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Sports

Connor McNamara to Take Football to the Next Level

Newtown's All-State football standout will attend Bryant University in the fall

Connor McNamara's lifelong dream has always been to play college football. And four summers ago, as an incoming freshman at Newtown High School, McNamara began the road toward tackling that challenge.

"Every kid growing up says 'oh yeah I want to play Division I football,' and so did I," he said. "But coming into high school, I wasn't sure how I would do and where I could end up in four years."

All that uncertainty however, didn't affect McNamara. He was passionate about football and fairly confident that if he put in the hours of grueling work necessary to improve his skills, he could become an intimidating presence on the field.

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McNamara not only succeeded in excelling at the high school level, he is only one of two Newtown High graduates moving on to play college football in the fall. Tory Deakin, who rushed for 615 yards on just 67 carries last season and intends to attend Dean College, is the other.

Such talents certainly don't come around often, according to Steve George, head coach of Newtown High's football team. George said the last player he coached who possessed McNamara's capabilites on the defensive line was Dan Cascone, who graduated from Newtown in 2005 and later played football at the University of Wisconsin.

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McNamara said he still remembers when he was a freshman adjusting to the nuances of high school football. He described feeling "like a small fish in a big pond" during his first practice before he was able to find his comfort level.

"It was kind of one of those feelings where you're really nervous, you don't know what's going on," McNamara said. "It's totally different than anything you're used to in youth football. It's a different speed, different intensity, different level of physicality. Everything is amped up a little bit."

But McNamara wasn't one to shy away from contact on the field. He was also a defenseman on Newtown High School's lacrosse team -- a sport he picked up in sixth grade -- in each of his last three years. He began playing lacrosse partly because he liked the physical aspect of it.

"That was a huge part that drew me to both sports," he said. "Just going around being able to hit people."

To better handle the physical grind of football, McNamara set a personal goal to get "bigger, faster and stronger." So beginning in his freshman year and continuing pretty much through the rest of his high school career, once the final bell rung to signal the end of a school day, McNamara headed to the weight room.

"He really committed himself to the weight room. At his division, that's one of the most important things," George said. "He is the only player since I've been a head coach that can lift 1,000 pounds in the three lifts that we use, so that says it all right there.

"When you're that strong, you're going to be a good player at the high school level, especially at defensive line," George said.

Nonetheless, it sure didn't take long for McNamara -- with his intimidating 6-foot-2, 270 pound frame -- to be on the other side of that battle at the line of scrimmage.

He started at defensive tackle and center for the varsity team in each of his last three seasons, leading the Nighthawks to 24 wins over that span.

During his recently-concluded senior season at Newtown, McNamara, a captain, was an unblockable force on the defensive line. He was second on the team with 64 tackles and he marked a school record 15 sacks and was named to both the All-State Team and All-Conference Team.

His stellar year also earned him an invite to last Saturday's 12th annual Governor's Cup All-Star Game at Rentschler Field, where he led a Connecticut defense which forced seven turnovers in a 29-7 win over Rhode Island.

"He was a kid that you always had to double-team," said George. "That's a rare capability in high school football where no matter what team you play, you really should be double-teamed. That helped us out. It opened up things on the field."

In McNamara's final game in a Newtown uniform -- a 36-22 win at rival Masuk on Nov. 25 -- he wreaked havoc in the backfield, recording a team-high two sacks and eight tackles. It was the ending of a magical year for one of the top high school football players in the state.

"To be able to leave there (Newtown) leading with sacks and being in record books mean a lot. It just shows I worked really hard for it," he said. "It was nice to get it."

McNamara also recieved honors for lacrosse -- named to the All-Colonial Division Team after scooping up 66 ground balls last season.

The acheivements were rewarding for McNamara, but his greatest thrill came back in late October, when his dream of playing college football came to fruition.

That's when McNamara signed a letter of intent to attend Bryant University.

"It was awesome," he said of the signing. "It was also good because I knew where I was going, which was definitely a huge relief. It was exciting because I am now a Division I football player. Not a lot of kids get to do that."

McNamara -- who plans on majoring in business -- said he was also considering Villanova and Central Connecticut State, but multiple factors put Bryant at the top of  his list. He listed the school's business program, the size of the campus and the new athletic facilities as the reasons behind his choice.

He made the decision almost immediately after visiting the school in late October.

"I knew I wanted to go to Bryant pretty much as soon as I got there," he said. "I called the coach when we were driving home and said 'this is where I want to go.'"

The next challenge for McNamara will be fighting for playing time at Bryant. While he knows that freshmen generally receive less time on the field, he said "I'm just going to try to work as hard as I can."

"I'd love to play as a freshman, but it's not really a common thing because obviously the seniors are bigger and stronger and usually better," he said. "But I'm still going to try to get on the field. That's not going to stop me from working hard.

"I've got to work hard so I can actually play. Just being on the team is not what I'm going for."

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