Hustle, Hustle ... Hustle — NHS Laxmen Have Speed On Their Side

By Andy Hutchison

One key to the Newtown High School boys’ lacrosse team’s early winning ways, which the Nighthawks hope will lead to continued success, is the speed and depth of its midfield players.

It would be one thing to have a few fast players in the midfield, but the Hawks have ten players who are capable of playing the position and providing the weapon of wear-out-the-opponent speed while in the game.

This depth gives coach Brian Micena an opportunity to rest players and maintain that quickness throughout a game — no matter who he inserts into the lineup.

“Being able to run up and down the field the whole game is huge, especially for teams that may have more talent than we do. If we can keep running and keep fresh legs on the field, it’s going to be huge,” Micena said.

The Nighthawks are led by Jacob Dauz, Jaime Vavrek, Kyle O’Connor, Dylan Huebner, Colby Summerlin and Will Northrop and have other midfielders who can also step in and fulfill the need for speed, the coach said.

“That’s something a lot of teams we play won’t have,” Micena added. “We’re very deep at middie.”

The Nighthawks began play this week with four wins in as many games to start the season.

“Last year, teams that gave us trouble really wanted to run,” said Micena, adding that, in an effort to counter opposition’s speed, the Hawks tried to slow down the pace.

Not anymore. Look for the Hawks to run, run ... run.

“That’s a huge part of our game,” Micena said.

Of course, the Nighthawks won 15 games and got to the South-West Conference championship game a year ago without all of this quickness. Newtown needs to continue to do well in other facets of the game — and so far, so good.

The emergence of some players, including goaltender Clarence Chung and first year starters Lewis Thompson and Max Nacewicz, has paid dividends for the Hawks.

“I think everybody’s starting to play well together,” said Micena, adding that good communication has also been significant.

The Nighthawks blanked Notre Dame-Fairfield 17-0, doubled up Sachem (NY) East 10-5, crushed Bunnell 19-2 and upended Brookfield 17-5 to improve to 4-0 heading into the toughest test of the year against Weston on Tuesday.