By Kim J. Harmon

The weather wasn’t bad, but it still was a dismal week for Newtown High School sports.

The hockey team dropped a pair of decisions, the boys’ basketball team dropped a pair of decisions while seeing their sophomore sharpshooter head to the sidelines for the rest of the season with a broken wrist, and the girls’ basketball team suffered a dreadful first quarter and fell to Kolbe Cathedral.

But the swimmers remained hot, pounding Weston to improve to 7-1, and the indoor track and field team seems destined for some good things at the South-West Conference championships this weekend in Wilton.

Read on –

SWIMMING

Newtown 102, Weston 84

It may have been closer than head coach Matt Childs would have liked, but the Newtown High School swim team regrouped midway through its South-West Conference meet with Weston on Tuesday night to register another win.

With the 102-84 decision, the Nighthawks improved to 7-1, with rival Brookfield looming on the horizon (Friday, to be exact).

A false start infraction at the start of the 100-yard butterfly put a crimp – at least temporarily – in the Nighthawks’ plans of pulling away from a strong, but undermanned, Weston team. The Trojans took advantage of the false start to eradicate a six-point Newtown lead and tie the meet, 47-47.

But with Max Barrett racing to a first-place finish in the 100 freestyle and Stefan Toi cruising to a first-place finish in the 500 freestyle, the ‘Hawks slowly pulled away. Newtown then captured the 200 freestyle relay while before Anthony Fiore won the 100 backstroke and Brendan Deveney won the 100 breaststroke.

  Barrett (50 and 100 freestyle), Toi (200 and 500 freestyle) and Deveney (200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke) were all double winners while Anthony Fiore (100 backstroke) was a solo winners. The 200 freestyle relay team of Jeff Bonaccorso, Nick Maurer, Barrett and Deveney also captured a first-place finish.

Zack Moliver had a key second-place finish in the 200 individual medley while Fiore notched a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle and Marissa Bobkowski recorded a third-place finish in diving. Chris Hoagland, who finished second in the one-meter diving, put together his best performance of the season, scoring 155.80 points and qualifying for the South-West Conference and CIAC state championships.

The results –

Newtown 102, Weston 84

200 medley relay – 1. Weston (Loechan, Hyman, Seigel, McNight) 1:48.12, 2. Newtown (Barrett, Deveney, Moliver, Fiore) 1:49.06, 3. Newtown (Parker, Stein, Fragoso, Bonaccorso) 2:03.31. 200 freestyle – 1.Toi (N) 1:54.03, 2. Bottager (W) 1:56.68, 3. Grambug (W) 2:01.78, 4. Whalley (N) 2:04.63, 5. Forth (W) 2:07.64. 200 individual medley – 1. Deveney (N) 2:08.98, 2. Moliver (N) 2:19.28, 3. McNight (W) 2:21.82, 4. Parker (N) 2:22.04, 5. Gram (W) 2:31.08. 50 freestyle – 1. Barrett (N) 24:47, 2. Seigel (W) 25.00, 3. Nyman (W) 25:68, 4. Bonaccorso (N) 25.79, 5. Merth (W) 27.32. Diving – 1. Krassin (W), 2. Hoagland (N) 155.80, 3. Bobkowski (N) 110.40. 100 butterfly – 1. Weston 1:03.05, 2. Fragoso (N) 1:07.48, 3. Weston 1:10.94, 4. Morlath (N) 1:13.16, 5. Weston 1:17.15. 100 freestyle – 1. Barrett (N) 52.76, 2. Bottager (W) 53.62, 3. Fiore (N) 54.02, 4. Herring (N) 56.92, 5. Fallou (W) 58.19. 500 freestyle – 1. Toi (N) 5:14.36, 2. Loernne (W) 5:23.47, 3.McKnight (W) 5:28.28, 4. Whalley (N) 5:47.43, 5. Miller (W) 6:22.82. 200 freestyle relay – 1. Newtown (Bonaccorso, Maurer, Barrett, Deveney) 1:39.14, 2. Weston 1:40.25, 3. Newtown (Whalley, C. Fragoso, Morlath, O’Connor) 1:49.81. 100 backstroke – 1. Fiore (N) 58.64, 2. Greenburg (W) 1:00.84, 3. Maurer (N) 1:02.21, 4. Parker (N) 1:02.66, 5. Loerne (W) 1:04.04.100 breaststroke – 1. Deveney (N) 1:07.15, 2. Weston 1:09.15, 3. Weston 1:16.08, 4. C. Parker (N) 1:19.44, 5. Stein (N) 1:22.88. 400 freestyle relay – 1. Weston 3:45.58, 2. Newtown (Toi, Moliver, Maurer, Fiore) 3:46.59, 3. newtown (Whalley, Albritton, Pisacreta, C. Fragoso) 4:06.89.

