Newtown High School’s boys’ golf team is set to start its first fall season as the sport transitions from spring to autumn in some of the state’s conferences, including the South-West Conference.

The Nighthawks will hit the course running, but it is also fair to say they will hit the road running. Three matches away from home in as many days are scheduled to kick off the slate. It all gets started about ten days before any of the other fall sports seasons begin. Newtown visits Weston, Immaculate of Danbury, and Joel Barlow of Redding August 30 and 31, and September 1, respectively. The first home match is Wednesday, September 8, when Stratford visits Rock Ridge Country Club at 3 pm.

The Nighthawks graduated one from the spring, Jake Mailloux, and have a solid returning corps bolstered by the return of Trevor Hislop, who competed for the Nighthawks as a freshman and sophomore before participating at Ridgefield’s Golf Performance Center as a junior.

Expectations are high for success this season.

“I think we will be one of the top teams in the conference this fall. My returning players have been improving their games all summer. Also, Trevor Hislop returning to the NHS golf team makes us stronger,” Newtown Coach Shawn Tierney said.

Seniors, in addition to Hislop, are Brendan Adams, James Celentano, and Alex Walton. Junior Josh Glass and sophomores Charlie Hanson, Colin Luby, and Tyler White round out the roster.

The switch to fall means the loss of sophomore Carter Briggs, who will play soccer instead. Although the move from spring to fall was done in part to offer more sports-playing options for boys, given that there are more offerings in the spring, Newtown’s golf program will not benefit out of the gate.

“I was hoping we might get some players from other spring sport teams, but that didn’t happen,” Tierney said.

It will be a brief but busy slate as the golf teams try to squeeze in 15 matches in a little more than a month before the mid-October postseason. All matches will begin at 3 pm.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.