By Kim J. Harmon

A perfect start to the 2003-04 winter sports season – what more could anyone at Newtown High School ask for?

To be fair, only two teams (girls’ basketball and hockey) have seen any action so far and only five games have been played. But with the girls’ basketball team at 3-0 and the hockey team at 2-0-0, the new season is nevertheless off to a rousing start.

And what’s more –

[ Kelley Haines’ march to 1,000 points has moved 49 points further along the line – from 858 to 907. At her current scoring rate, expect her to eclipse the mark on January 3 against Immaculate (at home) or January 6 against Notre Dame (on the road).

[ There is a new offensive force on the ice – an explosive force in Buzz LaPorta. Head coach Paul Esposito marveled at the off-season regimen Buzz and his brother, Blaise, underwent and it seems to be paying enormous dividends already. Buzz has five goals and two assists in just two games.

Hopefully, this momentum will continue as the wrestling, swimming and boys’ basketball teams lumber into action this week.

There used to be a day – not so long ago – when Kolbe-Cathedral was an automatic win on the Newtown High School girls’ basketball schedule.

But times have changed. Oh, the Lady Nighthawks discovered that last year when the Lady Bulldogs really stepped up into South-West Conference prominence and were reminded once again last Thursday as the two teams tangled to open the 2003-04 season.

The ‘Hawks escaped with a 63-59 win only after surviving a fourth-quarter onslaught by Kolbe that was fueled by a ferocious full-court press. An 11-point lead dwindled to nothing with 38.4 seconds left … which is when Jacky Curran (14 points, 10 rebounds) made a steal and fired a pass down to Julie Iwanicki (12 points) for a layup and subsequent foul that put the ‘Hawks ahead, 60-57.

Kolbe – led by Division I prospect Erica Beverly (16 points) – inched to within one point with a quick basket, but Iwanicki canned a free throw with 21.4 seconds left and Kelley Haines (13 points) popped in two of her own with 8.3 seconds left to ice the game.

People might have expected Haines, a Division I prospect heading to the University of New Hampshire, to be the offensive star of the game and even though she popped in six points in the first period, it was Curran who really led the way with her double-double.

But everyone had a chance to contribute in this one. Curran scored 14, Haines added 13 and then Iwanicki and Stephanie Logan chipped in with 12 points apiece. Ashley Larocque, Tori Filler and Katie O’Connor popped in four points apiece.

Things got measurably easier after that tough win, too, as the ‘Hawks rolled over St. Joseph’s of Trumbull (67-42) and Stratford (71-20) to run their record to 3-0.

In the win over St. Joseph’s, Logan scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to power the Newtown offense. And with Haines pouring in 20 points with the aid of four three-pointers, the ‘Hawks were able to offset a strong performance by Kate Reaney of St. Joseph’s (22 points).

The ‘Hawks got off to a bit of a slow start, but took an 11-point lead into the second quarter and never looked back. Larocque and Siobhan Cooper added eight points apiece while Iwanicki had six, Curran had five and O’Connor had four.

In the win over Stratford, Haines canned 16 points (with a trio of three-pointers) while Logan added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Curran and Cooper popped in 11 points apiece. Sarah King, a transfer from Massachusetts, scored her first five points in a Newtown uniform and added a three-point basket along the way.

The ‘Hawks will host Brookfield on Friday night and next week will participate in the annual Masuk Holiday Tournament (varsity and junior varsity). The ‘Hawks open the tournament against Simsbury on Friday, December 26, at 6 pm.

Kolbe            13    17      8   21  - 59

Newtown     18    16    15   14  - 63

 

NEWTOWN (63): Iwanicki 2 8-11 12, Curran 7 0-1 14, Logan 5 2-4 12, Larocque 2 0-2 4, Cooper 0 0-0 0, Filler 1 2-2 4, Haines 5 2-3 13, O’Connor 2 0-0 4 (Totals: 24 14-23 63); KOLBE (59): Robinson 6 3-5 15, Beverly 6 4-6 16, Rivera 1 0-0 2, Humbert 2 1-2 6, King 3 2-2 8, Prim 5 2-4 12, Connen 0 0-0 0 (Totals: 27 12-19 59).

Three-pointers: Haines (N), Humbert (K).

St. Joseph’s     5    10    11 16 – 42

Newtown     16    18    20   13  - 67

 

NEWTOWN (67): Logan 7 2-2 16, Larocque 4 0-3 8, Haines 8 0-0 20, Curran 1 3-5 5, Iwanicki 3 0-0 6, Cooper 4 0-0 8, O’Connor 2 0-0 4, King 0 0-0 0, Palermo 0 0-0 0, Simek 0 0-0 0 (Totals: 29 5-10 47); ST. JOSEPH’S (42): Reaney 8 6-10 22, Capozziello 4 4-7 12, Miller 0 0-2 0, Banks 1 0-0 2, Moore 1 0-0 2, Voytek 1 0-0 2, Lovenziana 1 0-0 2, Carrol 0 0-0 0, Barlett 0 0-0 0 (Totals: 16 10-19 42).

Three-pointers: Haines (N) 4.

