Gold Rallies Past Blue in Annual Scrimmage

A late fourth quarter touchdown propelled the Gold team past the Blue squad 18-12, during the Nighthawks' annual Blue Versus Gold spring football scrimmage at Treadwell Park on Monday.

With the score knotted at 12, and a little more than eight minutes remaining in the game, sophomore quarterback Dan Hebert led a 9-play, 93-yard drive, which ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Colby Summerlin to give Gold the lead.  

The highlight of the drive was a 64-yard run by Hebert, who cut and darted his way down to the opponent's 5-yard line.

"The offense was blocking great all day," said Hebert, who finished the game with 135 yards rushing on 14 carries. "We had run that play before, and we knew we could be successful. I just had to wait for my blockers to lock on to their defenders, and once I cut back the receivers did a great of blocking their men downfield."

From there, Gold needed just two plays to get into the end zone.

On second-and-goal from the blue's 5-yard line, Hebert rolled right and lofted a pass, which was tipped by two defenders before being caught by a diving Summerlin for a touchdown.

"I was actually throwing to (tight end) Matt Datin," Hebert said. "But the ball slipped right when I released it, and went shorter than I wanted. It ended up being batted around by a couple of defenders, and then Colby (Summerlin) made a great diving catch."

In the first quarter, Hebert and Summerlin also connected on a 59-yard touchdown, which after Rory Noonan kicked an extra point, put Gold up 7-0.

But Blue came roaring back on the next play.

Led by quarterback Will Arndt, who passed for 216 yards and two touchdowns, Blue responded with a 7-play, 80-yard drive, which was capped off by a 6-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Korth.

But then on Blue's next possession, with the ball deep in their own territory, the ball was snapped high over Arndt's head and into the back of the end zone for a safety, giving Gold a 9-6 lead.

Blue again found a way to rally back.

Starting at its own 47-yard line, with a litle more than a minute left in the first half, Blue went on a 3-play, 57-yard drive, which ended in a 27-yard touchdown pass from Arndt to Korth, their second of the game, and gave Blue a 12-9 lead heading into halftime.

Down 9-12, Gold came out on fire in the second half, outscoring Blue 9-0, including a 25-yard field goal by Noonan in the third quarter and the game-winning touchdown catch by Summerlin.

Although there are still a few months until the regular season begins, Newtown Coach Steve George highlighted the game's importance.

"It's nice to have this because instead of watching 11 guys out on the field, we get to put 22 guys on the field," he said. "It gives players, who normally might not see a lot of playing time, (a chance) to really show what they can do. It gives them a chance to earn a spot for the fall."

Newtown's first game of the season is scheduled for September 16 against Brookfield.

Editor's note: Anyone take photos of this game? If so, please feel free to add it to this story or e-mail them to hoa@patch.com