SIXTH GRADE

Newtown 19, Ansonia 0

Matt Lindell (61 yards), Cooper Gold (52 yards) and Drew Tarantino (5 yards) rushed for touchdowns as the Newtown sixth-grade football team blanked Ansonia, 19-0, last Sunday to improve to 6-1-0 in Candlewood Valley League action.

Lots of players got involved on the offensive side of the ball this game, though, as Brian Gregory and Austin “Stick” Babyak contributed with tough interior runs and Mike Davis came up with a crucial 15-yard pass in Newtown’s first scoring drive.

The defense was no less impressive in pitching the shutout. Patrick Afryie stood out again with his interior line play and a blocked punt, while DT Cameron Weibel contributed with a fumble recovery. Chase Wurtz and Jack Lago stepped up big at the corners to contain Ansonia’s outside runs and each came up with an interception, while the linebacking core of Connor Noonan, Jimmy Leidlein, Matt White and Cooper Gold shut down the inside runs.

Soon after the defense forced Ansonia to give up the ball on downs in the first period at their own 25, Tarantino connected with Davis on a 15-yard completion to get the ball down to the five. From there, Tarantino snuck in for the score and then tossed the conversion to Wurtz to give Newtown a 7-0 lead.

A chance to add to the lead went by the wayside as a 75-yard touchdown run by Gold was waved off due to a blocking penalty.

Early in the second half, though, the locals found themselves back in the end zone. Jack Lago intercepted an Ansonia pass at the Newtown 39 and on the next play from scrimmage, Lindell broke through the line and scampered 61 yards for the TD with Pat Carrello, Ben Payne, Ty Runkle, Grant Shaw, Liam Kilmurray, Reilly Cross, and Cameron Weibel providing the blocking up front.

After the ensuing kickoff, the tenacious Newtown D stepped up again, this time with Wurtz picking off an Ansonia pass at the Newtown 40. The offense went right to work, with Gold running for eight yards on the first play from scrimmage then breaking off the right side for a 52 yard TD run that put Newtown up 19-0.

The defense closed out the game by holding Ansonia on their next two possessions, including a blocked punt by Afryie.

Hudson Valley is next up for Newtown in the last regular season game.

TEAM      W-L

Ridgefield Orange  7-0-0

Newtown                6-1-0

Aspetuck 5-1-1

Ridgefield Black     5-2-0

Southern Dutchess Green      4-2-1

Norwalk Raiders     4-3-0

Hudson Valley        4-3-0

Bethel     3-3-1

Norwalk Devils      3-4-0

Ansonia   2-5-0

Mahopac 2-5-0

Monroe   1-5-1

Bridgeport               1-7-0

Southern Dutchess White      0-7-0

FIFTH GRADE

Newtown 43, S. Dutchess 19

If there were any questions about who was the best – and deepest – fifth grade team in the Candlewood Valley League, Newtown answered them emphatically.

With 11 different players getting a chance to carry the potato and seven of ‘em reaching the end zone (amassing more than 343 rushing yards, 14.3 per carry, in the process) the Nighthawks improved to 7-0 with a 43-19 pounding of Souther Dutchess last weekend.

Although the running backs often take the limelight, it is the incredible offensive line play each and every week that allows it all to happen. Stephen Grasso, Griffin Davis, Eric Street, Jake Lambert, Eric Cascone, Connor Roche, Kevin Conte, Nick “Rat” Rubino, Ryan “Monster” Szalay, Harry Duffy, Michael “The Hammer” Cirone and Aidan Petershack each blasted monstrous holes in the SD defense to allow the speedy Newtown offense to move down the field at will all afternoon.

Colton Smith led all rushers with 139 yards on just three carries, scoring twice (one TD as QB on a triple option run for 68 yards and the other on a 38-yard jolt up the middle). Jaret DeVellis demonstrated both speed and power as he put himself on the stat sheet with a 58-yard burst up the middle for another Newtown TD.

Fullbacks Bubba Condon and Max Rucinski each added touchdowns as they rumbled through the middle while, finally, rookie backs Will Dalton and Rubino closed out the scoring frenzy with a touchdown and an extra point.

Jonathan Sherman, Nolan Fisher, Chris Koch, Aaron Beckett, Shane Quimby and Nick Lotrecchiano rounded out the ground game for the Hawks combining for another 84 rushing yards. Connor Roche caught the lone pass of the day for a 31-yard completion and what appeared to be another Hawk score, but Roche was marked out of bounds at the SD one foot line.

Meanwhile, the defense picked off three Southern Dutchess passes (giving the locals an unbelievable 13 INTs on the season), caused two fumbles and literally pummeled the SD backs from the opening whistle.

On the opening series Lotrecchiano made the defensive play of the day as he picked off a SD pass at the Newtown two and dashed 98 yards for his second defensive TD of the year.

Troy Frangione had an incredible day at the corner back position, registering three tackles and intercepting two more SD passes while Tim Krapf continued to dominate at the defensive end position and lead all individual defensemen with four tackles.

Ryan Sullivan and Logan Walsh each had 3.5 tackles while Bubba Condon, Max Rucinski and Colton Smith all had three. Matt “Stretch” Bouton had 2.5 tackles and Harry Duffy, Sullivan, Kyle Mangold and Jacob “Boots” Burden added a pair each.

