By Kim J. Harmon

A simmering rivalry between Newtown and Brookfield lent an air of tension to the South-West Conference boys’ basketball game between the two schools on Tuesday night.

Oh, yeah, and while some people might have anticipated a little off-the-court nonsense between the feuding student bodies, the Nighthawks quickly defused any potential “situation” by blowing the game wide open.

It was about the most exciting time of the past week as the girls’ basketball team suffered a loss to Kolbe before easing past a week Brookfield team; the swimmers dismantled Weston; the wrestlers dropped four in a row; and the hockey team – remember hockey? – shook off two weeks (and two periods) of rust to defeat Housatonic Valley.

And with the indoor track and field team heading to the South-West Conference championships this weekend, it reminds others that the post-season is just around the corner.

Read on -

BOYS BASKETBALL

Kolbe 46, Newtown 40

Newtown 69, Brookfield 46

Getting beat by Kolbe Cathedral last week did nothing the damage the confidence of the Newtown High School boys’ basketball team – and it showed on Tuesday night as the Nighthawks hammered Brookfield, 69-46.

“We were confident,” said senior guard Anthony Santella, who knocked down seven points, “but we also knew this was not the Brookfield of old. They have some good, young players but we knew if we took our ‘A’ game in here we could win.”

The ‘Hawks were practically oozing confidence as they put on a first-half clinic playing defense and running the floor. The Bobcats had no answers for Brennan Coakley or Josh Rouse under the basket and no answers for Marcus Tracy or Joey DeVellis out on the break.

Tracy led Newtown with 20 points, 12 of those coming in the first half. Kyle Lyddy – seeing his first action in eight games – canned 12 points and was 5-of-7 from the floor (the only two misses coming as he was fouled).

“A little bit of this was having Kyle come back,” said Santella. “Whenever he’s on the floor, he makes plays. We had a nice crowd, too, and it just felt like the juices were flowing.”

Things were touch and go early in the first quarter and after a few minutes, the ‘Cats had a 7-6 lead. But when DeVellis canned a three-pointer, the ‘Hawks had a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the night.

After the DeVellis three, Coakley – who signed February 2 his National Letter of Intent to play football at Penn State – then hit three consecutive baskets and a foul shot to put the ‘Hawks up by nine. Early in the second, Rouse popped in a bucket in the lane and – on an ensuing foul shot – Tracy grabbed the miss and flipped the ball into the basket to put the ‘Hawks up by 15.

Midway through the second, Lyddy stepped onto the floor for the first time and his first shot was a three-pointer from the corner. The senior co-captain then hit the next two baskets (one off a beautiful feed from Tracy on the run) and the ‘Hawks were up by 22.

By then, it was a matter of running out the clock. And even though the offense grew a little chilly in the second half, the ‘Hawks continued to run the floor (the locals had only nine field goals in the second half, but seven of those came on the break).

Coakley and Rouse combined for 16 points while DeVellis finished with seven.

Against Kolbe last week, the ‘Hawks struggled to put the ball in the basket (even from the free throw line, where they shot 3-of-13) and dropped a six-point decision. Coakley led all scorers with 13 points while Tracy added 10 and Santella contributed eight.

The ‘Hawks were slated to take on Immaculate Wednesday (in a game postponed from December) and will be in Waterbury on Friday night to take on Kaynor Tech. Next Tuesday, the locals will be in Monroe to battle Masuk.

Kolbe Cathedral 46, Newtown 40

NEWTOWN (40): Brennan Coakley 6 1-6 13, Kevin Quinn 1 0-2 2, Josh Rouse 2 1-1 5, Anthony Santella 3 0-0 8, Marcus Tracy 4 1-4 10, Joey DeVellis 1 0-0 2, Kevin Troy 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 3-13 40.

KOLBE-CATHEDRAL (46): Mike Puig 4 4-8 13, Levi Jenkins 1 3-4 5, TJ Robinson 4 4-4 12, Kabeya Kabango 1 2-2 4, Kenny King 2 0-0 4, Kevin Best 2 4-5 6, Andre Beckford 0 0-0 0, Torrey Joyner 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 17-23 46.

Three-pointers: Anthony Santella (N) 2, Marcus Tracy (N), Puig (K).

