Nighthawk Football Team Topples Wave To Retain Hold On Boot Trophy

By Andy Hutchison

Some familiar scoring weapons and a new offensive leader came together to lift the Newtown High School football team to victory in game marked by tradition. The Nighthawks topped visiting New Milford 37-14 at Blue & Gold Stadium on October 14 to retain their hold on the Boot Trophy. Given to the winner of this matchup every time the South-West Conference rivals clash, the trophy stays in the hands of the Nighthawks following the first contest between the teams since 2009.

Newtown sophomore quarterback Drew Tarantino made his first varsity start and helped the Hawks bounce back from their first loss, at Pomperaug in Southbury the week before, to improve to 4-1. New Milford, meanwhile, fell to 2-3.

“It feels real good. It was a tough week of practice this week and the kids were a little bit anxious I think — very upset about the loss. And with the way they came out and played tonight I was real proud of them because I feel like they forgot about it and moved on,” Newtown Coach Steve George said.

Newtown had to wait a little longer than expected to officially move on as the opening kickoff was delayed about a half hour because of lightning. It sprinkled – mostly lightly – at times during the game but it was the Nighthawks who poured it on.

The Hawks did most of their damage in the first half behind the efforts of Tarantino, senior running back Louis Fenaroli, and junior wide receiver Dan Hebert. Newtown built a 34-0 lead and yielded only one first down until a late second-quarter scoring drive by the Green Wave.

It appeared that New Milford might score on its opening drive but, following a combined quarterback sack effort by Cory Fisher and Mike Lord, Hebert intercepted Wave QB Connor Shanahan’s pass at the Newtown 35. On third down and 17, Tarantino hit a wide open defensive back-turned-wide receiver Hebert for a 46-yard gain to the Wave nine yard line. Soon thereafter Fenaroli somehow broke away from multiple tacklers, in the backfield, and found the end zone from five yards out for a 7-0 NHS lead with 5:39 to play in the first quarter.

Tarantino hooked up with Hebert for a 46-yard touchdown pass play to make it 14-0 with 3:18 left in the opening quarter.

In the second, Hebert was on offense when it looked as if he was playing his defensive back position by wrestling the ball away from a New Milford defender during what turned into a 61-yard “offensive interception” catch and run down to the visitor’s five. On the next play, Fenaroli punched it in for six more points, and Jake Tolson’s extra point made it 21-0 NHS with 9:29 to play before halftime.

A 43-yard Tarantino-to-Hebert pass play set up Andrew Cebry’s seven-yard run into the paint for a 27-0 cushion. A bobble on the extra point snap resulted in a failed kick. Fenaroli capped the first-half scoring by breaking free for a 36-yard TD run with 4:21 to play.

“It was our best first half of football that we’ve played all year. We put everything together. We had a good running game, we had a good passing game. Lou played well, Drew Tarantino played well, Dan Hebert played well,” George said.

A big part of the success was the Tarantino-to-Hebert combo. “We obviously connected pretty well. It was just really, really exciting that we got that early on,” said Hebert, alluding to the first big offensive play, his 46-yard reception, which set up the first score, and set the tone for the first half.

The Wave scored late in the first half and appeared to gain some life early in the third by cashing in on a turnover for seven more points to close to within 34-14. Newtown fumbled the ball away and gave the Wave some free yardage on a personal foul penalty to make things interesting late in the third. With the Wave knocking on the door, Newtown’s Justin DeVellis thwarted the opposing team’s drive with an interception inside the NHS five yard line.

“We had a comfortable lead so we tried to get some other kids into the game and things started to change pretty quick, so we had to just go back to our ground game and make sure we finished out the clock,” George said.

In the fourth, the teams traded miscues on punt returns. Newtown lost a chance for possession when, during a New Milford punt, the ball glanced off of Hebert and the Wave recovered. After Newtown’s Hunter Bassett sacked Shanahan the Hawks got the ball back, but were also forced to punt. The New Milford punt return player mishandled the ball and Newtown’s Erik Samuelson pounced on it at the Wave 39. Two plays later Fenaroli scampered 33 yards to set up Tolson’s 22-yard field goal to complete the scoring with 3:38 to play.

Newtown’s Josh Villa, who had several big carries, also contributed on defense and intercepted a pass in the waning minutes, allowing NHS to run out the clock and celebrate the win.

Fenaroli finished with 20 carries for 184 yards and three scores. Tarantino completed six of ten passes for 228 yards, and Hebert caught six passes for 210 yards. Cebry and Jack Kearny both had four tackles; Lord compiled seven tackles; Hunter Bassett had five tackles and a sack; Fisher had four tackles; Collin Gage tackled Shanahan twice and; and Samuelson add a pair of tackles.

Tarantino got onto the field late in the Pomperaug game and promptly drove the Hawks downfield and into the end zone, helping him take over the starting job. “It felt really good. It was a real good win for us,” Tarantino said. “The first drive — that let out a lot of jitters.”

George says he likes what he sees in Tarantino because, “he moves around the pocket real well and finds receivers. So once he gets pressured he’s able to move around the pocket and keep his eyes downfield.”

The Nighthawks caught a bit of a break when Bunnell of Stratford defeated Pomperaug, possibly opening the door for Newtown to work its way back into the South-West Conference title game. Newtown will have to keep winning, and will have a shot at Bunnell later in the year, as the team hopes to stay in the conference and state playoff mix.

The Nighthawks will celebrate Homecoming Night on Friday, October 21, when Stratford visits for a 7 pm kickoff.