By Kim J. Harmon

MILFORD – It was a breeze.

When the coaching staff told the bus driver to sit still and wait out the match, rather than going off and doing some Christmas shopping, it was clear the Nighthawks were preparing to make short work of an undermanned Foran squad on Wednesday.

And short work it was.

The Nighthawks defeated the Lions, 57-22, in just 40 minutes to boost their South-West Conference record to 2-0. The quickness of the match – and the victory itself, admittedly – was assisted in a large part by Foran forfeits in six different weight classes.

Newtown opened with a 12-0 lead when John Read, at 103 pounds, and Kent Anderson, at 112 pounds, earned the initial forfeits of the evening. That paved the way for an entertaining match at 119 pounds between Matt Sullivan of Newtown and Jeremy Reutelshofer of Foran.

Sullivan got the initial takedown to grab a quick 2-0 lead and then squeezed out two more points by the close of the first period to take a 4-0 lead. Then in the second period, at the 3:08 mark, Sullivan got Reutelshofer into a leg lock and sewed up the match with a pin.

Newtown led 18-0. Then Dan Maley earned a quick 45 second pin at 125 pounds to put Newtown ahead 24-0, leading to Foran’s first victory of the night – Mike Suppe over the Nighthawks’ Nick Fowler – at 130 pounds.

It was a tight match early in the first, with Suppe taking a 2-0 lead but Fowler tying it up quickly with a reversal. But Fowler lost a point on an illegal hold and the match began to slip away from there. Suppe recorded a pin at 1:23 to trim the Newtown lead to 24-6.

The two toughest matches of the evening came next, with Adam Prokop pinning Eric Schmedlin at 5:20 of the third period at 135 pounds and Adam Esarey squeezing out a 4-2 win over Dave Hoss at 140 pounds.

Prokop and Schmedlin were locked into a good battle, trading a pair of points early before Prokop grabbed a 4-2 lead on a second-period reverse and nearly earning the pin as time expired. That seemed to provide the impetus, because Prokop came out fast in the third, taking a 9-2 lead before pinning Schmedlin at 5:20.

For Esarey, it was a matter of plugging away and avoiding mistakes. Esarey took the initial 2-0 lead on a takedown and then went ahead 4-0, but Hoss earned a two-point reversal near the end of the third to trim Esarey’s lead to 4-2. Despite the lead, Esarey had a hard time enjoying an advantage over Hoss through the first two periods, but he finally earned position in the third and spent the last 30 seconds of the match trying to push Hoss’ shoulders down just one more inch for the pin.

Esarey didn’t get the pin, but his victory put Newtown ahead 33-6.

Tyler Miles lost a major decision, 14-2, to Bill Hoss at 145 pounds and the Newtown lead was trimmed to 33-10. Kevin Woessner then was pinned by Mike Brennan at 1:39 of the first period at 152 pounds and the Newtown lead was trimmed even further to 33-16.

But that was the last real wrestling for the night. The rest of the evening was spent sorting out all the forfeits – Steve Selezan of Newtown earned a forfeit at 160 pounds, Chris Symes of Newtown earned a forfeit at 171 pounds, Chuck Borden of Foran earned a forfeit at 189 pounds, and then Angelo Bordetti and Tom Denninger of Newtown earned forfeits at 215 and 275 pounds.

When that was all over, Newtown had a 57-22 win.

Last week, the Nighthawks grabbed a 46-33 win over Bunnell in the 1999-2000 season opener, relying on their strength in the light- and middle-weight events. Read and Sullivan both earned pins at 103 and 112 pounds and Ross Alpert secured a forfeit win at 119 pounds. Dan Maley followed with a pin of Brian Kearney at 125 pounds and Nick Feola came up with a pin of Sean Abramson at 130 pounds.

All those pins were first-period efforts.

Prokop defeated Rich Mocarski, 14-8, at 135 pounds and Mike Daniels earned a disqualification over Steve Walling at 140 pounds due to excessive blood time. Bunnell earned its first win at 145 pounds when Dan Yacobino defeated Esarey, 11-4, cutting the Newtown lead at that point from 40-0 to 40-3.

Selezan earned Newtown’s final win of the night at 152 pounds when he pinned Rich Miller at 3:00, giving Newtown a 46-3 lead. Bunnell followed with four pins and a forfeit win to make the match considerably closer.

The Nighthawks will take their 2-0 record to Pomperaug on Tuesday, December 28, for a 10 am match. The ‘Hawks are then scheduled to travel to the Norwalk Tournament on Wednesday and the Danbury Tournament on Thursday in a busy school vacation week.