79ers

79ers 12, Bridgeport Chargers 12: Newtown Day kicked off at Treadwell Park with the 79ers taking on a tough and speedy Bridgeport Chargers team. The offensive line, led by Ben Carley, Julian Crone, Ava Foss, and Philip Cappelli, controlled the line of scrimmage. Taking advantage of the good blocking, quarterback James Iaropoli, and running backs Dylan Magazu and Anthony D’Amico all had good runs. The defense was equally ready for the challenge, with Newtown’s defensive line, led by Miles Capener, Richard Guman, and Richie Wilford, also dominating.

In the second quarter, Newtown struck first on a Magazu 40 yard touchdown run. Not to be outdone by the offense, the defense continued dominance with a sack in the Bridgeport backfield by D’Amico and a fumble recovery by Guman. Seizing the momentum, the Nighthawks executed and moved the ball down the field, featuring a fourth down 20 yard run by Iaropoli and a 15 yard touchdown run by running back Andrew Swierbut.

Down 12-0, Bridgeport stepped up its game and pulled to within 12-6 at the half. The second half was a battle and opened with hard hitting and great tackling by Newtown’s linebacker Walker Previdi, and  defensive end Guman. After Bridgeport’s offense stalled, Newtown took over on downs and drove down the field on a 50 yard fourth down run by Iaropoli, made possible by a key block by tight end Khalil Vessup. The drive came up short inside the Bridgeport 10 yard line.

Despite strong tackling by Guman, Magazu, Iaropoli, and Capener, the Chargers drove 90 yards and scored with 31 seconds remaining in the game. With tensions high and the score tied, the Nighthawks stopped the Chargers’ extra point attempt with a game-saving tackle by cornerback Michael Ihlefeld and linebacker Swierbut.

Grade 4

Newtown 6, Norwalk 0: In a battle of unbeatens, the Nighthawks sent an early message when Mathew Carpenter drilled the Norwalk return man on the opening kickoff. Newtown’s defense swarmed the ball on every Packer possession. The Nighthawks, led by Shaine Luzietti, Jack Street, Michael Haddick, CJ Demers, Jake Dandrea, Luke Hannan, William Wallace, Jeffrey Garrity, Mathew Carpenter, and Anthony Dorazio, dominated from start to finish. On Norwalk’s first possession safety Jeffrey Garrity ended the Packer drive with a huge hit on the Norwalk fullback just short of the first down marker.

Newtown’s defense created three turnovers. In the first half cornerback Jeffrey Garrity picked off a pass. Later in the half defensive lineman Trevor Jacozzi tore through the Packer offensive line and ripped the ball out of the quarterback’s hands as he was attempting to make a handoff. One of the key defensive plays of the day came when Michael Haddick picked off a pass deep in Newtown territory but on the return was stripped of the ball. Garrity was able to recover for the Nighthawks. Newtown’s offense was then able to drive down to the Packer 15 yard line on the run of the year. With momentum swinging back and forth, Newtown running back Shaine “Thunder” Luzietti took a handoff around the right side where he was met by a Packer linebacker. Luzietti sent the Norwalk linebacker packing and then continued to break tackles and drag tacklers for another 10 yards. Although Newtown’s offense couldn’t capitalize it pinned the Packer offense at their own 10 yard line and the Nighthawk defense pushed the Packers back to their own 5. Facing a fourth and 15 Norwalk opted to punt. Standing 5 yards deep in the end zone the Norwalk punter could not handle a low snap, and cornerback Jake Dandrea, blitzing from the end position, recovered the snap in the end zone for the winning touchdown.

