Championships

11/10: The 7th Grade Indians stuggled at times this season losing handily to second seeded East Haven and top seeded Madison along the way leaving Coach Mikos wondering what team would show up on any given day. But during the playoffs, these Indians came to play, stomping out North Branford and surprising an over confident Easties team to reach the finals and a rematch with 10-0 Madison. After a scoreless first quarter, the Tigers capitalized early after North Haven turned the ball over on downs deep in their own end with a 3 yard TD pass and a 2 point conversion kick to make the score 8-0. From there, North Haven scored 5 touchdowns and Vin DePalma made 3 of 5 conversion kicks to take a 36-8 lead into halftime on the stunned home town team. After Jamorea Hooks broke free for a 47 yard touchdown run, Davon Stephens ran back a pair of 40 yard fumble recoveries for touchdowns around a second touchdown by Hooks from 5 yards out. For good measure, Noah Pastore ran in a 57 yard touchdown before the end of the second to complete the 36 point quarter. Madison regrouped during the break and scored quickly in the third on a 40 yard pass play and converted the 2 point kick to make it 36-16, but Hooks proved too difficult to stop as he ran for a 59 yard touchdown soon after to open up a 42-16 lead. In the fourth quarter, the Indians tacked on a 7th touchdown, this one from a yard out by Alex Ciaburro - who also gained most of the yards on the drive - to up the score to 48-16. The Tigers would add one more late score on a 22 yard pass and also convert the kick to make the final score 48-24.

11/10: The 6th Grade Indians completed their second consecutive perfect season, and won their second straight Championship defeating Madison in the process by the slimmest of margins 13-12. After a scoreless first half, Madison scored in the third quarter on a 28 yard run. The snap that followed for the conversion was bad and no kick was attempted so the Tiger lead was 6-0. The Indians responded when Joe Wenzel took off on a 54 yard jaunt down to Madison's 1 yard line. Max Rivera carried it in from there for for the tying touchdown. Jesse Lake's kick that followed was right down the middle, but high and the stiff coastal breeze stopped it cold and dropped it to the ground short of the crossbar so the score remained 6-6. In the fourth quarter, Madison scored on a 3 yard TD run, and heading into that same stiff wind decided to kick for the 2 point conversion to "ice the game". The kick was solid, but that same wind pushed it headlong into the top of the left upright and back down to the ground. So the Tiger lead stood at 12-6. North Haven got the ball back for one more drive, and they made it count, alternating between the inside running of Rivera and the outside speed of Ethan Okuwosa, who finally broke free and scored the tying touchdown from 27 yards out. After lining up for a kick, the Indians took a time out to think about how to break the tie. They came back and Max Rivera powered through the middle for the game winning point, making the final score 13-12. The win culminated Coach Mike's second straight 11-0 season for North Haven.

11/10: The 4th Grade's perfect season came to an end as they lost on the season's final day to Cheshire by the score of 14-6. In the first quarter, Cheshire scored on a 55 yard QB keeper run and then they ran in the conversion for a 7-0 lead. North Haven put together a drive in the waning moments of the second, but time ran out as Spencer Mulligan stepped out of bounds at Cheshire's 3 yard line and the Indians remained scoreless for the half. Defenses continued to be strong in the second half, but Cheshire finally broke through late in the third quarter, following a long QB keeper run, on a 9 yard run by their QB. The conversion run that followed was also good to give Cheshire a 14-0 lead. Matt Dodge was able to score from in close for North Haven as he scampered inside the right pylon before the third ended, but was stopped on the conversion run so the score was 14-6. The fourth quarter proved to be uneventful as each team's defense prevented the other from mounting any sort of drive. The game ended and North Haven dropped their first game of the season to finish at 10-1.

Week 11

The 7th Grade Indians advance to their first Shoreline Youth Football Championship thanks to a convincing win over #2 seeded East Haven by the score of 37-14. Jamorea Hooks took a handoff on the second play of the game and went 65 yards for a touchdown. The kick was blocked so North Haven had a 6-0 lead. East Haven responded with a 3 yard run for a touchdown, and they converted the extra point kick for what proved to be their only lead of the game at 8-6. In the second quarter, Hooks had a 50+ yard TD run and a 2 yard TD run and North Haven opened an 18-8 halftime lead. East Haven got the second half kickoff, but Noah Pastore recovered a fumble, and then took the first handoff 75 yards for a touchdown. Hooks crashed through several would be tacklers for an extra point to make the score 25-8. East Haven turned the ball over on downs on their next possession on their own side of the field and Hooks made them pay with his fourth touchdown run, this one was 13 yards and the lead was now 31-8. In the fourth quarter, East Haven scored on a 39 yard run up the middle on 3rd and 11, but their extra point try kick was blocked so the lead was 31-14. Devon Stephens added a late 30 yard touchdown run to cap the scoring at 37-14. North Haven recovered 3 or 4 fumbles in this game and dominated on defense to avenge an earlier season loss to the Easties.

The 4th Grade Indians did all their scoring in the first half as Matt Dodge and Spencer Mulligan each had a pair of touchdown runs. Dodge ran in a 1 yard touchdown in the first, and after a Madison fumble, Mulligan ran 55 yards on the first play that followed for a second score. Dodge passed to Ryan Balzano to conplete the point after and up the score to 13-0. Mulligan would score once more with his cut back approach from 28 yards out to make it 19-0 Indians after one quarter. In the second, Dodge ran in a 9 yard touchdown to cap the scoring at 25-0. North Haven, now 10-0, advances to their first SYF Championship and will take on Cheshire next week.

