Luca Manfredi moved up from youth wrestling to Newtown High School this year, but his development in the sport is not only on the competition side. In addition to wrestling in varsity matches, competing in the 106-pound weight division, this grappler is a referee in the Newtown Youth Wrestling Association (NYWA).

Newtown High School's girls' basketball team battled visiting Notre Dame-Fairfield to the finish before falling 56-53 on January 23

Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team fought off a hard-working Bethel squad to earn a 64-53 victory at home on January 16 then worked double overtime to defeat host Torrington 78-73 on January 20, two days after the game was postponed due to snow.

Basketball can be a game of runs and the January 16 Newtown-Bethel contest, a rematch of last year’s South-West Conference girls’ basketball championship was a great example of this. The visiting Newtown Nighthawks used a 26-0 run to blow the game open before holding off the Wildcats en route to a 53-37 victory.

The Newtown High School Athletic Department is looking for a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer for the Blue & Gold Booster Club.

SOUTHBURY — Newtown High School's gymnastics team was runner-up among 11 schools at the Pomperaug Invitational on January 11. Newtown scored 130.150 points. Fairfield Warde won the competition with 134.450. Hannah Jojo was third in the all around with a score of 33.9 and Marisa Choi came in tenth in the all around with a 32.250.

SOUTHBURY — A clash between South-West Conference rivals host Pomperag and Newtown High School, both of which came in with 6-1 overall marks — and that always seem to have competitive battles — not surprisingly provided for a close-throughout contest. Newtown came out on top 52-48 in this January 14 matchup, claiming a lead early in the third quarter and never letting it go despite a valiant effort by the Panthers.

The only thing that stopped Riley Ward from sinking 3-point shots was a late-game substitution out of the game. Ward canned five shots from downtown, all in the fourth quarter, as Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team pulled away for a 68-46 triumph over visiting Pomperaug of Southbury on January 13.

It has been a challenging start to the season for Newtown High School’s hockey team, making a 5-3 triumph over visiting Northeastern at Danbury Ice Arena on January 11 all the more fulfilling.

Coach Ron Chivinski had a lot to be pleased with following his Newtown High School wrestling team’s 39-27 victory over visiting Pomperaug of Southbury on January 8. With the Nighthawks giving up a pair of weight classes with forfeits and up against some tough competitors, it was a match that could have gone either way.