So Close ...Nighthawk Football Team Falls Short To Bethel

By Andy Hutchison

DANBURY — There were some positive things, for the Newtown High School football team, to come out of a week two contest against Bethel. Unfortunately for the Nighthawks, a win was not one of them. Bethel, which “hosted” the game under the lights at Danbury High on September 25, came away with a 34-28 win, leaving Newtown at 1-1 to begin the season.

The Nighthawks got three touchdowns from Rory Noonan and, behind the arm of quarterback Will Arndt, out-gained Bethel 311-42 in through-the-air yardage, but it wasn’t enough.

No loss is welcomed, but this seemed to be an especially frustrating defeat for the Hawks who hurt themselves with penalties on offense and defense and just couldn’t find an answer to thwart Bethel’s running attack all night long. The Wildcats ran for 376 of the game’s 403 rushing yards between the South-West Conference foes.

“Their line was stronger than us. They pushed us off the ball. I feel like we’ll grow from this, learn a lot about ourselves, and bounce back next week,” Noonan said.

“We just couldn’t stop them was the bottom line. They scored 34 points on us — we didn’t expect that at all. We expected to hold them to a lot less than that and we didn’t,” Newtown High Coach Steve George said.

Newtown burned its second half timeouts toward the end of Bethel’s tiebreaking, game-deciding drive in the final minutes in an effort to save some clock time for a late drive of its own. Bethel kept eating time off the clock, and finally punched the ball into the end zone with 31 seconds remaining. The Nighthawks, who played catch-up throughout the game, managed to move the ball from their own 20 yard line to the Bethel 47 before time ran out.

It was a penalty-filled contest in which the Hawks piled up nearly 100 yards in flag tosses, many on false start penalties and holding calls.

“To battle back from that and be in the game, in itself, is a credit to the kids for fighting back,” George said. “I came down to 10, 15 seconds and no timeouts.”

Noonan scored on a three-yard run in the first quarter. The missed extra point left the Wildcats with a 7-6 edge after one. Down 14-6 late in the second, Newtown climbed back to within a point after Max Nacewicz’s 35-yard fumble return to the Bethel 14 set up Arndt’s four-yard TD strike to Noonan.

In the third, Nacewicz returned the second half squib kick to midfield, had a 45-yard reception and caught a five-yard TD pass to give the Hawks the lead. Noonan plowed his way to the goal line for a two-point conversion and 21-14 NHS lead. On the ensuing drive, Bethel converted a third and three yards to go scenario, got a break on a third and 14 holding penalty against NHS, and scored on a fourth and two at the NHS 16 to tie the game at 21 apiece with 4:05 to play in the third.

A Newtown fumble led to another Bethel score and a 28-21 lead early in the fourth.

Newtown’s Sean Devaney had a 43-yard screen pass catch and run to set up the Hawks with a first and goal from three yards out. Arndt proceeded to hook up with Noonan on a scoring strike on the next play. The game was knotted at 28-28 with 9:53 to go.

The Nighthawks halted a Bethel drive with a fumble recovery at their own 27 but, with the Nighthawks threatening to march into scoring position, Arndt was picked off and the Wildcats began their decisive drive at their own 35 with 7:13 to play. After Bethel QB Brandon Schmidt scored from five yards out for a six-point lead, Newtown’s Mike Lord blocked the extra point but the Hawks couldn’t do enough with what little time remained.

“It was real frustrating but it is what it is,” George said. “They beat us up front and that was what won the game for them.”

Of course, this game was just the second of ten to be played this fall.

“We’ve got to lick our wounds and get back to work,” George said. “There’s still a lot of football left.”

Following an October 2 date with Immaculate in Danbury, the Hawks visit Oxford on October 9.

Devaney had five catches for 95 yards, Nacewicz caught three passes for 65, Dan Hebert six for 52, Noonan five for 48, and Brendan McNamara two for 43. On defense, Lord compiled a team-best 11 tackles, Nacewicz had ten, Noonan and Louis Fenaroli both had eight, and Matt Datin recorded seven and had a quarterback sack.