By Matt Kuruc

The Newtown Pop Warner Junior Midgets suffered a premature end to their impressive season as a result of Saturday’s loss to a tough Pomperaug team.

Battling frigid temperatures and a highly skilled opponent, Newtown impressively matched wits with Pomperaug. This, however, could not prevent one touchdown by the Warriors that sealed the victory.

Newtown started off the game by trading interceptions with the Warriors. After Newtown had tossed up a turnover, Kevin Canavan regained possession of the ball with an astounding, high-flying interception. From there, quarterback Kyle O’Connor and fullback Zach Dent tried to create a drive for Newtown, but were denied and forced to punt.

Defensively, O’Connor, Tory Deakin, Mike Hadgraft, Tyler Davenport, Brian Rezoly, Matt Taylor, AJ Ritchie, Brian Kuruc, and Tim Wilmott all played solid contributing with strong tackles, while Dana Hansen and Dent finished Pomperaug’s drive with a quarterback sack on fourth and four.

Rob O’Donnell also stopped a Warrior drive by picking up a fumble and gained three yards for Newtown.

The lone Pomperaug touchdown came in the second quarter after a long and productive Warrior drive. Mike Poeltl blocked the PAT kick to keep the score at 6-0.

O’Connor (15 carries, 67 yards on the day) and Kurt Nacewicz (8-for-31) held the bulk of the running responsibilities for the day, but strong running contributions from Nick Tarantino, Jamie Vavrek, and Canavan all made the difference in keeping Newtown’s drives alive and keeping the score close.

In the trenches, Dakota Christiano, Louis Raab, Mike Mouchantat, Collin Gage and Jake Woolf all had successful days, recording numerous pancake hits and creating gargantuan holes for the running backs to go through. Matt Jones, Brendan Blawie, Dylan Huebner, Jeremy Schaniel, Tucker Schmidt, Kevin Brown and Ryan Pendergist all contributed to the awesome effort of the locals.

Pat Deakin served as head coach with the assistance of Steve Hansen, Brian Halapin, Jeff Hadgraft, and Mark Poeltl.

Kevin Canavan, right, fights for the ball on this pass play during the Newtown Pop Warner Junior Midgets’ loss to Pomperaug. - Photo courtesy of Steve Taylor