By Kim J. Harmon

With all the hub-bub over the South-West Conference championship hopes of the Newtown High School boys’ soccer and girls’ swim teams (see related story), other teams had a chance to conclude their 2003 campaigns somewhat quietly.

[ The field hockey team finished up a 4-9-3 campaign with a 0-0 tie against Shepaug, perennial powerhouses in the Berkshire League.

[ The cross country teams finished up their exceptional seasons at the CIAC State Opens.

[ For the second match in a row, the volleyball team was defeated by Bunnell – this time bouncing the Lady Nighthawks out of the CIAC Class L tournament.

Sure, the football is still in the throes of its regular season and earned its second qin with a convincing 34-19 decision over Jonathan Law last Friday.

Here it is –

Scoreless Tie Concludes

Field Hockey Season

It was not the most spectacular way to conclude the season, but a scoreless tie with Shepaug – one of the powerhouses of the Berkshire League – certainly held a lot of merit for Newtown High School field hockey head coach Kathy Davey.

“The kids played so well,” she said. “We generated some offense and got some corners. I told the girls, ‘this is what you build on for next year.’ It was awesome.”

With the South-West Conference playoffs out of their reach, the Lady Nighthawks scheduled a game with Watertown High School – the former stomping grounds of coach Davey – for Monday, but Watertown canceled the game at the last minute.

And, so, that is that.

The ‘Hawks conclude the 2003 season at 4-9-3.

Senior captain Amanda Hadgraft led the team with seven goals and with an assist notched eight points for the season. Meg Regnery popped in five goals, herself, and recorded a pair of assists to give her seven points. Cat Williams, Amanda Shevlin, Lindsey Coyle and Maggie Boushell all scored goals.

Gridders Roll Over

Jonathan Law

Through its first seven games, the Newtown High School football team has had a devil of a time getting the ball into the end zone – scoring, in fact, just over six points a game. But on Friday night, against a team that has allowed better than 30 points a game, scoring did not figure to be a problem for the Nighthawks.

And it wasn’t.

Newtown crushed Jonathan Law, 34-19, as six different players scored touchdowns. The win boosted the Nighthawks to 2-5-1 with a Saturday contest upcoming against Weston on Saturday, November 8. Kick off is set for 1 pm.

Josh Rouse tossed a pair of touchdown passes to fuel the offense – one a 74-yard hookup with Brett Eastman and the other a 19-yard hookup with Brendan O’Connor. Rouse was 4-for-10 for 145 yards through the air.

On the ground, John Collins rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries to lead the rushing attack. Marc Ingerman rushed for 31 yards and a touchdown on just two carries while Ben Bagaglio rushed for 20 yards and a touchdown on just three carries. Kyle Kirch, Rouse and Roy Scheunemann picked up 35 yards on a combined seven carries.

Fine Showings At State

Open X-C Meets

 

With their success at the South-West Conference championships still fresh in the minds of their fans, the Newtown High School cross country teams put the finishing touches on the 2003 season last week at the CIAC State Open meet at Wickham Park in Manchester.

The girls (two-time SWC champions) finished 22nd as a team while the boys (runners-up to New Milford) finished 20th as a team. Carolyn Brennan (35th, 16:40) and Peter Dittmar (48th, 17:06) were the top local finishers.

For the girls –

Laura Reid finished 99th overall at 17:42 and was followed in by Sadie Ball (121st, 17:55), Leah Herity (192nd, 19:02), Moira Collier (193rd, 19:02), Caitlin Thursland (194th, 19:03) and Caitlin Weber (196th, 19:04).

For the boys –

Alister Ratcliff finished 95th overall at 17:40 and was followed in by Phil Zencey (100th, 17:44), Jay Schunter (130th, 18:02), Chris DeRoo (160th, 18:29), Jake Sullivan (165th, 18:33) and Charles Baldour (170th, 18:35).

Sweep Closes Out

Volleyball Season

 

A rather subdued and disappointing season came to its inimitable end on Monday night when the No. 26 Newtown High School volleyball team was swept by No. 7 Bunnell in the qualifying round of the CIAC Class L state tournament (25-15, 25-20, 25-23)

Oddly enough, it was a loss to Bunnell that dropped the Newtown out of the South-West Conference tournament a week ago. And with that, the Lady Nighthawks – the 2002 SWC champions – finished up 9-11.

Stephanie Logan concluded her stellar career with 23 kills and five aces while Lisa Morgan contributed eight digs and 23 assists.

The Lady Nighthawks began the season 0-4, but started to turn things around with a 3-0 win over Stratford on Friday, September 19. After a disappointing 3-1 loss to Weston on Thursday, September 25, the ‘Hawks went on a four-game winning streak that included victories over Brookfield (3-0), New Fairfield (3-2), Notre Dame (3-0) and New Milford (3-0). Their most stirring victory of the season, however, was a 3-0 sweep of Lauralton Hall on Wednesday, October 22, which secured the ‘Hawks a spot in the SWC and CIAC Class L state tournaments.