Newtown 69, Brookfield 46

BROOKFIELD (46): Andy O’Leary 2 0-0 4, Billy Thompson 4 2-2 12, Mike McManus 1 1-2 3, Jeff Chen 1 0-0 2, Ryan Deakin 10 3-12 25, Lee Fredericks 0 0-0 0, Chase Treibt 0 0-0 0, Mike Shaker 0 0-0 0, Arya Mehryari 0 0-0 0, Rob Fredericks 0 0-0 0, Greg Leshik 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 6-16 46.

NEWTOWN (69): Josh Rouse 3 1-5 7, Anthony Santella 2 2-4 7, Marcus Tracy 8 2-2 20, Joe DeVellis 3 0-0 7, Brennan Coakley 4 1-1 9, Kevin Quinn 1 2-2 4, Dave McLaughlin 1 0-0 3, Kyle Lyddy 5 1-4 12, Kevin Troy 0 0-0 0, Ryan McGrath 0 0-0 0, Adam Drummond 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 27 9-19 69.

Three-pointers: Thompson (B) 2, Deakin (B) 2, Marcus Tracy (N) 2, Anthony Santella (N), Kyle Lyddy (N), Dave McLaughlin (N), Joe DeVellis (N).

INDOOR TRACK

Heading to SWCs

After toiling in obscurity for the past couple of months, it is time to step forward and be counted.

The Newtown High School indoor track and field team will be heading to the South-West Conference championships this weekend at Wilton High School and head coach Dave Foss expects a few of his charges to make a decent amount of noise.

“Our best chance to score a lot of points is in the girls’ high jump and long jump,” said coach Foss. “We have five kids going in the high jump and six in the long jump and we have Quincey Blanchard trying for a school record.”

Last year, the boys finished fifth at the SWC championship meet while the girls finished seventh. With the size of his team and the number of athletes qualifying for the meet, coach Foss is hoping the girls make a jump to third or fourth and the boys take another step a two up the ladder.

On the girls’ side, Leah Herity has a shot at finishing second in the pole vault while Sadie Ball will challenge in the 1,000 and/or 1,600 meters. The relays – especially the 4x375 with Thornberg, Ball, Allison and Landin – could do well.

On the boys’ side, coach Foss expects Jon Larsen to be in the thick of it in the 600 meters while Mike Cash has a real chance at bringing home a title in the shot put. The ‘Hawks are also loaded pretty well in the 3,200 meters with Pete Dittmar, Charley Baldour, Eric MacKnight and Matt Cole.

The CIAC Class LL state championships will be held on Friday, February 11, at Hillhouse High School and the CIAC State Open will follow – also at Hillhouse – eight days later.

HOCKEY

Newtown 6, Housatonic 2

New Fairfield 4, Newtown 1

No, the season was not canceled; it only seemed that way.

Yes, after seeing four straight games postponed due to inclement weather and seeing no competitive action for the better part of two weeks, the Newtown High School hockey team finally returned to the ice last Friday against Housatonic Valley.

Rusty? You bet, but the Nighthawks – with a third-period offensive explosion – earned a 6-2 win as Sean “Buzz” LaPorta scored three goals and assisted on two others. The win, though, took a lot out of the ‘Hawks as they stumbled to a 4-1 loss the following day against South-West Conference rival New Fairfield.

Heading into a non-conference game against Fairfield on Wednesday, the ‘Hawks were 6-5-0 overall and 2-4-0 in the SWC.

Blake Bell opened the scoring against Housatonic with an unassisted goal, but the Mountaineers answered back with a pair of goals and took a 2-1 lead with just 1:01 left in the second period. The ‘Hawks – without co-captain Blaise LaPorta – were very lethargic.

“It was tough because we hadn’t been on the ice in like a week because of all the (school) delays,” said Buzz LaPorta.

But Buzz got the ‘Hawks shifted in the right direction with 30.5 seconds left in the second period, skating across the crease and slipping a back-handed slider into the net to even the score at 2-2. Yet the locals were – to that point – still being out-shot 27-10.

The lethargy finally wore off in the third period.

With 7:49 left, Buzz carried the puck down around the left wing and flipped a shot that rebounded off the Housatonic goaltender and onto the stick of Bell for an easy goal. With 3:40 left to play, Buzz scooped a puck at the blue line – preventing it from sliding into the neutral zone – and slid a long shot inside the right post to stake the ‘Hawks to a 4-2 lead.

