Tewksbury Youth Football Kicks Off On High Note

The New England Patriots weren't the only ones who commenced their season on Sunday.

Tewksbury Youth Football hit the ground running for the 2010 season with a full slate of games on Saturday and Sunday.

JUNIOR DIVISION:

Cheyenne 27 – Wamesit 13

The Cheyenne offense was led by quarterback Owen Gilligan.  Evan Mantel and Tyler Keough each had two touchdowns. The extra points were run in by Wilson Espinal and Danny Lightfoot.  Offensive linemen Anthony DeSisto, Anthony Op and Brody Tirrell did a great job blocking.

The Cheyenne defense was led by Jack "Hornswoggle" O'Neil who recovered 2 fumbles and had some big tackles. Rich Lavargna and Brendan Lamothe also had some big tackles. Other defensive standouts were Caulin Martel and Dylan Dufresne.

The Wamesit fell to a tough Cheyenne squad 27-13 in the season opener.  Kyle Darrigo had a stellar debut.  After unexpectedly being forced to play tailback early in the contest, he rose to the occasion scoring on two 10 yd runs and a conversion.  Nicky Iannacci played well at QB and contributed several nice runs.  Both runners had success due to the blocking of Jack Meuse-Sitar, Gavin Thomassett, Adam Gallagher and Cam Paolillo.  On Defense, Santino Garofalo, Mike Woodford and Robbie Kimtis were the stars making several tackles for losses in the backfield.  Colin Powers, Darrigo and Iannacci also did a good job pursuing the plays.  Injured star Matt Houghton led the cheers from the sidelines for his teammates.  Most Wamesit players were forced to play the entire game with no rest and the kids showed a lot of heart and determination under the circumstances.  They should be proud of their effort!

Mohawk 37 – Comanche 24

The first game of the season for the Comanche turned into an offensive battle on both sides.  After ending 0-8 in the 2009 season the Comanche were looking to proof they are a team that can play with anyone.  In the end they proved they can score and they had a solid defensive second half.  This young team is looking forward to the next game!  Matt Rosemond went up the middle for a 65 yard touchdown bringing the Comanche back into the game on the first offensive play of the season.  He had great blocking by Bob O'hearn and Andrew Farrell.  After two short runs from Rosemond and Sean Fahey the Comanche were faced with another 3^rd down opportunity.  QB Hunter DeLonais kept the ball after a fake handoff to Sean Fahey around the corner.  Two great blocks from Ryan Keane and Colin Bozak allowed DeLonais to break away and score on a 45 yard run.  The Comanche started the half with the ball and marched down field only to be stopped short at the 22 yard line.  Fahey had a great run to the outside, but came up short of the first down. 

The Comanche Defense came alive in the second half behind strong plays by Jack Balboni and Jonathan Mansfield on the line and Fahey coming in at corner.  They were able to stop the Mohawks on their first drive.   Lucus Tryder and Billy Chase zeroed in on the Mohawk backfield creating opportunities for the Comanche.   The Comanche offense marched back down field.  Rosemond scored his second touchdown of the afternoon on a 27 yard off tackle with excellent blocking behind Andrew Farrell and Mansfield. 

The 4^th quarter was a battle with the Comanche stopping the Mohawks on two occasions.  The defense created a fumble in the backfield and the ball was recovered by Lucus Tryder on a great heads up play.  With time running out the Comanche went to the pass to try to score a quick touchdown.  DeLonais had two incomplete passes.  On 4^th down they went for it again and DeLonais had no one open, but saw a hole opened up by great blocking from Ryan Keane and two great down field blocks by running backs Rosemond and Fahey, and was able to score his second touchdown of the afternoon. 

INTERMEDIATE DIVISION:

Sioux 19 – Navajo 6

The Sioux opened their season with a victory over the Navajo 19-6.  Jesse Lamarca had two oustanding touchdowns.  Alec Hirtle had a teriffic run for a touchdown.  Other offensive standouts were Masyn Lorick at Quarterback, Jared Mason and Brendan Studley.  Defensive standouts were Devyn Dufresne, Jackson DeRoche and Connor Brincklow.  Congratulations to the Sioux on their first victory of the season!

