Newtown High School's football team took advantage of great field position and built a commanding 43-0 halftime lead en route to a 57-0 blanking of visiting Bethel at Blue & Gold Stadium on November 7.

It was the Nighthawks' third shutout and fourth game with 50-plus points this campaign.

NHS opened the scoring when Cole Stockwell rushed into the end zone from a yard out to cap a 62-yard drive with 7:53 to play in the first quarter.

A third and 14 conversion — quarterback Marcus Gerace's 23-yard completion to Grady Marks — helped set up a Gerace to Emmet Regan TD pass from seven yards out to conclude a 61-yard possession. Another Jake Roszman extra point made it 14-0 Hawks with 2:21 left in the opening quarter.

Nick Pavia's quarterback sack for a loss of eight yards helped back the Wildcats into a punting situation; Bethel faked the kick and turned the ball over on downs at its own 38 yard line. The Nighthawks moved the chains with Gerace connecting with Stockwell for a 19-yard pass and run play on third and one.

NHS cashed in early in the second quarter. After Kieran Garrity had a nine-yard reception and brought the ball to within a yard of the end zone, Pavia punched it in, extending the lead to 21-0 less than a minute into the second.

Gerace and Marks hooked up on a 70-yard TD passing play with Marks using several cut-back moves to get up field and all the way into the paint helping extend the lead to 28-0. After the Hawks forced a punt Gerace hit Stockwell with a screen pass and Stockwell took the ball 26 yards to set up first and goal. Gerace completed a nine-yard pass to Marks for a score on the next play.

Even when things seemingly were not going right they worked out for the Hawks. A bobble on the point after snap was no issue as holder Gerace gathered the ball and found Pavia alone in the end zone for a two-point conversion and a comfortable 36-0 Nighthawk lead with just 1:32 to go before halftime.

There was still time for Newtown to score more points in the opening half thanks to a Pavia fumble recovery at the Wildcat 41 with 1:08 left. Travis Rekos had a key third-down reception to set up Pavia's three-yard TD rush on the final play of the half, making it 43-0.

Newtown tacked on two more TDs in the second half. Stockwell scored on a five-yard run and backup quarterback Jack Colonel completed a three-yard pass to Max Malitsky.

The Hawks travel to Notre Dame Prep in Fairfield for a 6:30 pm kickoff on Friday, November 14.