HOCKEY

New Milford 6, Newtown 2

Wat/Pomp 3, Newtown 1

Things were going pretty well for a while there – even on into the second period – but the Newtown High School hockey team did not have enough firepower to overcome New Milford in a South-West Conference tilt at the Danbury Ice Arena last week.

The Nighthawks dropped a 6-2 decision last Wednesday to the Green Wave and then suffered a 3-1 loss to Watertown-Pomperaug at Taft School in Watertown on Saturday and the ‘Hawks – who haven’t won since a 5-3 decision over Masuk back on December 20 – dropped to 2-7-2 on the year.

Against New Milford, Francis Oggeri put the ‘Hawks on top with an unassisted goal just 4:08 into the first period. The Green Wave answered back twice, but then Oggeri – on an assist from Blake Bell – tied the game up at 2-2 just 5:59 into the second period.

From that point on, it was all New Milford.

Four unanswered goals put the game away.

Newtown was out-shot 41-19 in the game with goaltender Mike Jurasek turning away 35 shots. Jurasek faced 40 shots against Watertown-Pomperaug on Saturday and turned away 37 of them, but the ‘Hawks could only manage the one goal on 14 shots.

Watertown-Pomperaug opened the scoring in the first period but Bell – off assists from Oggeri and Matt Wright – tied the game up just 57 seconds into the second period. Watertown-Pomperaug followed up about 14 minutes later with the go-ahead goal and then, in the third, added the insurance tally.

The locals squared off against Bethel-Brookfield on Wednesday in Danbury and will be at the Canterbury School on Saturday to face New Milford again (puck drops at 1:15 pm). The ‘Hawks will then host Sheehan on Wednesday.

Newtown               1    1     0      - 2

New Milford          1    3     2      - 6

GOALS: Newtown – Francis Oggeri 2. ASSISTS: Newtown – Blake Bell. SHOTS: Newtown – 19; New Milford – 41. SAVES: Newtown – Mike Jurasek 35.

Newtown               0    1     0      - 1

Wat/Pomp              1    1     1      - 3

GOALS: Newtown – Blake Bell. ASSISTS: Newtown – Francis Oggeri, Matt Wright. SHOTS: Newtown – 14; Watertown-Pomperaug – 40. SAVES: Newtown – Mike Jurasek 37.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Kolbe 64, Newtown 53

Newtown 62, Brookfield 36

If the Newtown High School girls basketball had any hopes last Friday at the Shehan Center in Bridgeport of repeating the dramatic win over Kolbe-Cathedral it recorded back on December 16, they were dashed with a dreadful start.

The Lady Nighthawks scored just four points in the opening stanza and could not recover, falling 64-53.

That earlier win over Kolbe capped a three-game winning streak for the ‘Hawks, but sent them down a road where they lost three of their next four games. Following the loss to Kolbe last week, though, the ‘Hawks pounded Brookfield, 62-36, to improve to 9-6 overall.

In the loss to Kolbe, Carly Curran canned a game-high 17 points with Kacy Foehrenbach tossing in 14. Christie Iwanicki added eight points (with the help of a three-pointer) and Morgan Knees dropped in six.

Lina Francasini paced the Lady Cougars with 17 markers as Ashley Prim added 14 and Curtaia Humbert dropped in 11.