Stratford         9      1      8     2  - 20

Newtown     27    17    16   11  - 71

 

NEWTOWN (71): Iwanicki 2 0-0 4, Curran 5 1-1 11, Logan 3 4-6 10, Larocque 3 0-0 6, Cooper 5 1-4 11, Filler 2 0-0 4, Haines 6 1-2 16, O’Connor 2 0-0 4, King 2 0-0 5, Palermo 0 0-0 0, Gaston 0 0-0 0, Foehrenbach 0 0-0 0 (Totals: 30 7-13 71); STRATFORD (20): Williams 5 2-6 14, DeAngelis 0 0-0 0, Gillis 0 0-0 0, Vena 0 0-0 0, Miles 1 0-0 2, Sheftie 0 0-0 0, Danzy 0 0-0 0, Kerrigan 2 0-0 4, Bosik 0 0-0 0 (Totals: 8 2-6 20).

Three-pointers: Haines (N) 3, King (N), Williams (S) 2.

Rebuilding?

After losing a core group of skaters, the Newtown High School hockey team was – almost by definition – in a rebuilding mode. Head coach Paul Esposito said as much when he was reviewing the prospects for the 2003-04 season.

But a week into the season, the Nighthawks are 2-0 with victories over Joel Barlow and Masuk (the same Masuk team that defeated Newtown in overtime in the South-West Conference semi-finals last year).

“It’s very nice to grab two SWC games,” said coach Esposito. “The team is hungry this year and I don’t see its appetite dieing off anytime soon.”

Speaking of appetite, co-captain Sean “Buzz” LaPorta had predicted a win (a 6-3 win) after eating three pancakes at the team breakfast that morning. He was hoping for another short stack, but didn’t want to wait around and maybe that’s why the Nighthawks only won 5-3.

Nevertheless, LaPorta (5-2-7) scored three goals and assisted on another to fuel the win. Nick Magoulas (a former goaltender) and Nick Harris also scored goals while Blaise LaPorta and Harrison Kass provided assists.

Goaltender Pete Oggeri faced 48 shots and turned away 45 of them, but he got a lot of help from the defense.

“Our defense did a nice job of keeping Masuk out of Pete’s view,” coach Esposito said. “Harry Kass, Grant Speer, Bryan Walsh and newcomer Zach D’Agostino played very well defending our zone.”

The ‘Hawks have certainly gotten a spark from the transformation of Magoulas from goaltender to forward. And guys like Travis Speer and Steve Vichiola are already contributing to the effort. Add to that the sniper ability of Nick Harris and the rejuvenated LaPorta brothers (fresh from an extreme off-season conditioning program) and the ‘Hawks could be far better off than most teams that are ‘rebuilding.’

The ‘Hawks opened the 2003-04 season with a 4-3 win over Joel Barlow, rallying from a 3-2 deficit with a pair of goals in the third period. Buzz opened the scoring in the first period off an assist from Kass, but Barlow tied the score in the second period on a goal by Sean Delaney. After Grant Speer put the ‘Hawks ahead, 2-1, the Falcons went ahead with two goals to close out the period.

Corey Regensburger and Buzz lifted the ‘Hawks into a 4-3 lead with third period goals, but Oggeri had to make a couple of dramatic saves in the final 30 seconds to preserve the win.

The ‘Hawks continued their SWC schedule against Bethel on Wednesday night at the Danbury Ice Arena (after press time). They will host Division I Notre Dame of Fairfield on Saturday and will travel to Salisbury on Tuesday, December 23, to take on Housatonic Valley Regional.

Joel Barlow           0    3    0      - 3

Newtown              1    1    2      - 4

GOALS: Newtown – Sean LaPorta (2), Grant Speer and Corey Regensburger; Joel Barlow – Sean Delaney (2) and Frank Garigliano. ASSISTS: Newtown – Harry Kass, Sean LaPorta and Nick Harris; Joel Barlow – Shawn Surbey and Scott Heller.

Newtown              1    2    2      - 5

Masuk                   1    1    1      - 3

GOALS: Newtown – Sean LaPorta (3), Nick Magoulas and Nick Harris; Masuk – Pat Lawson, Stroz and Cihal. ASSISTS: Newtown – Blaise LaPorta, Sean LaPorta and Harry Kass; Masuk – Cihal (2), Stroz (2), Caya and Lawson. SAVES: Newtown – Pete Oggeri 45.

The Newtown High School indoor track team participated in a pre-season scrimmage at Wesleyan University in Middletown last week and the results were very promising … such as a few athletes already besting SWC qualifying times.

Caitlin Thursland in the mile (6:08), Tim Carlisle in the 55 hurdles (8.88), Caitlin Weber in the 55 hurdles (10:38) and Quincey Blanchard in the long jump (14-2) are off to a strong start in 2003-04.

“It was, overall, a solid scrimmage,” said head coach Dave Foss. “We saw some strong performances, but we will have even more good stuff Wednesday at the same place (Wesleyan) for our first official meet.”

In other action –

Moira Collier ran the mile in 6:27 to help pace the girls while Alister Ratcliff (5:15), Jon Larsen (5:18) and Scott Nichols (5:23) led the boys in the mile. In the 55 dash, Rich McCulloch – who happens to be an assistant coach, not an eligible athlete – had the best time of the night at 7.60, but Carlisle was a close second at 7.61. Leah Herity, meanwhile, sparked the girls in that event.

Then in the long jump, John Kostecki leapt 16-1. And in the 400-meters, Dan Gindraux and Carlisle ran 61.4 and 61.9, respectively, to lead the boys as frosh Julie Landin (1:11.8) and Herity (1:12.0) sparked the girls.