79ers

Newtown 79ers Blue 13, Newtown 79ers Gold 6: Inaugurating the Newtown Youth Football & Cheer’s fifth annual Newtown Day this past Sunday, the 79er Blue team came head to head against its sister team, the Newtown 79er Gold. Winning the coin toss and accepting to receive the ball, the 79er Blue offensive line showcased an unprecedented drive down field for a quick touchdown. Stellar performance by Luke Wellman, Jack Stenz, Kyle Good, and Brett Pierce providing key blocks led to a safe passageway for the teams quarterback, Connor Moran. Fully energized and wanting to maintain their 6-0 lead, the 79er Blue defensive line held their ground, making some unbelievable backfield tackles against the 79er Gold team, one by Aidan Finnegan yielding almost a 15-yard loss for the Gold team. There was a great interception attempt by 79er Blue player Jared Dunn on foiling a 79er Gold pass play that could have ended up as a touchdown for the Gold team.

Determined to win, the 79er Blue offensive line drove the ball far into Gold’s territory ending with a second touchdown carried in by Shane Luzietti late in the third quarter giving the Blue team a 13-0 lead. Impressive performance from Matt Heinlein, Will Archiere, Stephen Sedensky, Sean O’Sullivan, Ryan Chieffo, and Gus Coffey for only giving up one touchdown to the 79er Gold team.

Grade 5

Newtown Nighthawks 7, Bethel Bobcats 0: The fifth grade boys were buzzing as they took the field on Newtown Day. In the first quarter, Ryan Kost got through the Bethel secondary with big pass plays to CJ Shambelan and Kyle Roche. It wasn’t until late in the second quarter when Chris Faxon and Connor Marlin parted the Bethel defense providing a hole for David Daria to break into the secondary at a full clip for a 70-yard touchdown run. Newtown made the extra point for the 7-0 lead. The next Bethel drive was cut short by a Shane Gupta interception. Late in the fourth quarter, Bethel did move into the red zone, but big plays by Will Stenz and Cayden Dunn helped keep Bethel out of the end zone. The game ended with a drive led by the running of Josh Dunn that shaved time off the clock.

Norwalk Ravens 19, Nighthawks 0 (result from previous week): Fall was in the air as the Fifth Grade Nighthawks traveled to Norwalk to take on the Ravens. Josh Dunn started the game with a great kick off return, setting Newtown up on the Norwalk 44. The offense was not able to capitalize and Norwalk took over on its own 34. On the first defensive series it looked like the defense might hold when Andrew Deluca made a big tackle for a loss setting up a fourth and long, but subsequent big plays by Norwalk resulted in a touchdown making the score 7-0. For the remainder of the first half, the field seemed to tilt to Norwalk’s advantage, allowing them to score one more time, making the score 13-0.

Newtown came out it the second half and tried to recapture the momentum when Simon Preston made a big tackle for a loss. Norwalk was forced to punt and Josh Dunn had a great return, set up by a block by Mark Hall. On the next series, Ryan Kost was given some time and completed passes to Nick Weiland and Josh Dunn. Once again, the Norwalk defense found a way to stop Newtown’s efforts and ended the drive with no points scored. In the fourth quarter Norwalk made another big play resulting in a touchdown bringing the score to 19-0. The boys never gave up their fight and, in spite of tremendous pressure from multiple blitzes, Ryan Kost and the Newtown offense moved the ball down the field one last time but came up short again.

Grade 6

Newtown Nighthawks 24, Bethel Bobcats 0: The undefeated sixth grade Nighthawks beat the Bethel Bobcats. Early in the game, tackles by Joe Accousti and Ben Mason led to a quick turnover on downs, but despite a first-down run by Mitchell Savoca, the Nighthawks also turned the ball over. Back on defense, Mitchell Long, Adam Bell, and Justin Dunn made key tackles, then Scott Bauer and Alex Morganti stopped the Bobcats at the line of scrimmage for another turnover on downs. In the second quarter, first-down runs by Justin Dunn and Bobby Haskins put the Nighthawks close to the end zone, and Steven Moccio caught a touchdown pass from Nevin Zink. After tackles by Edward Lovely, Ryan Norton, and Matthew Bucci shut down the Bobcats offense, the Bobcats opted to punt, but the kicker fumbled the ball and was tackled by John Pierce in the end zone, setting up a touchdown run by Savoca. The half ended with a tackle by Patrick Conte behind the line of scrimmage, and additional stops by Haskins, Bell and Mason.