The 6th Grade Indians won handily over Wallingford by the score of 24-0. Ethan Okwuosa ran 50 yards for the game's first touchdown but Jesse Lake's extra point kick clanked off the left upright to keep the score at 6-0. Jeff Williston had a 19 yard touchdown run later in the first and then had a 65 yard run for touchdown in the second. Both times the PAT was blocked so the score was 18-0 at halftime. In the third quarter, Okwuosa fired a 46 yard touchdown pass down the near right sideline to Jaden Watson and again the kick was blocked, so the score was 24-0. With the win, the Indians move to 10-0 and advance to defend their Championship next week against Madison.

Week 10

5th Grade: In what coach Perillie called "their best played game of the season", the Indians dropped a hard fought 27-13 battle at Branford which ended their season. North Haven took the opening kickoff and used up the entire first quarter gaining small chunks of yardage until Isiaah Earl scored on a 1 yard run. The conversion run around the right side by Patrick Lillis was good and North Haven had a 7-0 lead. The Indians crossed up the Hornets with an onside kick which they recovered but could not capitalize on. Branford ultimately scored on a 67 yard run and tied it with a reverse sweep conversion run at 7-7. North Haven repsonded with a drive down to the Hornets 1 inch line before time expired in the half. The Indians dominated the first half allowing the Hornets offense only a handful of offensive snaps. Branford took the opening second half kickoff and scored quickly with a 47 yard run. A Hornet QB keeper for conversion made it 14-7. Branford then recovered an onside kick of their own and then went on to score a 15 yard TD, but their conversion pass failed and the score stood at 20-7. In the fourth quarter, after an exchange of interceptions earned Branford favorable field position, they scored on a 15 yard run and converted the run that followed for a 27-7 lead. North Haven scored on an 11 yard run on 4th down by Lillis - which was also the last play of the game - to make the final score 27-13.

8th Grade: North Haven built up a 26-8 fourth quarter lead and then withheld a late Madison surge to win this game 26-22. Jake Bencivengo got things started for the Indians when he ran in a 58 yard touchdown, but Ricky Stober's kick attempt clanked off the left upright so North Haven took a 6-0 lead. In the second, Madison ran in a 9 yard touchdown and converted their kick to take an 8-6 lead. North Haven grabbed the lead back when Nick Perillie connected on a 31 touchdown pass to Bencivengo and took a 12-8 lead into halftime. Opening the third quarter, the Indians recovered an onside kick and moved inside Madison's 1 yard line before turning the ball over on downs. On the next play, however, Mark Montano recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown to give the Indians an 18-8 lead. Steven Erbe then foiled a Tiger option play, batting the ball to the ground and then scooping it up and running 40 yards for a touchdown. Stober's PAT kick made it 26-8. Madison made it interesting in the fourth quarter as they scored on a 30 yard pass play, then covered up an onside kick and scored again on a 28 yard pass to close within 26-22. The Tigers even got the ball back with a minute and a half to play near midfield, but this time a tired North Haven defense prevented them from scoring to preserve the 4 point win.

Week 9

7th Grade: The Indians exploded out of the gate scoring a quick pair of touchdowns on Alex Chiaburro's 55 yard TD pass to Noah Pastore and Devon Stephens' 5 yard run and a pair of conversion kicks by Vincent DePalma. But Southington roared back to tie this game, scoring before the end of the 1st quarter on a 3 yard run and then early in the 2nd on a long 4th down TD pass and a pair of conversion kicks. The Indians responded with a 38 yard touchdown pass from Pastore to Jamorea Hooks to take a 22-16 lead into the half. North Haven took over control of this game in the 3rd on Pastore's 87 yard TD run and Hooks' 27 yard TD run and 1 of 2 conversion kicks to open up a 36-16 lead. Southington scored a 4th qtr TD to cut the lead to 36-24, but Pastore scored his 3rd TD of the day on a 41 yard run to cap the scoring in this 44-24 game. North Haven's win improved them to 6-2 overall on the season.

8th Grade: The Indians unbeaten season came to as they dropped a 13-6 game in Cheshire on the season's last day. Nick Perillie hit Mark Montano on the hands with a perfect pass and Montano took it to the house on the last play of the second quarter. The kick that followed was no good so the Indians went into halftime up 6-0. The Rams, however, would score a touchdown in the third and converted the extra point with a pass to take a 1 point lead. Cheshire scored another touchdown in the fourth but could not add an extra point so their lead stood at 7. On the game's last drive, North Haven moved inside the Rams' 10 yard line and a pass was just off the hands in the end zone in an attempt to tie, but they could not get the score and dropped a heartbreaker to end up 7-1 on the season.

Week 7

6th Grade: Ethan Okwuosa ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown and Joe Wenzel (69 yards) and Jeff Williston (83 yards) each had long runs for touchdowns as the Indians scored 18 opening quarter points. In the third, Valley scored on a 33 yard touchdown run to close within 18-6, but Okwuosa took the first snap that followed and ran it in for a 65 yard touchdown to open up a 24-6 lead. Valley added a second late score to make the final 24-13 and North Haven improved to 6-0 with the win.

Week 6

5th Grade: North Haven's 5th graders dropped to 2-3-1 with a 27-6 loss to Simsbury in a game dominated by the Trojans. Zach Peters threw a 20 yard touchdown pass to David Pace for the Indians only score in the first quarter.

4th Grade: Matthew Dodge had a pair of touchdowns and Spencer Mulligan and Chris Haeger each added one each as North Haven dominated East Haven 24-6 to improved to 5-0. Michael DeVilliers had an interception and a long run back on the game's final play.