It has been a hot offensive and defensive start for Newtown High School’s boys’ soccer team. The Nighthawks opened the season with a 4-0 win at Notre Dame Prep in Fairfield on September 4 and followed that up with a 2-0 blanking of visiting Masuk of Monroe on September 9. Then came a 5-0 win at Brookfield on September 11.

Against Notre Dame, Kaio Dos Santos, Noah Kooper, Gabe Petertonjes, and Dan Tzakas all found the back of the net. Ryan Payne had two assists and Jeff Prout and Dos Santos also set up goals. Dos Santos is among the freshmen who have made an immediate impact at the varsity level.

In the Masuk game, Noel McLeod got the scoring started when he crashed the net and headed home a rebound of a long free kick blast by Ryan Payne that clanked off the cross bar and deflected off Masuk’s goalkeeper. The goal came with 19:14 left in the first half. A second-half tally by Payne, assisted by Malakai Ortner, gave goalkeeper James D’Amico and the Nighthawk defenders some insurance.

“Team work ethic is growing every day — starting to see some very bright things from a lot of players,” said Newtown Coach Ryan Lyddy, adding that the Hawks have utilized their depth getting a lot of players a lot of minutes on the field in the early going.

Newtown’s scheduled game with South Windsor at Farmington Sports Arena was postponed on September 6. The Hawks will look to keep their winning start going and, following Thursday’s scheduled visit to Brookfield (coverage in the September 19 print edition of The Bee), will host Fairfield Prep Saturday, September 13 at 6 pm.

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