The Navajo was handed a tough loss against an aggressive Sioux team.  In the first quarter, the Navajo offense had some big gains by Kyle Zervas, Fran Pino & Nick Resendiz, but was unable to get in the endzone.   Chris Lucas, Kyle Privetera & Connor Nugent played good defense on the line to help keep the Sioux from scoring.  Mason Brown & Jay Gandhi had big sacks on defense to help hold the Sioux to 6 points at the half. Brandon Winn kept them from scoring the extra point.  The offense struggled but Anthony Medeiros, Tyler Paulding & Rich Markwarth had good tackles on defense to keep the score close.  Trevor Nickerson scored the only TD for the Navajo with a big run behind behind an outstanding block by Mason Brown. 

Cherokee 37 – Apache 6

The Cherokee opened up the season with an impressive 37-6 victory over a tough Apache team.  Josh Sughrue started the scoring on the second offensive play of the year with a 65 yard bootleg.  Sughrue sparked his team again with an interception on the next series to give the Cherokee the ball back.  Cody Sughrue then ran an 80 yd pitch into the endzone to give the Cherokee a 12-0 lead.  Garrett Lane recovered a fumble after some great defensive pressure from Chris Blimberg, Kyle Burris, and Billy Giasuilo.  Jonny Spinelli took a 48 yd run into the endzone and Josh Sughrue's 2pt conversion pass to Derek Graffeo gave the Cherokee a 19-0 lead into the half.  Cody Sughrue's 60 yd electric kickoff return for a touchdown started the second half.  Joe Dulock's sack and and fumble recovery was followed up by a Dulock 50 yd run into the endzone.  Lane then found the endzone with a 2yd TD run behind the great blocking of Christian Erbetta, Zack Frontain, Eric Szloch, David Aznavoorian & Zack Weitz.  A great overall team effort was made by the entire Cherokee on opening weekend.

Saturday's season opener for the Apache ended in a loss to the Cherokee.  The Apache offense had a bunch of chances to score touchdowns, but ended up turning over the ball.  The Apache offense was led by big runs by Troy Acconcia and a touchdown run of 6 yards by Shane Darrigo.  Jacob "Speedy" Garland and Kyle Obst both had key runs on Saturday.  Leading the way on the offensive line was Jacob Ferrier, Shayne Noone and Chris Walsh.  Playing well on the defense for the Apache were Joe Balboni, Danny Mottolo, Brandon Pote, and Jared Gillis.  Leading the Apache special teams were Tony Mannetta, Ryan Anderson, and Nick Heinze.

SENIOR DIVISION:

Chiefs 13 – Raiders 12

The Chiefs had their work cut out for them against a tough Raiders team.  Nate Tenaglia made a circus like catch on a 20 yard pass from Ryan Sughrue to set up the first score of the game. Two plays later, James Hannon muscled his way into the end zone behind the blocking of Robbie Hopkinson, Patrick Wild, C.J. MacMillan, Davio Addesa, Jeffrey Pierce, Sean Barker and T.J. Contalonis.

The defensive line of Ben Marshall, Aidan Powers, Cody Souza, Billy Catyb and Ryan Peters worked hard in the trenches.  Aaron Whitehouse, Ryan Sughrue and Robbie Hopkinson covered the Raiders receivers like a big white parker. 

In the second half, Sughrue and Contalonis connected on a couple of big receptions.  The final drive for the Chiefs was lead by the blocking of Andrew Carman, Michael Flynn and Christian Bennett to set up the final touchdown by Troy Carey.

Offensive standouts were Carey, James Hannon, Tenaglia and Contalonis. The defensive standouts were Whitehouse, Davio Addesa and Sughrue.  Tenaglia and Carey had excellent punt and kickoff returns.

The injured Justin Keough supported his team in many ways.  The Chiefs would like to thank the Raiders for an excellent game and the cheerleaders and parents for their support.

