On Friday, The West Haven Blue Devils faced the Newtown Nighthawks in a battle between two of the state's top teams. West Haven came out on top against Newtown by a score of 41-31. This was one game where the offenses had no trouble playing at a high level.
Nick Conlan was a one-man wrecking crew for West Haven as he threw for 327 yards and five touchdowns on only 18 passes. Armani Reid was in the mix as well, providing West Haven with three touchdowns.
When it comes to explaining why Newtown lost, one person who can't be blamed is J.j. Haddick. Despite the final result, he rushed for 121 yards and three touchdowns. Another player making a difference was Ayden Paulos, who gained 117 total yards.
West Haven's victory was their fourth straight on the road, which bumped their overall record up to 6-1. It's not like the team was facing easy opposition over that stretch either, as it included 6-1 Staples and 5-2 Shelton (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 71.4% over those games). As for Newtown, their loss ended a seven-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 6-1.
West Haven will take on Notre Dame at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Notre Dame will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Connecticut Rankings (they are ranked 44th, while West Haven is ranked fourth). As for Newtown, they will head out on the road to face off against Pomperaug at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