In the win over Brookfield, Ciara Simek and Foehrenbach tossed in 12 points apiece while Curran dropped in 11. Knees added eight while Iwanicki and Condon, who drained a pair of three-pointers, contributed six points apiece.

The ‘Hawks hosted New Fairfield on Thursday in a game postponed from last month and will be in Monroe on Tuesday to take on arch-rival Masuk.

Kolbe-Cathedral 64, Newtown 53

NEWTOWN (53): Ciara Simek 0 0-1 0, Carly Curran 7 3-5 17, Kacy Foehrenbach 7 0-3 14, Christie Iwanicki 1 5-6 8, Kristi Nowak 2 0-0 4, Darcy Fiscella 1 2-2 4, Morgan Knees 3 0-0 6, Lauren Ciccomascolo 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 10-17 53.

KOLBE CATHEDRAL (64): Deja Mann 1 0-0 2, Ashley Prim 3 8-9 14, Kamila Burwell 3 2-2 8, Bianca Young 3 0-0 6, Lina Francasini 8 1-1 17, Curtaia Humbert 4 1-3 11, Briana Barnes 2 2-2 6, Briana Francasini 0 0-1 0, Glady Hudson 0 0-1 0. TOTALS: 24 14-19 64.

Three-pointers: Humbert (K) 2, Iwanicki (N).

Newtown 62, Brookfield 36

BROOKFIELD (36): Amanda Peterson 0 0-0 0, Bianca Bartoli 3 0-0 7, Caitlyn Coyle 0 0-0 0, Alexandra Grainger 0 0-0 0, Christina Preville 2 0-0 4, Taylor Shockley 0 2-2 2, Nikki Stolz 3 0-0 6, Samantha Schueschner 7 3-4 17. TOTALS: 15 5-6 36.

NEWTOWN (62): Ciara Simek 6 0-1 12, Carly Curran 5 1-1 11, Kacey Foehrenbach 6 0-0 12, Christie Iwanicki 3 0-1 6, Kristi Nowak 1 3-3 5, Darcy Fiscella 0 0-0 0, Casey Frobey 0 0-0 0, Morgan Knees 4 0-0 8, Lauren Ciccomascolo 0 0-0 0, Katie Condon 2 0-0 6, Kelley Tenney 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 27 6-8 62.

Three-pointers: Condon (N) 2, Bartoli (B).

WRESTLING

Newtown 38, Stratford 34

Newington 47, Newtown 27

Newtown over New Britain

Facing a 28-8 deficit with more than half of the match in the books, the Newtown High School wrestling team was yet to send some of its more formidable members onto the mat and Stratford was scrambling to find a way to hold on.

Gary Andrews’ 70-second pin of Mike Flathers at 152 pounds started the ‘Hawks off on a dominating run that saw them score 28 unanswered points enroute to a 38-34 win.

It was the Andrews win that had the Red Devils making a last-minute lineup change, giving up the 160-pound bout to Jagi Enkhbaatar and bumping up two wrestlers to a higher weight class for potentially easier matches.

After Enkhbaatar registered the forfeit, the Red Devils were ahead, 28-20. But then Matt Meehan slapped a second-period pin on Ramiro Martinez at 171 pounds and Bryant Aliaga slapped a second-period pin on Joey Valentine at 189 pounds to give the ‘Hawks a 32-28 lead.

Stratford still had a shot, but Joel Minalgo put the match away with a third-period pin of Brian Gallego to clinch the win.

Over the weekend, the ‘Hawks split matches with Newington (loss) and New Britain (win) and have improved to 12-8 overall, 6-2 in the South-West Conference. The locals hosted Bunnell on Wednesday and will be in Westport on Saturday to take on Staples, Platt, Holy Cross and Fairfield Prep.

The ‘Hawks will close out the regular season on February 8 at Bethel.