As the third quarter opened, the Bobcats had the ball but were stopped by Mason, Long, and Bauer. Zink ran 55 yards for a touchdown on a quarterback keeper. The Bobcats attempted several passing plays, but two were broken up by Bucci and Moccio, and a tackle by Matthew Krasnickas forced another turnover. Near the end of the game, Savoca ran for a first down, a handoff to Will Whitlock gave the Nighthawks a short gain, and Justin Dunn threw a pass to Moccio for a touchdown.

Grade 7

Newtown 40, Bethel 7: The young Hawks played under the lights as the final act of Newtown Day, and they did not disappoint with a convincing victory over Bethel. The defense intercepted five passes (one for a touchdown), while the offense saw seven different players carry the ball, with four of them crossing the goal line. Newtown’s first defensive series ended with a blocked punt by Jared Pearson, while the second series saw cornerback Steven Faxlanger pick off a pass in the flat and return it 20 yards for the score. On Bethel’s third possession, safety Ethan Carpenter played the cover-2 perfectly, intercepting a fly route and returning the ball 30 yards. A few plays later, Pearson punched it in from the one for a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was a mirror of the first, as cornerback Michael Doyle and Carpenter each had interceptions. One subsequent offensive series featured runs of 14 yards by Andrew Svanda and 17 yards by Chris Blanco before Blanco scored on a six-yard dash. The next series again had runs of 10-plus yards by Svanda and Blanco, setting up a one-yard plunge by James Accousti and a comfortable 26-0 halftime lead.

Big blocks on the drives were provided by Michael Roche, Gordon Walsh, Matt Carino, Nico Janiak, and RJ Oliveira. Offensive highlights in the third quarter included first down runs of 11 and 9 yards by Faxlanger, but Newtown was kept off the scoreboard. Defensively, key plays were made by Matt Davis, Greg Harrison, Justin Apply, and Nick Bourgeois. The Hawks’ first possession of the fourth quarter dusted off the passing game, as Matt Maturo connected with Doyle and Pearson on consecutive 14-yard completions, the latter for a touchdown. Newtown’s final score of the day was set up by Carpenter’s third interception, which was returned 35 yards. Svanda bulled his way in from the one with less than a minute remaining to cap off a perfect day for the Newtown program.

Grade 8

Newtown 22, Ridgefield 8: In a battle of undefeated teams, the young Nighthawks came out on top. The Hawks went on top in the second quarter on a four-yard toss to Julian Dunn. Ridgefield countered on their first drive in the second half to go up 8-6. Newtown responded with a touchdown on a 55-yard drive capped off on a 24-yard run by Colton Smith to put the Nighthawks up 14-8. The final score came on a 55-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Troy Frangione with four minutes left in the game. Dunn kicked two of three PATs.

Overall, Newtown outgained Ridgefield 238 yards to 130 with 140 yards on the ground and 98 through the air. Smith, Dunn, Nick Lotrecchiano, Rat Rubino, and Tim Krapf shared the running duties on 26 carries for the 140 yards. Smith was 9-for-11 passing with Will Dalton, Dunn, Krapf, Frangione, and Lotrecchiano all on the receiving end. Dunn had three receptions for 30 yards with Frangione two for 60 yards.

Defensively, the young Hawks were led by Griffin Davis and Smith with five tackles each, followed by Pete Manfredonia at four and Krapf and Rubino chipping in with three each. Lotrecchiano, Jaret DeVellis, Jake Lambert, and Markus Elken added two, and Dalton and Jack O’Brien with one stop each. Krapf caused a fumble and recovery early in the fourth quarter. Dunn also recovered a fumble to stop another scoring threat. The  team now starts its playoff run against the No. 4 team in the CVL West Division, the 5-2 Bridgeport Chargers, at Taylor Field behind Hawley School this Sunday at noon.