Duffy also added a fumble recovery to his efforts on the day.

Both Markus Elkin and Connor Roche each had a big sack stopping the SD offense on a couple of critical drives and, finally, Aiden Petershack and Sullivan combined on the hit of the day filling hard from the middle linebacker positions and delivering a bone crushing tackle on fourth and short.

The undefeated Hawks will travel to Ansonia on Saturday with hopes of keeping their two-year undefeated streak alive and head into the CVL playoffs with a strategic home field advantage.

TEAM      W-L

Newtown                7-0-0

Norwalk Jaguars     6-1-0

Monroe   5-2-0

Bethel     4-2-1

Aspetuck 4-3-0

Southern Dutchess 3-3-1

Norwalk Dolphins  3-3-1

Ridgefield Orange  3-4-0

Ridgefield Black     2-5-0

Mahopac 2-5-0

Ansonia   1-5-1

Hudson Valley        0-7-0

FOURTH GRADE

Newtown 13, Ansonia 0

The Newtown fourth-grade football team used a ball control offense and suffocating defense to defeat a tough Ansonia team, 13-0, on Sunday at Hawley School.

The Nighthawks gained 120 yards on the ground and another 30 in the air, but the defense limited Ansonia to only 61 total yards enroute to Newtown’s second consecutive shutout.

The 5-0-1 Hawks have outscored their opponents 132-26 this season.

Newtown moved the ball fairly well in the first half, including an 11-play, clock-eating drive. But the locals were unable to get into the end zone. Joey Santella (6 carries for 29 yards and a TD) carried the workload with runs of 12, 7, and 5 yards behind the blocking of Gordon Walsh, Nick Samuelson, and John Delrossi.

Out of the shotgun, Michael Doyle completed a sharp pass between two defenders to tight end Matt Maturo.

On its second possession of the third quarter, Newtown started at the Ansonia 47 and used an eight-play drive to get the first score of the day. Runs of 10 and 9 yards by the speedy Devin Luzetti (13 carries for 58 yards) set up a one-yard blast by Santella that was made possible by the key blocking of linemen Andrew Svanda, Jaxon Mills, and Dakota Ashby.

Newtown pinned Ansonia deep in its own territory early in the fourth quarter and then, after the change of possession, workhorse Jared Pearson (7 carries for 19 yards and a TD) carried five consecutive times for 16 yards.

After the fourth down try was just short, the defense (which yielded no first downs in the second half) was able to push Ansonia back 11 yards on the next possession. Blitzes by Luzetti (8 tackles), Doyle (6 tackles), Pearson (3 tackles), and Santella (7 tackles) led the way.

Newtown took over on downs at the Ansonia 10 and punched it in on the second play, a two-yard blast by Pearson who followed the drive blocking of Ryan Shaw, Greg Harrison and Mike Roche. Luzetti scored the extra point.

Maturo hit wide receiver Matt Elias on a 25-yard fly pattern deep down the left sideline in the waning moments of the game.

Throughout the game, the defense was able to bottle up Ansonia behind the hard hitting of Colin Theis (6 tackles, fumble recovery), Steve Faxlanger (3 tackles, fumble recovery), James Frazetta and Jim Payne.

Newtown takes on Aspetuck next Sunday at 12 noon in Weston.

TEAM      W-L

Ridgefield               6-0-1

Newtown                5-0-1

Bridgeport               5-1-0

Norwalk Ravens     5-2-0

Ansonia   2-4-0

Aspetuck 1-4-1

Bethel     1-4-1

Southern Dutchess 0-5-1

Hudson Valley        0-5-1

79ERS BLUE

Newtown 20, Hudson Valley 6

Talk about a quick strike.

It took just a few plays from scrimmage, combined, for Newtown to score two touchdowns enroute to a 20-6 win over Hudson Valley last week that enabled the locals to improve to 5-2 on the season.

Nick Genovese scampered 64 yards on the first play to put Newtown ahead, 6-0, and after the Hudson Valley offense was held tight on their its possession by strong defense of line work led by Mitchell Long, Calvin Savoia, A.J. Salaris and William Stentz, Newtown scored again on a 60-yard run by Peyton Manning.

With a quick pass reception from quarterback Justin “Bone” Dunn, Bobbie Haskins got the extra point. 13-0.

Thanks to the stellar defense of Ryan Marusi and Haskins at defensive end, and an unbelievable tackle by Dunn, the 79ers shut down the Hudson Valley offense for the remainder of the first half.

Newtown started the second half with front men Long, Matt Davis, Jack Wellman and Sam Pellicone continuously opening large holes on the offensive line. With a quarterback keeper, Dunn ran in for another touchdown and a 20-0 Newtown lead.

Hudson Valley answered back, but the locals blocked the extra point.

Tommy Kitzmiller had a strong game at cornerback and Tim Febbraio had some nice tackles to spark the defense. Late in the game, Scotty Bauer made a key stop at the goal line to keep Hudson Valley out of the end zone.

All day long there was aggressive blocking on the offensive line led by Scotty Bauer, Joshua Dunn, CJ Shambelan and Doug Carriero.

The locals will take on Ridgefield Orange this weekend.