Week Four: Peanut 1—The Steelers’ offense was very strong with touchdowns scored by Jordan Welch, A.J. Gordon, Sam Glance Dean Pasolini, Jalen Gordon and Matthew Brienza. Running for first downs were Andrew Siegel and Santino Talavera. We also had a strong showing on defense. Flags were pulled by most of the boys including Jimmy Caputo.
Peanut 2—The Saints came up short despite a second half surge on offense and a clamp down on defense to keep the game close. The Saints’ offense was led by a thrilling long touchdown run by Tyler Buyes off a handoff. The last play of the game was an impressive pass from QB Mike Connolly to Torin Kassenbaum who ran it in for the touchdown.
Week Five: Peanut 2—In an exciting seesaw battle between the Saints and Giants, the Saints emerged victorious by a final score of 28-21. Josh Behar, who scored two touchdowns on impressive runs off handouts, led the Saints’ offense. Another Saints’ touchdown resulted from a perfectly thrown pass by QB Gavin Vega to Kassenbaum. And the final play of the game was a thrilling touchdown run by Robert Trey Rowland. The Giants’ offense was led by the Dipiazza twins, Christopher and Mallory, who both scored on terrific runs off handoffs. Carly Livingston added another Giants’ touchdown by scoring on an electric run.
On a very rainy Sunday afternoon Joe Mahan had six flags/tackles to lead the way on the defense for the Redskins. Michael McCarty and Gabe Aliendro each had one flag/tackle and both had nice runs. Mason Kott had one flag and one assist and he also handed off to Dean Kott who scored a TD on that play and had another touchdown run of 80 yards.
The Steelers and Packers met in a defensive battle. CJ Mangio scored the lone Steelers’ TD on a long pass reception from Jack Wiser. Wiser had three flags as well as an interception in the end zone preventing the Packers from taking the lead. Izabella Cimino, C.J. Mangio and Joe Walsh all had key flags stopping the Packers’ long drives.
Pee Wee Four—The Titans defeated the Saints 52-13 bringing their record to 4-1. It was a great team-effort led by Daniel DeMartino, Sam Cordova, Brenden Moritz, Matthew Gaba, Jack Moloney, Tyler Carlow, Michael Melo, Adam Gordon and Chris Sperretta.
Girls Five/Six—The Titans played a tough, hard-nosed game against a shorthanded, but determined Steelers squad before emerging with the 19-0 victory. Allison Kiernan got the Titans going immediately with an impressive dash down the gridiron to pay dirt on the first play from scrimmage. Paige Nusio connected with Gianna Morales on a nifty pass as she caught the pass off of her hot pink shoe tops before acrobatically falling backwards into the end zone for the PAT. Morales also contributed on defense with her first career “int” to thwart a Steelers’ drive. Olivia Kropp had an amazing two-way game with several huge flag pulls on defense and an awe-inspiring scamper downfield off a pitch during which Kropp evaded several defenders before turning on the afterburners and scorching the sideline for a long TD run. Rebecca Morales also played a strong game on defense with several flags while also contributing a nifty run to midfield to set up a TD on the next play, when Olivia Connolly connected on a pass to Gabriella Gomez in the flat. Gomez did the rest by breaking several attempted flag pulls before turning on the jets and scooting down the sideline for touchdown glory. Andrea Lauritsen demonstrated her flair on offense with a sweet run for a first down while making several big stops on defense with her flag pulling skills. Last but not least, Kimberly Dortz made a nice catch on offense and contributed some key flag pulls on defense to help the Titans to victory.
Junior Varsity Seven—Forget “Tebow-mania”, the Chiefs were led to victory by “Manzo-mania.” Chris Manzo had a monster game by getting a huge pick on defense and by scoring all three TDs for the Chiefs, two on long passes from steady and effective QB, Steve Pantano, and the third on a nice run, in a 19-12 victory over a tough Vikings team.
Anthony Battaglia also notched a sweet INT to thwart a Vikings rally and he contributed on offense with several nice catches. James Palagonia was a beast in the game with some incredible yards-after-catches (YAC). He gobbled up plenty of YAC to get the Chiefs into scoring position all game long while playing solid defense with many big flags.
Luke Morales followed up a strong game last week, when he scored his first TD since kindergarten, by taking a swing pass from Pantano and proceeding to break several tackles as he impressively scampered down the sideline to set the Chiefs up in the red zone. Danny Thompson hauled in some nifty catches and made several stops on defense as he showed off his speed with a strong two-way game. Matthew Barbieri continued his strong season with some big plays on offense and defense to contribute to a total team victory over a game Vikings squad.
