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09/04/2015 12:00 AMThe North Haven Youth Football season got underway two weeks ago with the Indians claiming victory in three of their four contests. North Haven’s 8th-grade team defeated Newtown Blue 28-20, the 6th-graders upended Wallingford 8-0, and the 4th-grade club blanked Shelton 18-0. The Indians’ 7th-graders took a 19-8 defeat to Cheshire and the 5th-grade squad lost to Guilford 25-8.
In the 8th-graders’ 28-20 win over Newtown, Luke Maruca anchored the offensive line, while the passing and hard running of Jeff Williston helped the Indians to four hard-fought touchdowns. Jaden Watson, Ethan Okwuosa, Justin White, and Williston all scored for North Haven. lphonse Piscitelli kicked two extra points. On defense, Matt Mullen and Joseph Ranciato led the charge up front, while Joe Vitale played well at middle linebacker. Joe Urtel and Noah Perillie also made several big plays on defense. Ethan Okwuosa had a late-game interception to seal the victory.
The 7th-grade Indians lost a tough battle to a physical Cheshire team, 19-8. North Haven was only down 7-0 at halftime and kept it close with excellent defensive play by Chris Bracalli, Sean Sullivan, Anthony Vigliotti, Ryan Ziaks, and Patrick Lilis. James Loda added an interception and Sean Fenton had a fumble recovery. Offensively, the Indians score came on a 43-yard pass from Matt Gargano to Damian Carano and Lillis booted the two-point extra point. Tyler Callanhan added a nice 11-yard reception from Gino Schiavo and Teray Smart had a 25-yard scamper to help the Indians maintain a drive.
North Haven’s 6th-graders shut out Wallingford 8-0. Michael Bachmann scored on a 3-yard TD in the second quarter for the game’s lone touchdown. The stingy Indians’ defense allowed just five first downs all day and capped the scoring with a safety by Bachmann in the third quarter.
For the Indians’ 5th-grade team, it took a 25-8 home loss to Guilford. North Haven struggled to get the ground game going and had a tough time stopping Guilford’s ground attack. Bright spots for North Haven included a 10-yard touchdown pass from Dante Valez to Sal DeMaio and a perfectly executed two-point conversion kick from snapper Tyler Harger, holder Valez, and kicker Declan Finkle. Jeffrey Karavas, Bennett DellaValle, Joey Iamunno, and Nick Magro all played well for the Indians.
North Haven’s 4th-grade squad started its season by shutting out Shelton 18-0. The offense was led by Adam Pandolfi, who had two touchdown runs of more than 50 yards. Conner Rapuano added another long touchdown run in the third quarter to close out the scoring. The defense shut down Shelton and was led by Cameron Carrano with two sacks, plus Ryan Bernardo, and Brendan Ryan.
Information courtesy of Ed Tantorski