Only a minute later, Corey Regensburger scored on a break up the ice as Francis Oggeri and Buzz fired off crisp passes through the neutral zone. Then Buzz finished things off with 59.5 seconds left with an unassisted goal.

With the rust shaken off, the ‘Hawks might have expected a better result on Saturday against New Fairfield. But a little worn down from the previous night, the locals dropped the 4-1 decision with Buzz scoring the lone Newtown goal off an assist from Bell.

After facing Fairfield at the Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport on Wednesday, the ‘Hawks will host Masuk on Saturday afternoon at the Danbury Ice Arena (puck drops at 3:50 pm) before taking on winless Joel Barlow next Wednesday (puck drops at 4 pm).

SWC Division 2

Standings

 

                             Overall       SWC

New Milford           9-6-0      7-1-0

New Fairfield          4-7-1      4-1-1

Bethel-Brookfield   5-8-1      3-3-1

Newtown                6-5-0      2-4-0

Masuk                      4-8-0      2-5-0

Joel Barlow           0-13-0      0-9-0

SWIMMING

Newtown 101, Weston 82

It was close … for a while.

Through the 500 freestyle, the Weston High School swim team was hanging fairly close to Newtown but then the Nighthawks – boasting a 5-2 mark at that point – decided to put the South-West Conference meet away.

With Chris Jacob winning two individual events and sharing in two relay wins, the ‘Hawks hammered the Trojans, 101-82, on Tuesday afternoon.

Jacob captured the 50 freestyle with a spectacular swim of 24.09 and then added a win in the 100 freestyle with a 52.83 mark. Along the way, he helped lead the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams to wins.

Andrew Heller (200 freestyle – 1:58.63), Anthony Fiore (100 backstroke – 1:01.32) and Jake Maher (100 breaststroke – 1:07.51) were also individual winners. The 200 medley foursome of Fiore, Maher, Toi and Jacob finished in 1:48.22 while the 200 freestyle foursome of Heller, Jacob, Fiore and Maher finished in 1:38.5 for a couple of wins.

Stefan Toi (200 individual medley – 2:10.8), Max Barrett (50 freestyle – 24.65), Heller (100 freestyle – 54.37), Scott Whalley (500 freestyle – 6:02.14), Allen Hubbard (100 breaststroke – 1:12.68) and Bryan LaCouture (diving – 170.33 points) all grabbed second-place finishes.

The ‘Hawks will host Staples on Friday and will conclude the dual meet season next Tuesday at home against New Fairfield.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Kolbe 55, Newtown 36

Newtown 43, Brookfield 32

It might not have been all that pretty, but at least it was a win.

No doubt, the Newtown High School girls’ basketball team (9-6) – coming off another loss to Kolbe Cathedral last week – expected to roll over Brookfield (3-11) on Tuesday night in Brookfield but in the end struggled to earn an 11-point win.

Meg Kelley was the lone Newtown player in double figures as she canned 11 points. Siobhan Cooper tossed in nine points while Carly Curran added six and Ciara Simek and Kacy Foehrenbach had five apiece.

But a win is a win.

And the Lady Nighthawks wished the same could be said about last Friday, but the locals dropped a 55-36 loss to undefeated Lady Cougars. While the Cougars were not as sharp as the ‘Hawks had seen them back on December 16 (despite a 23-point effort by Antonnea Robinson), the ‘Hawks struggled all night from the floor.

After Cooper tossed in a basket on the fly (off a nice feed from Simek on the break), the score was tied at 5-5. But the Cougars went on a 14-3 run to take a firm grip on the game and the locals never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

D’Lea Cohan added 16 points for the visitors while Erica Beverly and Tiauna Laing chipped in with 10 points apiece.

Kelley paced the ‘Hawks with a 15-point effort, including the lone three-pointer of the game. Cooper added six points and Ashley LaRocque chipped in with four.

The girls will host Masuk on Tuesday night (the locals defeated the Pantherettes 32-31 back on December 30) before traveling to Bethel on Friday, February 11. The regular season will come to a close with games against Stratford (February 14) and Lauralton Hall (February 16).

Kolbe-Cathedral 55, Newtown 36

KOLBE (55): Antonnea Robinson 7 9-12 23, Erica Beverly 4 2-6 10, Timiesna Rivera 2 0-0 4, D’Lea Cohan 3 0-1 6, Tiauna Laing 5 0-0 10, Curtia Humbert 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 22 11-21 55.