Seniors

The Nighthawks bid a formal farewell – even though there were three regular season meets still left on the schedule – to six seniors during Senior Night festivities:

Head coach Alan Potter said seniors Kim Solheim (“I’m very proud of what she has done for herself and what she has done for the team”), captain Jeff Lipnick (“An extremely hard worker and our best hope for an SWC champion”), captain Colin O’Connor (“The only four-year wrestler on the squad who is well respected by teammates”), Gary Andrews (“A real tough kid who has contributed much to the success of this team”), Matt Meehan (“It’s not often a first-year wrestler helps out the team, but Matt has stepped up and done just that”) and Aadil Ansari (“It’s so hard to find a big kid to wrestler. But Aadil is out big guy and he has done a heck of a job for us”) will be sorely missed.

Newtown 38, Stratford 34

103: Nick Sharatono (S) maj. dec. Kimberly Solheim 16-8. 112: Anthony Ricko (S) tech. fall John Gouveia 23-8. 119: Dana Van Buskirk (N) maj. dec. Zach Polmervidi 12-4. 125: Mark Bonamici pinned 3:30. 130: Jeff Lipnick (N) maj. dec. Jessica Ray 14-5. 135: Trion Logan (S) pinned Mitch Ruczinski 3:00. 140: Steve Flathers (S) maj. dec. Colin O’Connor 10-0. 145: Mike Baldino (S) dec. Jeff Bray 2-1, OT. 152: Gary Andrews (N) pinned Mike Flathers 1:10. 160: Jagi Enkhbaatar (N) won by forfeit. 171: Matt Meehan (N) pinned Ramiro Martinez 3:45. 189: Bryant Aliaga (N) pinned Joey Valentine 3:41. 215: Joel Minalgo (N) pinned Brian Gallego 5:32. 275: Jordan Myron (S) pinned Aadil Ansari 5:12.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Kolbe 65, Newtown 35

Brookfield 55, Newtown 47

Already struggling in a rebuilding year, the Newtown High School boys basketball team will struggle even harder now that sharpshooter Kevin Troy is out for the remainder of the season with a broken wrist while forward Marc Ingerman hobbles his way through games with a back injury.

The Nighthawks dropped to 4-10 overall and 2-7 in the South-West Conference with a 65-35 loss to Kolbe Cathedral on Friday and a 55-47 loss to Brookfield on Tuesday. The ‘Hawks have lost three in a row and five of their last six.

In the loss to Kolbe, Mike Kennedy tossed in 13 points and Joe DeVellis chipped in nine with the help of a three-pointer. The Cougars, though, were powered by the efforts of PJ Robinson (15) and Sean Walker (12).

Things only got a little better on Tuesday in the loss to Brookfield as Kennedy dropped in 15 points. Shawn Coakley added nine while DeVellis and Dave McLaughlin chipped in seven points apiece. Bill Thompson of Brookfield led all scorers with 18 markers while Greg Leshik added 16 more.

The ‘Hawks – hoping to shut down their losing streak – will host Masuk on Tuesday before heading down to Bethel next Friday.

Kolbe Cathedral 65, Newtown 35

KOLBE-CATHEDRAL (65): Mike Puig 3 0-0 7, Moyan Henry 1 2-4 4, PJ Robinson 6 2-3 15, Josh Gonzalez 3 2-2 8, Sean Walker 3 6-6 12, Kevin King 0 2-2 2, Dominque Langston 0 0-0 0, Chester Foster 0 0-0 0, Zachary Moore 0 2-2 2, Nick Bajda 0 0-2 0, Dencenturo Allen 0 3-4 3, Levi Jenkins 4 2-2 9. TOTALS: 21 21-29 65.

NEWTOWN (35): Shawn Coakley 2 0-0 4, Joe DeVellis 3 2-5 9, Marc Ingerman 0 0-0 0, Mike Kennedy 5 3-4 13, Dave McLaughlin 1 2-2 4, Mike Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Jack Quinn 1 0-4 2, Dan Smith 2 0-2 4, Jason Smith 0 0-0 0, Kevin Troy 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 7-17 36.

Three-pointers: Puig (K), Robinson (K), DeVellis (N).

