Newtown High School’s football team overcame an early deficit and pulled away in the third quarter in a 30-20 victory over visiting Joel Barlow of Redding, on Senior Night, at Blue & Gold Stadium on October 28.

The Nighthawks handed the Falcons their first loss; both teams stand at 6-1 overall.

This was Newtown’s toughest test of the season since a week one setback to Class LL school Greenwich. The Class SS Falcons proved that school/program gave the Class L Hawks all they could handle in the opening half.

A 22-yard Andrew Swierbut field goal got the scoring started and gave the Hawks a 3-0 lead with just 30 seconds left in the opening quarter. Newtown has lost the ball on a fumble but got it back on the next play, when Andrew Grenier pounced on the pigskin following Mark Sokk’s tackle and strip. Newtown recovered at the Falcon 41 and ran ten plays before breaking the scoreless battle.

Barlow answered on quarterback Danny Shaban’s 75-yard TD rush just 14 seconds into the second quarter.

Cam Ward’s solid return on a short squib kick set up the Nighthawks with good field position, at their own 47. Two long plays, including a would-be touchdown, were wiped off the board on penalties, but Newtown persevered. Swierbut moved the chains on a fourth down rush and quarterback Dylan Magazu followed the push from his offensive line to paydirt, scoring on a two-yard carry. It was 10-7 Nighthawks with 5:15 left in the opening half.

Newtown’s defense bottled up the usually elusive Shaban and stifled the Falcons’ triple option offense for the better part of the rest of the game.

The Falcons recovered a Newtown fumble at the NHS 36 yard line but couldn’t capitalize. It was 10-7 at the break.

The Hawks turned a three-point lead into a 16-point cushion in a matter of two minutes midway through the third quarter.

Newtown’s defense stuffed the Barlow offense on a fourth and nine play and took over on downs early in the third. Two plays later, Caleb Smith broke several tackles and got free for a 69-yard rushing TD. The extra point was no good but it was 16-7 Hawks with 6:04 left in the third.

Swierbut’s 67-yard punt return for a score padded the lead; it was 23-7 with 4:04 left in the quarter.

Sokk recovered a fumble at the Barlow 25 with 3:37 to play in the third, but Barlow’s defense held Newtown to a 30-yard field goal try that missed. NHS led 23-7 heading to the fourth.

The Falcons converted a fourth down and scored soon thereafter to pull to within 23-13 with 8:58 remaining. The two-point conversion try, in an effort to make it a one-possession game, failed.

Newtown had its first punt of the night midway through the fourth but the NHS defense held and forced another Barlow punt. Several J.J. Haddick runs moved the ball close to the goal line, and Haddick scored a TD on the ground on third and goal from two yards away. NHS led 30-13 with 1:25 left.

A couple of penalties aided a late Barlow scoring drive, capped by another Shaban touchdown.

“We knew this was going to be a big game. Barlow’s a very good football team. They’re hard to prepare for. It’s a hard offense to emulate,” Newtown Coach Bobby Pattison said.

Newtown’s coach said some of his players on defense had to play out of position by design to contain the Falcons’ unique offense.

Sokk was all over the field on defense, and Brock Dukate and Smith joined forces for a key fourth down stop early in the game.

“We won the turnover battle tonight — that’s huge,” Pattison added.

Magazu was on and off the field battling injury late in the first half and ultimately was sidelined in favor of backup Jayden Cordova who put in a nice performance off the bench, especially during the second half.

Pattison said he anticipates Magazu being back in the pocket and taking snaps soon enough.

The Hawks have three games left in the regular season; after visiting Stratford on November 4, they host New Fairfield on November 11, then visit Masuk of Monroe on Wednesday, November 23.

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