By Kim J. Harmon

While the Newtown High School football team is still working its way through the regular season (and finally got a chance to play after being given an unintentional week off), three other teams – soccer, field hockey and volleyball – have begun state tournament play.

[With a couple of touchdowns by Roy Scheunemann and another by Bob Pattison, the football team had a chance to shake off some of the rust with a 21-8 win over rival Immaculate in Danbury.

[After dismantling Joel Barlow, 3-1, to capture its third South-West Conference championship in four years (see page B1), the boys’ soccer team began its quest for a CIAC Class LL state championship with a modest, 2-0, win over Ridgefield.

[After bowing out of the SWC quarterfinals with a 3-1 loss to Masuk, the volleyball team opened the CIAC Class L state tournament with a 3-1 win over West Haven.

[The field hockey team open CIAC Class L state tournament action on Wednesday in Simsbury while the girls’ soccer team – seeded third – opened CIAC Class LL state tournament action on Thursday against Hall of West Hartford.

There is still more action to come and – just think – there’s only 10 days left until winter sports practice begins.

FOOTBALL

Newtown 21, Immaculate 8

Despite being banged up and rusty, the Newtown High School football team still had the goods to overcome Immaculate last Saturday in Danbury.

Roy Scheunemann scored on touchdown runs of one and two yards and Bob Pattison added a 56-yard gallop in the third quarter to lead the Nighthhawks to a 21-8 win. Pattison finished with 107 yards on 13 carries while Scheunemann finished with 75 yards on 15 carries.

The ‘Hawks were forced to endure an unintentional bye week after a game with Bullard Havens in Bridgeport was postponed on October 30 for lack of referees. On top of that, quarterback Josh Rouse was already hobbled by an ankle sprain (although he did get in a few plays against his former school) and Brennan Coakley left due to a separated shoulder.

The win boosted the ‘Hawks to 4-2-1 on the year with the annual Boot Trophy game on Friday against New Milford, the re-scheduled game with Bullard Havens on November 19, and the traditional Thanksgiving Holiday match-up with Masuk on November 24 left on the schedule.

On Saturday, the ‘Hawks went to work early. After stopping the Mustangs cold deep in their own territory, a botched punt allowed the ‘Hawks to take over on the nine. Three plays later, Scheunemann scored the first touchdown (and his first of the season) and John Collins ran in the conversion to stake the locals to an 8-0 lead.

Scheunemann was back in the end zone in the second quarter, scoring on a two-yard run to put the ‘Hawks ahead, 14-0. Pattison then put the ‘Hawks on top, 21-0, with a 56-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Steve Kean provided the extra point.

The Mustangs – limited to just 160 yards of total offense – scored on a 25-yard interception return by Tyler Archer with less than five minutes to go in the game. It prevented the ‘Hawks from registering their second consecutive shutout and fourth shutout of the season.

Since allowing 54 points in an opening day loss to Pomperaug, the ‘Hawks have allowed just 35 points in six games – and 20 of those came in a 20-20 tie with Bunnell.

In his first varsity start at quarterback, sophomore Tucker Kass was 4-for-13 for 50 yards and hooked up with Brendan O’Connor for three of those completions.

 

Newtown 21, Immaculate 8

First quarter: Newtown – Roy Scheunemann 1 run (John Collins run). Second quarter: Newtown – Roy Scheunemann 2 run (pass failed). Third quarter: Newtown – Bob Pattison 56 run (Steve Kean kick). Fourth quarter: Immaculate – Tyler Archer 25 interception return (Tyler Archer pass from Matt Westervelt).

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Newtown – Bob Pattison 13-107, Roy Scheunemann 15-75, Joey DeVellis 4-16, Tucker Kass 3-4; Immaculate – Sam Bartlett 12-37, Matt Westervelt 4-21, Brendan McEwan 5-8. Passing: Newtown – Tucker Kass 4-13-1 for 50 yards; Immaculate – Matt Westervelt 9-25-0 for 94 yards. Receiving: Newtown – Brendan O’Connor 3-50, Brennan Coakley 1-0; Immaculate – Brendan McEwan 4-77, Steve Mulvey 1-12, Kevin Stascavage 2-8, Sam Bartlett 2-minus 3.

Rushing –

PLAYER                ATT     YDS    TD

Bob Pattison           89      515       6

Josh Rouse              41      242       3

John Collins            26      113       1

Joe DeVellis           28        94       0

Roy Scheunemann 20        91       2

Grant Speer             2        52       1

Billy Beatty              1        12       0

Tucker Kass              5        12       0

Marc Ingerman        1          1       0

Jeff Bell                    1         -8       0

TOTALS                216    1124     13

 

Receiving –

PLAYER               REC     YDS    TD

Brendan O’Connor 10      145       1

Brennan Coakley     9      127       2

Joe DeVellis             5        47       1

John Collins              5        32       0

Dan Kearns              3        37       0

Marc Ingerman        3        41       0

TOTALS                  35      429       4

 

Passing –

PLAYER      ATT  CMP     YDS    TD

Josh Rouse    67     26      328       3

Tucker Kass  32       9      101       1

TOTALS        99     35      419       4

BOYS SOCCER

Newtown 2, Ridgefield 0

 

It may seem odd that the No. 1-ranked team in Connecticut and No. 8-ranked team in the nation somehow couldn’t get a bye in the first round of the CIAC Class LL state tournament, but there it was Monday night – the Newtown High School boys’ soccer team – on the Blue & Gold Stadium field hosting Ridgefield.

