has, but I think they have it in them,” George said.

Newtown, with its win over Bunnell, kept its SWC title game hopes alive heading into a Wednesday, November 14, makeup game with Immaculate of Danbury at 7 pm at Blue & Gold Stadium. The game was originally scheduled for November 3 but was put on hold because of the cancellation of school resulting from the storm.

If Newtown beats winless Immaculate and Masuk of Monroe defeats Weston on November 16, the scheduled regular season finale between Newtown and Masuk, set for Thanksgiving Eve, November 21, at 7 pm at Blue & Gold, will become the SWC title game for the third year in a row. Masuk defeated NHS for the title in each of the past two campaigns.

“It’s big every year,” George said of the annual clash with Masuk. “No matter what the records are you can just throw them out and, at this point, I think we’ll both be playing for something big. We’ll be both playing to get into the state playoffs and we’ll both be playing for that SWC championship.

“It’s a big game every year and hopefully this is our year. We’re going to prepare the kids as best we can and work as hard as we can to get a win.”

“I think we’ll be well-prepared and looking forward to the challenge,” Newtown quarterback Drew Tarantino added.

The Nighthawks, coming off week layoff from practices, and two weeks removed from game action because of the aftermath of Sandy, were held scoreless in an opening quarter of the Bunnell game.

They more than made up for it with a wild outburst in the second. Things actually got started late in the first as Tarantino hooked up with Hebert on a 45-yard pass and catch on the last play of the quarter. Two plays later, Cooper Gold’s three-yard touchdown run with 11:19 to play in the half got Newtown off and running.

Dunn caught a 54-yard TD pass to extend the lead with 7:08 left, and Devellis got into the end zone on a 17-yard screen pass play for a 21-0 cushion with 4:04 to play.

Chris Devaney’s acrobatic one-handed catch, good for 26 yards, set up an eight-yard screen pass from Tarantino to Devellis for a four-touchdown bulge with 2:17 to go in the half.

The Hawks weren’t done. On fourth and 19 yards to go at the 20 yard line, Tarantino connected with Dunn who, with help from a few of his pile-pushing teammates, forced the Bunnell defense backwards as he got all the way into the end zone for another score, this one coming with just one second left before the intermission.

“We were a little bit sluggish early on in the game, having not played for two weeks. But I think we started putting it together at the end of the first quarter,” George said.

Newtown’s always strong defense made a goal line stand to keep the shutout going late in the third quarter. Bunnell’s first points came on a safety when the Nighthawks had to fall on the ball in the paint following a bad snap on the ensuing backs-against-the-end zone drive.

Wyatt Depuy’s interception led to Gold’s second three-yard TD run of the night to cap off the NHS scoring with 4:53 to play in the fourth. Bunnell got a last-second TD and walked off the field without bothering with the point after attempt.

Tarantino completed 10 of 15 pass attempts for 214 yards. Dunn had four receptions for 101 yards. Gold rushed 23 times for 93 yards.

Tim Krapf led the defense with nine tackles, Pat Thornberg had seven, Josh Villa and Chris Devaney both had six, and Jimmy Leidlein and Josh Krapf each had five. Kicker Christian Mather was six for six on point after attempts.