North Haven football rolls past Notre Dame-West Haven as Avery Hartline scores 4 touchdowns

WEST HAVEN – The North Haven football team may have gotten off to a slow start, but it sure is righting the ship quickly. After losing three straight games to open the season, the Nighthawks followed a win over Berlin with another impressive performance against Notre Dame-West Haven.

North Haven gained more than 400 yards on offense and held Notre Dame to just over 100, cruising to a 42-7 victory at Veteran’s Memorial Field

“Our problems early on were really in confidence, dealing with adversity, finishing, showing up ready, and all those mistakes are youth mistakes,” North Haven coach Anthony Sagnella said after his team improved to 2-3. “Little by little, we’re learning how to play this game the right way. You’re not going to come down here without playing four hard quarters. I’m proud of all of our kids for doing that.”

Sophomore Avery Hartline ran for 167 yards and four touchdowns as North Haven scored 35 unanswered points to break a 7-7 tie.

Hartline’s third touchdown, a 2-yard run, gave North Haven a 28-7 lead 3:22 into the third quarter. Nick Masto, who finished with 115 yards rushing, scored on an 8-yard run between Hartline’s final two scores. Hartline’s fourth touchdown, a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter, capped the scoring.

“It was obvious to me, and I think everybody else, we started to take control of the line, and that’s an important thing,” Sagnella said. “When you do that, you control the clock and you kind of control your destiny.”

North Haven took control of the game in the middle two quarters when it outgained Notre Dame 300-41 and outscored the Green Knights 28-0.

“We struggle a little bit defensively against the run this year,” Notre Dame coach Joe DeCaprio said. “We don’t really have any answers for that offense. They’re good. You look at it and they’re 1-3. They lost to teams that were 11-1. They took it to us. They played fantastic on both sides of the ball. I give all the credit to their coaching staff and their players. They took it to us.”

The game could not have started any better for the Nighthawks. An Eli Reynolds interception, his first of two on the night, set North Haven up at the Notre Dame 15. Three plays later, Gavin Halovatch was in from 4 yards out just 1:53 into the game for a 7-0 lead.

“It (defense) was huge throughout the game,” Hartline said. “Eli Reynolds’ interception, got it in, and kept going. We have a lot of sophomores. They fly around and get to the ball. They’re hungry and we get after it.”

The Green Knights responded with 1:41 left in the opening quarter when they stopped North Haven on fourth down, then marched 48 yards to even the game at 7-7 when Wyatt Verrillo hit Eli Johnson with a 5-yard touchdown toss.

The Nighthawks then took over, outgaining the Green Knights 150-19 in the second quarter and taking a 21-7 lead to the half.

Hartline, who ran for 130 yards in the opening half, put the Nighthawks up 14-7 when he turned the corner and scampered 27 yards with 3:50 gone in the second quarter.

“They did a great job,” Hartline said of the offensive line. “They opened up the holes for me. We talked all practice about going in and back out, and we were able to execute it the whole night.”

The Nighthawks used a big pass from Brett White to Giovanni Bimonte to set up Hartline’s 3-yard score and 21-7 lead with 4.3 seconds remaining in the first half.

Player of the game

Avery Hartline, North Haven: The sophomore ran for 167 yards and four touchdowns in the victory.

Quotable

“I think it was there the whole time. We just had to bear down, keep our heads down, keep working, and really put into practice what we put into games. We work hard in practice. We just had to transfer it to the field.” – North Haven’s Avery Hartline after his team improved to 2-3 with its second straight win.

North Haven 42, Notre Dame-West Haven 7

NORTH HAVEN      7 14 14 7-42
ND-WEST HAVEN  7   0   0 0-7

NH–Gavin Halovatch 4 run (Eli Reynolds kick)
NDWH–Eli Johnson 5 pass from Wyatt Verrillo (Christian Medina-Romano kick)
NH–Avery Hartline 27 run (Reynolds kick)
NH–Hartline 3 run (Reynolds kick)
NH–Hartline 2 run (Reynolds kick)
NH–Nick Masto 8 run (Reynolds kick)
NH–Hartline 1 run (Reynolds kick)
Records: NH 2-3, NDWH 2-3.

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This article originally published at North Haven football rolls past Notre Dame-West Haven as Avery Hartline scores 4 touchdowns.