Sometimes winning easily is not as satisfying as being challenged, even if it means not only a hard-fought triumph but also a setback or two along the way. Such is the case for the Newtown High School wrestling team, which had some tough out-of-state competition in the fold for the fourth Nighthawk Invitational Duals, held on four mats at the NHS gymnasium on December 28.

Newtown settled for second place behind Kellenberg Memorial High of Uniondale, N.Y., and defeated eventual third-place finisher West Springfield, Mass. in a competitive match; the Nighthawks also won handily over Norwalk and Staples of Westport. The Nighthawks had won their tourney each of the first three go-arounds and this year, in an effort to make this one of the most competitive events in the region, invited New England’s seventh-ranked team in West Springfield and Long Island’s top-ranked squad. Newtown is third in New England (among 170-plus teams across six states).

“We need to beat tough competition. It doesn’t help us to dominate someone,” said Newtown Coach Chris Bray, whose team is targeting South-West Conference and State Championships one year after runner-up placements in multiple postseason matches. “We want to be challenged. We want to feel threatened.”

The Nighthawks got just that in a hard-fought 45-33 win over West Springfield. Kellenberg defeated NHS 44-32 in the championship round. The Hawks had defeated Norwalk and Staples both by 59-21 scores earlier in the day.

Against West Springfield NHS winners were: 106 pound weight division grappler Owen Blair (pin fall), 120 Kenna Gioffre (pin), 132 Dante Ames (pin), 138 Shaun Daoust (pin), 150 Antonio Arguello (pin), 157 Jake Maddox (pin), 165 Marc Maurath (pin), and 215 Thomas Morgan (7-1 decision).

In the Kellenberg match Nighthawks to come out on top were: 106 Blair (pin), 120 Gioffre (pin), 138 Daoust 11-1 major decision, 150 Arguello (pin), 157 Maddox 14-5 major decision, and 215 Morgan (pin).

Also picking up victories during the tourney were: 126 Rafe D’Agostino, 144 Grayson Renkert, 175 Andrew Corey, 190 Andrew Gegelishvili, and 285 Brayden Ayles.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.