“Can’t we catch a break?” head coach Brian Neumeyer joked last week after the seedings were announced.

Although the third-seeded Nighthawks were hosting the 30th-seeded Tigers, coach Neumeyer didn’t expect an easy road at any point in the Class LL tournament and the Tigers started the ‘Hawks with a pretty stiff test.

The ‘Hawks maintained possession for most of the game, but had trouble breaking through the Ridgefield defense. It wasn’t until the clock had ticked down to four minutes in the first half that the ‘Hawks finally broke through as Brian Miles lashed a shot past goaltender Dan Schafer.

Since the Ridgefield offense did not seem to be mounting any serious pressure on the Newtown defense, the goal gave the locals a little bit of breathing room. And with just over 11 minutes gone in the second half, Marcus Tracy – who had been bottled up pretty well by the Tigers – expanded the lead with a goal.

Tracy had gathered in a cross by Nick Mentesana and somehow dropped it right to his feet, turned between two Ridgefield defenders and hammered home the goal.

The Tigers managed just two shots on goal and Newtown netminder Adam Drummond was forced to make just one save.

The ‘Hawks (now 18-1) moved on to a second-round clash with defending LL co-champion Glastonbury, seeded 19th at 11-5-1, on Wednesday at Blue & Gold Stadium. Should the ‘Hawks win that, they will take on the winner of the game between sixth-seeded Manchester (15-2-0) and 11th-seeded Fairfield Prep (13-2-2) on Friday at a site to be determined.

Newtown 2, Ridgefield 0

GOALS: Newtown – Brian Miles and Marcus Tracy. ASSISTS: Newtown – Rodrigo DeSouza and Nick Mentesana. SHOT S: Newtown – 20; Ridgefield – 2. SAVES: Newtown – Adam Drummond 1; Ridgefield – Dan Schafer 9.

PLAYER                      G      A     PT

Marcus Tracy           32       8     40

Brian Miles               10       7     17

Rodrigo DeSouza       4     10     14

Chris Hoagland           7       5     12

Tony Magliocco         4       8     12

Brian Conroy              4       7     11

Ben Tirigall                 3       6       9

Marc Doherty            3       3       6

Alex Meisel                 0       4       4

Noah Kugielsky          1       3       4

Nick Mentesana         0       4       4

Kevin Quinn               1       2       3

Ryan Domingos          3       0       3

Ryan Davies               2       1       3

Justin Miller                0       1       1

Mike Nastri                0       1       1

Matt Taylor                0       1       1

Nick Sando                 1       0       1

TOTALS                    75     71   146

 

VOLLEYBALL

Newtown 3, West Haven 1

Confidence and consistency has become a problem for the Newtown High School volleyball team over the past couple of weeks and it showed on Monday afternoon against West Haven in the first round of the CIAC Class LL state tournament.

The 11th-seeded Lady Nighthawks defeated the 22nd-seeded Westies 25-17, 25-12, 22-25, 25-19 to advance to a Wednesday meeting with sixth-seeded Trumbull.

“Over the last few weeks the girls just stopped believing in themselves and each other,” said head coach Tom Czaplinski. “Each person has been waiting for someone else to step up and make the big play and is too afraid to do it themselves. If we could get our confidence back, we would be a much better team.”

Diana Grimaldi has been strong, though, and on Monday she came up with 17 kills, six digs, six blocks and three aces. Meanwhile, Lisa Morgan had 32 assists, eight aces, seven digs and four blocks in another steady game.

CROSS COUNTRY

CIAC State Opens

The Newtown High School boys’ cross country team capped off a strong 2004 season by finishing ninth overall at the CIAC State Open championships last Friday at Wickham Park in Manchester.

Guilford took the title with 119 points, edging South-West Conference champion New Milford by 30 points. Norwich Free Academy, East Lyme, Ledyard, Amity, Shelton and Woodstock Academy followed the Green Wave in and the Nighthawks claimed ninth with 243 points.

Alister Ratcliff was Newtown’s top finisher, coming in 53rd at 17:16. He was followed by Eric MacKnight (54th – 17:17), Charlie Baldour (73rd – 17:29), Jay Schunter (84th – 17:33) and Pete Dittmar (91st – 17:39).

Scott Nichols (94th – 17:40) and Chris DeRoo (160th – 18:49) also participated.

The girls’ cross country team was unable to participate as a team but was represented by Sadie Ball, who finished 144th overall at 18:13.