In the first quarter the Raiders offense struggled to move the ball, but the defense came out strong led by  Tyler Ward , Jeremy Deniger, Mike Monahan (sack) and Brett McAllister (sack).  The second quarter started with no score on the board. The defense was unable to hold the Chiefs out of the end zone, but The Raiders offense redeemed themselves with a 25 yard game tying touchdown run by Jared Roane with some key blocks made by Billy Tamboli, Novan Iftekhar, Evan Iftekhar, Joe Rosberg, and Matt Fortier.  The third quarter was all defense. Dylan Pendleton, Chad Oliveira, Mackin MacDonald, Gavin MacDonald, Conner Kearn, Jackson Roane, Matt Merrick, Chris Carter and Ricky Martel all stepped up with big plays and great tackling throughout the quarter.  Brian Nazaire recovered a fumble on a punt, and with third and long TJ Taddia came up with a big first down.  The fourth quarter started tied but the Raiders gave up another touchdown,weren't able to hold the extra point, and ended up down 13-6. The Raiders offense moved the ball down the field with some big runs made by Nazaire, Tamboli and McAllister. With 55 seconds left in the game quarterback Jared Roane connected with Conner Maclean, who went over a Chiefs defender to make the catch for a touchdown. The PAT was no good bringing the final score to 13-12.

Titans 19 – Giants 13

The Titans opened the 2010 season with a hard fought victory over a very talented Giants squad 19-13.

The silver was down 6-0 at the turn of the half as the offense tried to feel their way into a groove.  It was found in a big way in the form of Stephen Bonugli.  After a great catch to end the half Bonugli moved to running back.  On just his second touch from the position he slipped left and outraced the Giants D to the end zone for a 60 yard TD.  After a turn over on downs and on his very next touch Bonugli was off again, blazing down the right sideline to pay dirt for an 80 yard TD.  The extra point was converted on a Steven Hamel to Ryan Flynn pass edging the score to 13-6 in the Titans favor.  The visiting Giants wasted little time evening the score to 13-13 to end regulation.

The defense saw impressive play by defensive linemen Nick Zullo and JP Mooney, handling the punishing Giant run attack.  Filling behind them with some excellent plays were Michael Teague and Matty Mclaughlin from their line backing positions with each tallying well over a half dozen tackles.  However, the defensive stars of the day were positioned on the defensive ends.  Nick Torres and Colby Nowak held this honor as they were familiar visitors in the Giant backfield.  Torres was a force on the run stop while Nowak was in constant pursuit of the Giants QB and recorded 2 sacks and numerous hurries.

The overtime period began with the Giants taking the ball.  The Titan defense met the challenge and caused a fumble from the sure handed Giant backfield.  With the win in their sights, quad captain and QB Steven Hamel called his own number on an option play.  His outstretched arm broke the plane of the end zone capturing the Titans first victory of the year leaving the crowd satisfied with the dramatic win.

The Giants fell to the Titans in a great season opener. The final score was 19 to 13 in favor of the Titans after a nail biting game that went into overtime. Every person on the team played their hearts out for every single play.  The score started in the first quarter with a great drive ending in a 15 yd run by Brett Morris into the end zone. Erik Harrington had a perfect block to open up the gap.  The Giants ended up going down 13 to 6 until the fourth quarter where a great drive was put together. Great runs by both Steven Rosa and Scott Patterson led to a 33 yard run from Morris to the end zone. The offensive line of Cam Carmichael, Mike McInnis, James Cain, and Miles Brown had much to thank for this drive.

 The defense played very well including a tackle and a sack for a loss by JJ Agouli. Blake Schumaker had a nose for the ball and was involved in almost every tackle. Scott Patterson also had an interception towards the end of regulation to stop the Titans from driving. Tanner Scott almost had an interception with a great play at free safety.  Special teams stand outs included two great blocks by Hayden Brown and Jared Cowles on the kick return team.  

Download the movie

Download the movie

Download the movie