“It's a long season,” Coach Bobby Pattison said after his Newtown High School football team played its season opener, on September 9.

The Nighthawks have a lot of football ahead and a chance to bounce back following what was a long night — in more ways than one. Visiting Greenwich defeated the Nighthawks 34-14 at Blue & Gold Stadium. The matchup took just under three hours, a product of delays caused by players cramping and penalties piling up.

Newtown fell behind 14-0 after one quarter of play before turning things around in the second quarter. Quarterback Dylan Magazu connected with J.J. Haddick on a 23-yard touchdown pass and catch. After a Greenwich penalty on the point after attempt, the Nighthawks went for two points and Magazu ran the ball into the end zone. It was 14-8 with 10:02 to play in the half.

Neither team scored again until the third quarter. Andrew Grenier picked off a pass as time expired.

The momentum shift did not carry over into the second half as the Cardinals carried a 20-8 lead into the fourth and scored 20 second-half points before a late Newtown TD. Backup quarterback Jayden Cordova threw a screen pass to Cam Ward who went 68 yards for a touchdown. The extra point attempt failed.

“I think we made a lot of mistakes mentally and physically. We can’t go backwards to start a drive,” said Pattison, referring to penalties pushing Newtown into long yardage situations.

The cramp issue was more prevalent on the Newtown side and caused the Nighthawks to shuffle players around.

“We didn’t give up,” Pattison said. “We had some kids who really stepped up and played their hearts out but we came up short.”

Greenwich is a challenging team, a nonconference foe out of the FCIAC.

“They’re a tough opponent. They’re a very good, physical team,” Pattison said. “They’re a number one team in the state for a reason.”

Newtown’s coach is hopeful the Hawks turn the corner in a week two visit to Bethel, Friday, September 16, at 7 pm.

“We’ve got to go back to the basics a little bit. We’ve got to get better at blocking and better at tackling,” Pattison said.

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