CT SPARTANS set to kick off season.           posted August 25, 2010. The CT SPARTANS, the NEFL II entrant of the Middletown SPARTANS, are set to kick off their second season. NEFL II is the New England Football Leagues developmental league. This league is for players just getting back into the game, players without a lot of experience or experienced players that are coming out too late to play for the Middletown SPARTANS whose AA roster officially closed August 15th. The SPARTANS are coming off a very successful season having gone undefeated and won the league’s inaugural championship. The league is set to play Sundays starting in September and running through late October. Tyler Bozwell and Ed Coleman will act as co-head coaches and be assisted by Frank Liquori who will coach the offensive line.

The Tebughna School, Tyonek, Alaska. The SPARTAN players and coaches donated nearly 100 items to the Tebughna school in Tyonek, Alaska. The items included pens, pencils, erasers, paper, notebooks, crayons, markers, basketballs, jump ropes, and soccer balls. "The Tebughna school is a K-12 school with 31 students and is in the Alaskan bush. All of the students in the school belong to my tribe and are related to me in some way. This will be a yearly event for the SPARTANS and we hope it gets bigger every year.” Jeff Hurlburt, Middletown Spartans Owner

Hawkwing, Lakota Reservation, South Dakota, along the Cheyenne River. The SPARTANS load trucks that bring medical equipment, books and toys to the Lakota Reservation in South Dakota.

Spartans football: Middletown racks up 5 All-Star selections Published: MIDDLETOWN PRESS, Tuesday, November 10, 2009 10:29 PM EST By Staff Reports Four of the five Middletown Spartans selected to play in the 2009 NEFL AA All Star Game line up on the defensive side of the ball. The four defensive standouts are defensive ends Orlando Marquez and Ryan Lis along with Tyler Boswell at defensive tackle and Ryan Theil at outside linebacker. Spartans head coach Jim Greco said that it’s not surprising the four of the five all-stars come from a defense he calls “one of the best in the league. “I think our front four match up with anybody,” Greco said. Greco also calls Theil the “surprise of the season. “Having coached Ryan early in his high school career and watching him throughout it I thought he would in time prove to be an impact player but that has happened much sooner than we expected. Theil has turned into one of the most dynamic defenders in the league,” he said. The fifth member is John Merrill, an offensive center. Greco calls Merrill the most consistent of all the Spartans in play and demeanor. “John is a throw back. He shows up early, does everything asked of him with a sense of purpose and plays hardnosed football all the time no matter what.” Also selected as alternates are Kenny Brown at running back, Ed Coleman at safety and Rik Frankel at offensive tackle. Kickoff for the AA game is Nov. 21, 2009 - 2:30 p.m. in Lawrence, Mass.
Spartans rattle off 18 unanswered points en route to undefeated season, NEFL2 championship Published: MIDDLETOWN PRESS, Wednesday, November 25, 2009 7:31 PM EST By Staff Reports Down 6-0 after the first quarter of play, the Connecticut Spartans scored three unanswered touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter, to complete an undefeated season and win the first ever NEFL2 title, 18-6 over the Woonsocket Wardogs at Palmer Field last Saturday. The Spartans finished the inaugural season of NEFL2 play with a 7-0 record. The NEFL2 is the developmental division of the New England Football League, one of the nation’s oldest and largest semi-pro football leagues. The Connecticut Spartans are an affiliate of the Middletown Spartans, an established franchise in the NEFL’s Continental, or Double-A, Division. The Wardogs jumped out to a 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter on a 65-yard run before the Spartans evened things up at 6-6 late in the second quarter. Derrick Reels tied the game on a 5-yard run set up by a 38-yard strike from quarterback Shamar Carr to Jashone Cunningham. The game-tying touchdown drive was preceded by an interception deep in Spartan territory by Jaron Murphy that prevented the Wardogs from extending their lead. The Spartans took the lead for good at 12-6 midway through the final quarter on a 2-yard run by Kenny Brown and then sealed the game and the championship with two minutes to play on Carr’s 42-yard interception return.
Woonsocket’s 6-0 first quarter lead was the first deficit the Spartans have faced in the entire season, head coach Jim Greco said. “I’ve been waiting for something like this to happen,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to see how this team would respond to adversity. All year long, we’ve always scored first, we’ve always been out in front. “I really thought our response was champion-like. I’m very proud of the way we answered the challenge.” Greco praised the performances of Carr and Murphy on both sides of the ball, the work of running backs Murphy and Reels and fullback Jimmy Greene, and the play of offensive linemen Aaron Holliday and Hollister Munn. “And of course our entire defense came up big once again,” he added. “But we’ve come to expect that. They’ve been coming up big all year.” Shamar Carr was named MVP of the championship game.