Huntington Herald

AYF Seahawks getting set for postseason play

Written by Staff
Wednesday, 26 October 2011 14:43

The Shelton Seahawk seventh-grade football team finished off its regular season with a dominating 36-7 victory over the Danbury Vikings Saturday at Perry Hill School.

Offensively on the ground, the ‘Hawks (6-2) were led by David Berritto (three carries, 55 yards, one touchdown), Jake Camerino (four carries for 47 yards, one touchdown), Matt Keklik (two carries for 43 yards, one rushing score, one receiving score) and Porter McKinnon (three carries for 27 yards).

Keklik would start the Seahawk scoring off for the afternoon with a 16-yard scramble into the end zone and Joe Zoppi would hit the first of his three extra points to put the Seahawks ahead 8-0.

On the next offensive series, quarterback David Wells (9-for-11, 85 yards, two touchdowns) would hit Keklik on a 16-yard slant pattern to increase the Seahawk lead to 16-0. After another Viking three-and-out, Shelton used a nice balance of passes and runs to march down the field and cap off the drive with a 11-yard scoring run by Camerino.

Rounding out the scoring in the first half, Berritto would take a handoff on a perfectly-blocked counter play by the Seahawks offensive line of Joe Ciliberti, Dan Barone, Nate Miller, Jon Sobotka and Robert Valeri to go 44 yards to the end zone. The ‘Hawks would take a 30-0 lead into halftime.

The ‘Hawks would then answer back with another score on a Wells’ pass to J.J. Lever (four catches for 30 yards) to increase the Shelton lead to 36-7.

Leading the way were Sobotka (six tackles), Valeri (five tackles), Miller (four tackles), Tim Schiffer, Matt Liscio, Tre Genova and Wells (three tackles each).

The Seahawks will try to keep their season alive when they face the Aspetuck Wildcats in the semifinals of the Colonial League playoffs this weekend.

Eighth-grade Seahawks

The Shelton Seahawk eighth-grade team (3-3) played valiantly against the vaunted Newtown Nighthawks (5-1) in a contest for the top seeds in the upcoming AYF Colonial League playoff picture.

The Seahawks seemed proof positive of playoff contention in their first drive of the game, after Jack Farrell’s opening kickoff return gave Shelton great field position at the 50.

Three first downs later, behind the running attack of tailback Kevin Robinson (12 carries for 152 yards) and fullback Cal Motasky (six carries, 50 yards), quarterback Zach Tuskowski threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Angus McNeil to strike first and stake Shelton to a 6-0 edge. The Nighthawks responded with a fast running game of their own, reaching the end zone nine plays later to even the score.

The end of the first half saw Newtown up by only six points, as both defenses played hard and forced turnovers.

Linebackers Steven Parravano and Peter Peng led the defensive charge with six tackles apiece, with help from Mike Celentano, Greg Rogalin, Farrell and Rafael Desousa.

Defensively, Motasky tackled as hard as he ran and Robinson had several hurries, batted balls and blocked an extra point.

Matt Zelanin and McNeil contained the edges, with support in the middle from interior linemen Marc-Anthony Ortiz, Greg Wojonarowski, Nick LaPietra, Curtis DeLima and Kyle Chrisky.

Cornerbacks Alexander Mills, Ryan Rockwell, Hunter Garrett and Kyle Bulkley did solid coverage work on the Newtown three-receiver sets to keep the score close most of the day.

Wideout Tommy Sweeney collected two crucial fourth-down, finger-tip circus catches to help the Seahawk offense control the majority of the clock in the first half of play.

The Seahawks entered the third quarter of play trailing by six points, but in giving up four quarterback sacks and an interception in the fourth quarter, Newtown was able to score two more times despite some great individual defensive play by Frank Mantero, Alex Ramos, Chris Kiely and Ryan Burke — who captured his sixth sack of the season.

The Seahawks will play the first-place Norwalk Packers (8-0) in the AYF Colonial League Championship semifinal round on the road next Sunday at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk.

The Shelton Seahawks also announced that AYF Shelton had been chosen to host the 2011 AYF state championship games at Shelton High on Sunday, Nov. 13.

Seahawk cheer

The Shelton Seahawk D10 and D12 cheer teams moved on to regionals.

On Sunday, Oct. 23, the Seahawks attended the Colonial Youth Cheer Championship Competition.

Towns also attending were Aspetuck, Monroe, Newtown, Norwalk and Danbury.

The squads that received first/second/third-place by meeting the required score advanced to regionals.

The Shelton Seahawk D10 squad took first place and Shelton Seahawk D12 squad placed second in its division to move on to the regionals, which are being held at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass., on Sunday, Nov. 27.

The Tiny Mites, Mitey Mites and D13 teams also performed well at the competition.

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