By Kim J. Harmon

While the eyes of Newtown High School fans were focused on Danbury (CIAC Class LL boys’ soccer championship game) and Norwalk (CIAC Class LL girls’ soccer championship game), the swimming and football teams – moving quietly under the radar – continued to improve their already impressive 2004 resumes.

The swimmers finished ninth overall at the CIAC State Open championship meet at Southern Connecticut State University on Saturday while the gridders registered their sixth win of the season with a 35-14 decision over Bullard Havens last Friday.

SWIMMING

CIAC State Open

Another school record and another strong finish in an already remarkable season.

What started with an undefeated dual meet season (10-0) and continued with a South-West Conference championships and then a second-place finish at the CIAC Class L state championships has concluded for the Newtown High School swim team with a ninth-place finish at the CIAC State Open championships.

With Cheshire High School – as expected – earning the title and Greenwich coming in second, the Lady Nighthawks solidified their position among the best teams in the entire state.

Cheshire scored 691.5 points and Greenwich scored 498 points and those state powerhouses were followed by Darien (315), Amity Regional (298), Hand (298), Ridgefield (288), Manchester (185), Fitch (185), and Newtown (176). Rounding out the top 10 was Westhill (137).

For the ‘Hawks, the 200 medley relay team of Maricate Conlon, Abby Atkinson, Sally Tabler and Jaclyn Van Waalwijk finished 13th at 1:56.83 (Cheshire set the pace at 1:49.30). The 200 freestyle relay team of Amy Robinson, Liz Gugino, Van Waalwijk and Maggie Hemingway finished 16th at 1:43.95 (Cheshire 1:38.61) and then the 400 freestyle relay team of Robinson, Sally Tabler, Hemingway and Atkinson finished eighth at 3:42.62 (Cheshire – 3:34.39)

Meanwhile, Atkinson finished 14th overall in the 200 individual medley at 2:14.58 (Whitney McLellan of Avon – 2:06.48) and then 10th in the 100 breaststroke at 1:09.95 (again, McLellan of Avon – 1:03.85) while Maricate Conlon finished 12th in the 100 backstroke at 1:02.33 (Erin McLaughlin of Amity Regional – 58.27).

With their finish in the 400 freestyle relay, the ‘Hawks broke their fourth school record since the dual meet season ended – Atkinson has two of those in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke while the 200 medley relay has the other.

The ‘Hawks will return to the pool in 2005 minus a few seniors (such as Amy Robinson), but certainly as strong as ever.

FOOTBALL

Newtown 35, B. Havens 14

With only one game left on the schedule, it seems readily apparent that the Newtown High School football team has successfully shed the shock of its 54-7 season opening loss to Pomperaug.

Since that day – when just about everything went wrong, starting with the game being moved to Danbury High School – the Nighthawks have gone 6-1-1. The only blemishes came against the top two teams in the Patriot Division … the loss to Brookfield (7-0) and the tie with Bunnell (20-20).

As expected, the ‘Hawks dismantled winless Bullard Havens last Friday, 35-14. The game had originally been scheduled for October 29 in Bridgeport, but the referees never showed up and the game was re-scheduled for last Friday at Blue & Gold Stadium.

Sophomore quarterback Tucker Kass was 7-of-10 for 140 yards and tossed scoring strikers to Brennan Coakley (25 yards) and John Collins (11 yards).

Bob Pattison led the ground attack and scored on runs of four and 11 yards. Marc Ingerman also had a touch, scoring from four yards out.

Junior kicker Steve Kean was a perfect 5-for-5 on his extra point attempts.

The ‘Hawks were looking to go out on a winning note on Wednesday night against Masuk in the traditional Thanksgiving matchup.

Patriot Division

TEAM                W-L-T      PF     PA

Brookfield          9-0-0    257        3

Bunnell               7-1-1    233    163

Newtown           6-2-1    202    118

Weston               3-6-0      86    227

Immaculate       3-6-0      98    191

New Milford      1-8-0    147    263

Bullard Havens  0-9-0      62    402

Colonial Division

TEAM                W-L-T      PF     PA

Pomperaug         9-0-0    328      83

Masuk                7-2-0    367    141

Bethel                5-4-0    222    165

Notre Dame      4-5-0    256    212

Stratford            4-5-0    209    235

Joel Barlow        2-7-0    103    220

New Fairfield    2-7-0      82    229