NEWTOWN (36): Meg Kelley 7 0-0 15, Darcy Fiscella 0 0-0 0, Katie O’Connor 0 1-2 1, Ashley LaRocque 1 2-2 4, Carly Curran 1 0-0 2, Ciara Simek 1 0-0 2, Siobhan Cooper 3 0-1 6, Kristi Nowak 0 0-0 0, Christie Iwanicki 1 0-0 2, Kacy Foehrenbach 1 0-0 2, Amy Kelley 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 16 3-5 36.

Three-pointers: Meg Kelley (N).

Newtown 43, Brookfield 32

NEWTOWN (43): Meg Kelly 4 3-7 11, Darcy Fiscella 0 0-0 0, Katie O’Connor 1 1-2 3, Ashley LaRocque 2 0-0 4, Carly Curran 2 2-4 6, Ciara Simek 2 1-2 5, Siobhan Cooper 4 1-3 9, Kristi Nowak 0 0-0 0, Christie Iwanicki 0 0-0 0, Kacy Foehrenbach 1 2-2 5, Jill Logan 0 0-0 0, Amy Kelly 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 10-20 43.

BROOKFIELD (32): Judy Allen 4 5-8 14, Bianca Bartoli 1 0-1 2, Caitlyn Coyle 0 0-0 0, Nikki Stoltz 0 1-2 1, Natalie Rascona 0 0-0 0, Stephanie Meyer 0 0-0 0, Sam Schueschner 1 1-3 3, Alex Granger 1 0-0 2, Christina Preville 4 2-4 10. TOTALS: 11 9-18 32.

WRESTLING

New Milford 56, Newtown 21

Newington 47, Newtown 24

One of the basic strengths of the Newtown High School wrestling team has been its depth – and that’s good, because these guys are dropping like flies.

The Nighthawks went into the 2004-05 season without Dan Kearns (broken collar bone), Jeff Bray (knee) and Gary Andrews (shoulder) and have since lost Steve Giacolone (18-4 before being stopped by a broken foot), Ben Snyder (shoulder) and Justin Bass (hip).

Bass is the only one likely to return before the end of the season.

“We have a very deep team and are fortunate to be able to field a full squad in spite of a large number of wrestlers being out,” said head coach Al Potter. “But losing three more starters this week was tough. Our younger wrestlers need to step up and help us finish the season strong. This is a team of young people who never give up no matter what the odds are. I like that in this team.”

The Nighthawks won nine of their first 11 matches of the season, but have since dropped five in a row – Simsbury, New Milford, Conard, Newington and New Britain. The locals are 9-7 overall, 4-3 in the South-West Conference.

After suffering a 56-21 loss to powerhouse New Milford last week, the ‘Hawks limped into Newington last Saturday and dropped all three matches.

Against New Milford, Skye Perry started things off well with a 3-1 win over Zach Lee at 160 pounds before Alex Read pinned Kyle Bradshaw with four seconds left in the third period at 189 pounds. After Brandon Thomas pinned Steve Bendricks in 2:25 at 215 pounds, the ‘Hawks had a 15-3 lead on the Green Wave.

But then the match began to slip away. Newtown’s only other win the rest of the night was a forfeit earned by Kevin Wasicki at 130 pounds.

This past weekend, Perry (17-4), Bob Pattison (17-5) and Read (20-5) continued their winning ways at 160, 171 and 189 respectively.

Read was 3-0 with a pair of pins and now has an eight-match winning streak since a disappointing loss against Brookfield. The senior co-captain now has 85 wins for his high school career; Pattison continued to be a warrior with determination and heart as the first-time went 2-1 on the day, only losing 7-6 to the state-ranked Newington captain; and Perry also went 2-1 with a pair of pins on the day, giving the senior co-captain 14 pins on the season.

All three look to be strong contenders for SWC medals this season.

In other action, junior Kimberly Solheim grabbed another pin at 103 against New Britain while Jeff Lipnick (125), Mike Rambone (119), Colin O’Connor (145), Ryan Peters (152), and Thomas (215) also wrestled well during the quad match.

The ‘Hawks traveled to New Fairfield on Wednesday night and will be in Westport on Saturday morning to take on Staples. The regular season will conclude next Wednesday against Weston.

sports@thebee.com