Grade 6

Newtown 32, Norwalk 6: The sixth grade squad hosted the Norwalk Packers on Newtown Day and improved to 5-0. Team captains were Luke Melillo, Daniel Mason, Griffin Cross, and John Albanesi. Special teams set the tone for the day when Gren Paynter, assisted by a devastating block from Kyle Cascone, returned the opening kick-off 60 yards for a touchdown (Shea Talbot extra point was good). The next score in the game came from Mason plowing through Norwalk’s line for a 1 yard touchdown. The squad came out fired up for the second half. Melillo ran for 30 yards on a quarterback keeper, and Matthew Dubois sealed the deal with 10 yard touchdown run to make the score 20-0. Later in the third quarter, Cross scored on a 46 yard run making the score 26-0. Midway through the fourth quarter, Norwalk scored to prevent a shutout, but the Nighthawks answered immediately with a 58 yard strike from Melillo to Garrity for the final score in the game. The defense played great; Brandon Giglio, Talbot, Reed Hammond, Albanesi, Cascone, Ryan Berard, Brendan Smith, Patrick Hurley, Shane Demers, and Joseph Pagett all had impact plays.

Grade 7

Norwalk Gold 18, Newtown 8: The Nighthawks suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday at Treadwell Park on Newtown Day. The boys got off to a strong start after Josh Dunn recovered an onside kick at the start of the game. This set the Newtown offense up with a short field. Ryan Kost came out throwing and completed 25 yard pass to C.J. Shambelan and a 20 yard pass to Mark Hall that gave the Nighthawks a first and goal from the 1 yard line. From their, Simon Preston ran the ball into the end zone thanks to strong blocking provided by Justin Coelho. With the extra point Newtown took the early 8-0 lead.

The Newtown defense played well for the rest of the first quarter, including a pass interception by Ryan Kost. However, the Norwalk offense scored a touchdown in the second quarter. The extra point attempt was no good and Newtown took  an 8-6 lead into halftime.

The Norwalk team took the second half kickoff, and used a lateral across the field and would have scored a touchdown had it not been for the hard pursuit and tackling of Connor Marlin. The runback did set Norwalk up at the Newtown 25 yard line and Norwalk capitalized on the great field position to take the lead 12-8. The Newtown defense continued to be strong and produced a turnover when Tristan Crone recovered a fumble, but Norwalk added to its lead and held on.

Grade 8

Newtown 30, Norwalk 12: The Nighthawks closed out Newtown Day under the lights at Treadwell Park and improved to 4-1. Newtown went to the running game on the first possession, driving 80 yards behind the blocking of Jack Riley, Adam Bell, Mitchell Long, Willie Whitlock, Thomas Long, and Jack Phelps. Running backs Hunter Cobb, Mitchell Savoca, Ryan Marusi, and Joseph Accousti each picked up huge chunks of yardage to set up Newtown’s first score. With a first and goal from the 3 yard line, quarterback Patrick Conte, on a QB keeper, scored the game’s first touchdown. Norwalk answered quickly on the next possession to tie the game at 6-6.

The Nighthawks’ next score was set up by running Back Ryan Brello who broke several tackles at the line of scrimmage and picked up 30 yards before being brought down. Conte then went to the air, hitting receiver Mitchell Savoca on a screen pass and, behind the blocking of Sean Wallace, Mathew Krasnikas, Sam Pellicone, Jack Riley, and Stevie Macejko took it 25 yards to the house for Newtown’s second TD of the game. Savoca tacked on the 2 point kick to give Newtown a 14-6 lead.

Norwalk got within 14-12 with time winding down in the half. With under a minute to go in the half and facing a fourth and six from the Norwalk 45, Conte found Bobby Haskins who fought his way to the 20 yard line for a 25 yard reception. With time for only one play, Conte threw a deep fade to Savoca in the corner of the end zone for the Nighthawks third score of the night. Savoca tacked on the 2 point kick to give Newtown a 22-12 lead at the half.

With momentum on their side, the Nighthawk defenders took over in the second half, shutting out the Norwalk offense with great tackles by George Pagett, Accousti, Bell, Long, Phelps, and a touchdown saving tackle by Mathew Bucci.

Newtown’s last score was set up by a key fourth down play. Facing a fourth and 1 near midfield, Conte lined up to punt, took the snap and then hit Haskins for a 15 yard completion to give the Nighthawks a first down deep in Packer territory. After runs by Marusi and Accousti, Hunter Cobb took a handoff around the left end and outraced the defense for a 20 yard touchdown run. Savoca tacked on the 2 point kick.