Brookfield 55, Newtown 47

NEWTOWN (47): Shawn Coakley 3 3-3 9, Joe DeVellis 2 2-2 7, Marc Ingerman 0 0-0 0, Mike Kennedy 7 1-1 15, Dave McLaughlin 2 3-4 7, Mike Mitchell 1 1-3 3, Jack Quinn 0 0-0 0, Dan Smith 1 0-0 3, Mike Maher 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 16 14-18 47.

BROOKFIELD (55): Greg Leshik 6 4-9 16, Mike McManus 2 0-0 4, Jeff Chen 1 0-0 2, Adam Freedman 0 0-0 0, Bill Thompson 4 8-10 18, Chris Gallo 0 0-0 0, Arya Mehryari 0 0-0 0, Wes Yusko 2 3-6 8, Colin Deakin 0 0-0 0, Mike Shaker 0 3-4 3, Ben Post 0 0-0 0, Matt Nimer 0 4-6 4. TOTALS: 15 22-35 55.

Three-pointers: Thompson (B) 2, DeVellis (N), Smith (N), Yusko (B).

INDOOR TRACK

Heading to SWCs

The South-West Conference championships – it’s what the Newtown High School indoor track and field team has been working all winter to prepare for and come Saturday, at Wilton High School, it will be GO time.

While sending along four relays, 18 athletes have qualified for 25 individual events and all that gives the Lady Nighthawks an excellent chance of coming away with a title. The boys will also send four relays, but only 11 athletes in 16 individual events.

Qualifiers for the girls are Rishonai Hines – 45 dash (6.9); Jessica Halloran – 45 dash (6.8); Sara Peters – 45 dash (6.7), long jump (13-4); Sarah Grose – 45 hurdles (8.5); Alison McEmber – 300 meters (45.88), 600 meters (1:52); Julie Landin – 300 meters (45.77), 600 meters (1:52); Remy Ball – 600 meters (1:51), pole vault (6-6); Lucy Manos – 600 meters (1:50.23); Moira Collier – 1000 meters (3:23.01), 1600 meters (5:55); Sadie Ball – 1000 meters (3:13.68), 1600 meters (5:41); Whitney Allison – 1600 meters (6:05); Christie Attanasio – 1600 meters (6:04.91); Michelle Brennan – 3200 meters (12:30); Lindsay Weber – high jump (4-10); Jenna Wan Waalwijk – high jump (4-10), long jump (13-8.5); Teresa Taylor – shot put (27-0); Jaclyn Van Waalwijk – shot put (28-0.25); Rachel Eastman – pole vault (6-6).

Qualifiers for the boys are Luke Powers – 45 dash (6.01), shot put (36-3); Brian Pennarola – 45 dash (6.01), 300 meters (40.9); Will Jacobs – 45 hurdles (7.6); Dan Tichon – 300 meters (41.04); Scott Nichols – 600 meters (1:31.37); Eric MacKnight – 1000 meters (2:49), 3200 meters (10:13.88); Zack Schwartz – 1000 meters (2:47.9), 3200 meters (9:49.76); Matt Cole – 1600 meters (4:59.72); Charlie Baldour – 1600 meters (4:34.2), 3200 meters (10:33.01); Ryan Morrissey – high jump (5-4); Chris Nuelle – pole vault (11-0).

For the girls, Holly O’Day, Andie Maret, Sarah Bonacci and Hines will run the 4x225 relay (2:10.08); McEmber, Meghan Barbour, Emily Lockhart and Landin will run the 4x375 (4:10.18); Attanasio, Allison, Jacqui Kirol and Remy Ball will run the 4x750 (10:37); and Lockhart, Halloran, Barbour and Kirol will run the sprint medley (4:28.23).

For the boys, Powers, Tichon, Cody Cullens and Pennarola will run the 4x225 (1:53.83); Nichols, Kevin Hoyt, Cole and Morrisey will run the 4x375 (3:37.38); Morrissey, Kevin Donahue, Cole and Nichols will run the 4x750 (8:16.87); and Matt Saxonmeyer, Nuelle, Tichon and Hoyt will run the sprint medley (3:47.63).

The meet will begin at 10 am.