By Matthew Kuruc

MONROE – The Newtown Pop Warner Football Junior Midgets started the pre- season off with a bang on Saturday, shutting out archrival Monroe, 19-0, at Wolfe Park in Monroe.

Thanks to the teamwork on defense and offense as well as tremendous blocking, Newtown rumbled into the end zone on three rushing touchdowns. Leading the team with superb blocking was Matt Jones, Ryan Pendergist, Mike Hadgraft, Mike Poeltl, Jake Woolf, and Brian Kuruc.

Kyle ‘OC’ O’Connor was able to spring loose on runs of 28, 85, and 40 yards each, all for TDs. Chipping in on the ground game, Kurt Nacewicz, Dana Hansen, Kevin ‘Legs’ Canavan, and Rob O’Donnell all contributed yardage to help the locals scoring effort.

Brian Reszoly caught the only reception of the game, a 10-yard pass for a first down from O’Connor.

Defensively, Newtown was unstoppable. The team effort forced four fumbles and one interception. Mark Scheunaman grabbed the lone interception and also recovered a fumble to lead the defense in turnover recoveries.

The Nighthawks shut down the Lion’s offensive attack led by O’Donnell and Keith ‘The Truck’ McGrath.

At left, Mark Scheunemann (21) of the Junior Midgets tries to break loose from a tackle during a scrimmage with Monroe. Jamie Vavrek (8) trails the play. At right, Andrew Cebry of the Junior Pee Wees is running free during scrimmage action against Trumbull.