The North Haven Youth Football program recently kicked off the 2016 season with two weeks of play already in the books. The Indians’ 8th-grade team beat Clinton 28-12 in Week 1 and took a 30-14 defeat to East Haven the following week. Against Clinton, Damian Carano opened the scoring with a 56-yard touchdown and Patrick Lillis added the second score on a 2-yard plunge for a 12-6 lead. Chase DeCarlo hit the 2-point kick to make it 14-6. Anthony Rapuano later scored on a 23-yard TD as North Haven went up 30-12. A 34-yard TD pass from Rapuano to James Loda put the game away, after which DiCarlo converted his second kick. Geno Schiavo tossed several completions to James Yoshua, Chris Bracale, and Justin Perrille. The Indians’ defensive line of Alex Dejesus, Jake Foley, Joe Verillo, and Tyler Vetrano held the Huskies’ running attack in check all game. In the East Haven loss, North Haven’s scores came on two passes from Schiavo to Carrano that went for 55 and 80 yards, respectively. DeCarlo kicked one extra point. Taray Smart made several touchdown-saving tackles and David Pace added an interception.

Elsewhere, North Haven’s 7th-graders lost to Southington 28-12, but bounced back with a 19-12 triumph against Old Saybrook-Westbrook (OS-W) at Vanacore Field. For the opener, Michael Bachmann and Ryan Balzano scored touchdowns for the Indians, whose defense was led by strong efforts by Matt Dodge, Jake Langner, and Nick Judd. In the victory over OS-W, North Haven took a 7-6 lead when Balzano threw a 37-yard pass to Matt Dodge. OS-W took a 12-7 lead into the half, but Sebastian DeRubeis scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter to give the Indians a 13-12 lead. Langer added a 26-yard TD run for the 19-12 final. The Indians’ defense was led by Kennyel Santiago, Riley Sykes, and Aiden Rapuano.

The Indians’ 6th-grade squad is 2-0 courtesy of a 25-19 win over Southington and a 15-0 blanking of Manchester. The Southington victory saw Jeffrey Karvas and Joey Iamuno each score two touchdowns. Opening the holes up front were Michael Bolduc, Michael Masto, Daniel Mark Thomas, and Peter Harkins. North Haven’s defense was led by Joey Taft, Bennett Della Valle, Chayse Mangino, Drew Grillo, and Ryan Skronski. Grillo sealed the victory with a key interception in the last minute. Against Manchester, Karvas and Iamuno each scored a touchdown. Mateo Raiano added an extra point with a diving catch to put North Haven up 7-0 at halftime. Leading the way on the offensive line were Sal DeMaio, Sal Schepisi, Masto, Thomas, and Harkins. The Indians’ defensive effort was spurred by Taft, Della Valle, Mangino, Skronski, Yousef Gerbril, and Tarik Elmammann. Skronski had an interception to seal the game.

The 5th-grade team has played one game and earned a 19-6 victory versus Newtown in Week 1. Behind touchdowns from Adam Pandolfi, Ryan Bernardo, and Matt Bosticco, North Haven was able to control the game with the run from start to finish. The defense, led by Jacob Daigle, Brendan Ryan, and Cameron Carrano, shut down Newtown’s passing attack. Nick Harkins and Conner Rapuano also played well on defense.

The Indians’ 4th-grade team stands at 1-1 after shutting out Manchester 20-0 at home and taking a 13-6 defeat to Madison. For the Manchester win, Chris Cretella scored two touchdowns and Tyler DiMauro had one. Christian DeMaio and Jake Pieper each scored a 1-point conversion. The Indians’ offensive and defensive lines both played well in the victory. Tyler Sullivan, Bryan Moran, Jeff Davis, Noah Huntley, Steven Piccirillo, and Luca Faulkner were a few of the linemen that played a part in the victory. Then against Madison, Christian Mongillo scored North Haven’s only touchdown on a great rush. The TD was set up by a pass from Joey Mastroianni to Tyler Dimauro, who made a nice run after the catch. The Indians moved the ball well, but were faced with a lot of penalties. The defense played a great game by keeping the Tigers to only 13 points in a hard-fought contest. DeMaio had an interception to help out the defense. On the line, Faulkner, Sullivan, Moran, and Davis all had their fair share of tackles.

Information courtesy of Ed Tantorski