North Haven Youth Football Eighth-Grade Team Reaches Shoreline Conference Finals

The North Haven Youth Football eighth-grade team reached the Shoreline Youth Football League Championships but were ultimately defeated by the Monroe Lions, 30-8, in the finals.

Monroe, in its first year in the SYFC, was last year’s Colonial League Champions and was a team with great success in the AYF National Tournament.

The eighth-grade Indians were coming off playoff victories against a talented East Haven team and a very good Shelton team.

North Haven won the coin toss and deferred possession to the second half.

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North Haven’s defense started out well, holding the powerful Monroe offense scoreless in the first quarter before allowing two second-quarter touchdowns.

The Indians were led defensively by the aggressive play of first-year starter Ahmed Gebril and Jamorea Hooks. Alex Ciaburro and John Crispi also played well on defense.

In the second half, North Haven came out firing on all cylinders on offense and marched down the field with Noah Pastore scoring North Haven’s lone touchdown on a pass from Hooks. Aiden Lillis kicked the extra point and North Haven trailed 16-8 midway through the third quarter.

Jianni Snipes was also a key offensive players for North Haven, running well throughout the year.

Monroe scored early in the fourth quarter and added a late-game touchdown and extra points to end the scoring.

The Indians finished the season at 8-3 and was runner up in a very competitive division.

North Haven was seventh-grade division champions last year, ending a fantastic two-year run for North Haven.

North Haven 29, East Haven 12: The eighth-grade Indians took care of business by defeating East Haven in the quarterfinals before beating Shelton in the semifinals.

North Haven led 29-0 before two fourth-quarter scores by the Easties closed out their season. North Haven was led by the bruising running of Jamorea Hooks and Gianni Snipes.

The defense was led by Noah Pastore, John Crispi and Nick Dodge.

North Haven owned the trenches up front with the Indian line of Nick Carras, Anthony Bello, Joe Personeni, Bobby Farley, Lou Mineri, and Eli Doheny leading the way.

Mike Collins, Aaron Bell, Ashkin Bradoran, Kevin Annisoulis and center Donato Crisanti also played well on the offensive line. Aiden Lillis was 2-for-3 in his extra point tries.

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