Newtown HS football team dedicates perfect season to Sandy Hook victims

The Nighthawks would play for the state championship game on Dec. 13 or 14, the one year anniversary of the Sandy Hook shootings. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

The Newtown High School football team dedicated its perfect 11-0 regular season to the victims of last year's horrific school shooting at the district's Sandy Hook Elementary School, according to a report Wednesday from Cameron Smith of Yahoo! Sports. If the Nighthawks go on to play in the State Championship, the game will likely happen on Dec. 13 or 14, the one-year anniversary of the shooting the resulted in 26 casualties, many of whom were young children at the elementary school.

The Nighthawks, wearing a logo on their helmets during the game to honor the victims, defeated rival Masuk High 42-7 on Tuesday night to secure the top overall seed in the upcoming Class LL state tournament. The team would end a state championship drought that traces to 1992 if it makes it to the big game next month and ends up winning it.

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Head coach Steve George said he hopes the team can deliver a Christmas present for the town one year after the tragedy:

"Our players are hungry to win the championship to give everyone in town a great Christmas present and something to feel happy about a year after such a horrible tragedy."

Newtown's quarterback, Andrew Tarantino, echoed his coach's sentiments:

"Obviously, what our team and community went through the past year was really tough. We just want to put a smile on everyone's face by bringing home a state championship."

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