Last Second Heroics Lift Newtown to Football Title

TRUMBULL, CT — A day that began with a moment of silent remembrance on the seventh anniversary of the Sandy Hook tragedy ended in glorious triumph for the Newtown High School football team, as Riley Ward hauled in a 36-yard scoring toss from Jack Street on the game's final play to defeat Darien 13-7 in the Class LL championship game at McDougall Field.

Darien had grabbed a 7-0 lead in the second quarter on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Peter Graham to Ryan Mulliken, then the fog rolled in and blanketed the majority of the field for the remainder of the contest.

The Nighthawks finally got untracked in the final quarter, tying the game on a 75-yard run-and-catch by Ward with 6:58 to play. The teams traded punts in the final few minutes, then Newtown began its final drive at its own 33 yard line with just under a minute to play.

An 18-yard strike from Street to Ward kept the Nighthawks' chances alive, then with 3.3 seconds left on the clock, Street found Ward open down the right sideline to clinch the school's first state football title since 1992.

CLASS LL CHAMPIONSHIP
Newtown 13, Darien 7

DAR 0 7 0 0 -- 7
NEW 0 0 0 13 -- 13

Second Quarter
DAR - Ryan Mulliken 17 pass from Peter Graham (Garrett Martin kick), 5:17
Fourth Quarter
NEW - Riley Ward 75 pass from Jack Street (Logan Ashby kick), 5:02
NEW - Ward 36 pass from Street, 12:00

STATISTICS
Rushing
DAR - Will Kirby 24-114; Aaron Sears 1-(-2); Graham 6-(-6)
NEW - Miles Ricks 18-48; Jared Dunn 1-36; Luke Hannan 1-3; Street 5-(-1); Brandon Lombardo 4-(-7)
Passing
DAR - Graham 15-37, 129 yds.
NEW - Street 6-18, 142 yds.; Lombardo 3-7, 17 yds.
Receiving
DAR - Jackson Peters 2-35; Mulliken 3-28; Kirby 2-28; Austin Dehmel 1-19; Sean Gifford 4-10; Michael Minicus 3-9
NEW - Ward 5-145; Aiden Foss 1-13; Jack Zingaro 2-4; Ricks 1-(-3)