Freshman Gridders Blank Pomperaug

Newtown High School’s freshman football team improved to 5-1 with a 28-0 victory over visiting Pomperaug of Southbury on October 18.

Newtown scored on its first two possessions, as quarterback Matt Maturo (125 passing yards) connected on touchdowns passes of 15 yards to Nick Samuelson (who made a great back of the end zone grab), and 30 yards to Sam Czel.

Czel had a nifty 20-yard end-around run to set up the score. Andrew Svanda (65 rushing yards) led the ground attack behind the blocking of Brandon Hentzel.

Early in the third quarter, Mark Urso (three receptions) caught passes of 31 and 4 yards from Maturo, the latter for a touchdown. Ethan Carpenter took over the QB reigns in the fourth quarter, completing all three of his passes, including a 6 yard TD pass to John Del Rossi. Jake Couchene-Roy added two receptions for 25 yards. Ryan Shaw converted all four extra point kicks.

The defense was outstanding all day, as it posted its third shutout of the season. Tackle leaders were Michael Doyle, Bryan Kiley, and Christian Morlock. Matt Elias had several tackles from the safety position and defended two passes.  Not to be outdone, special teams members Chance McMahon and  Matt Elias recovered fumbles on consecutive punts in the fourth quarter to preserve the shutout.

 

SPORTS EDITOR’S NOTE: Please send your junior varsity and freshman team summaries, including final score and a few sentences highlighting top performers, via email to andyh@thebee.com. Deadline is noon on Tuesdays for publication consideration.