Newtown High School Week In Review

By Kim J. Harmon

A pool record wasn’t enough. A 1,600-meter title wasn’t enough. A game-high 18 points wasn’t enough. And six three-pointers weren’t enough.

It was that kind of week for Newtown High School as a lot of things seemed to be going okay, only they weren’t – like when the swimming team’s 200 medley relay group of Anthony Fiore, Jake Maher, Andrew Heller and Chris Jacob broke a 27-year-old pool record on Tuesday night against New Fairfield and – gosh darn it – only came in second.

Yeah, it was that kind of week.

INDOOR TRACK

Girls – 3rd at SWCs; Boys – 4th at SWCs

Sadie Ball isn’t one to let an opportunity slip away and when the lead runner in the 1,600 meter race at the South-West Conference indoor track championships inexplicably began to slow up short of the finish line, Ball had enough of a kick left to vault herself into first.

And it was that kind of finish that helped the Lady Nighthawks finish third overall, less than 10 points out of second and led than 13 points out of first.

“We’re very happy with it,” said head coach Dave Foss. “And it was nice realizing that, with two events to go, we had a shot at winning this thing.”

As it was, though, those last two events were relays and Masuk (first – 88 points) and Weston (second – 85 points) were both loaded in the relays. The ‘Hawks just didn’t have enough at the end to overcome that.

Still, the girls had some exciting performances that propelled them to their third-place finish – like the second place finish marked by the 4x400 foursome of Ball, Caitlin Thornberg, Whitney Allison and Julie Landin.

“Julie has been hurt all year,” said coach Foss, “and it was a big boost having her back out there.”

Sarah Greenfield took second in the shot put while Leah Herity (pole vault), Quincey Blanchard (long jump) and Lindsay Weber (high jump) all earned third-place finishes. All of the relays – the 4x200, the 4x800 and sprint medley – finished in the top five while Thornberg added a fourth-place finish in the 600 meters.

It was a long night, but a good night for the girls.

Meanwhile, the boys finished fourth overall with 46 points – an improvement over their fifth-place finish from the 2003-04 season, but still well behind front-running Weston, which ran away with the meet.

New Milford and Masuk finished second and third overall.

For the ‘Hawks, it was a day of seconds – like the second-place finish turned in by the 4x800 relay foursome of Jon Larsen, Jake Sullivan, Matt Cole and Scott Nichols. Elsewhere, Larsen (600 meters), Pete Dittmar (1,600 meters) and Mike Cash (shot put) all earned second-place finishes.

“Most of our points came in a bundle there,” said coach Foss, who was still marveling on Tuesday over the 1,600-meter race. “It was a fantastic race – New Milford had seven of the 13 runners in the race and Pete went out with their No. 1 guy, put some distance between him and the rest of the pack, and held on strong. The end was real tense.”

Coach Foss and coach Doug Russell will be taking the program on to the CIAC Class LL state championships this Friday at Hillhouse High School in New Haven. The competition is going to get much stiffer, but coach Foss is hopeful that the ‘Hawks can grab more than a couple of points on both sides.

Stay tuned.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Masuk 44, Newtown 41

The game was there to be won, but missed foul shots and critical turnovers in the final 95 seconds of the fourth quarter doomed the Newtown High School girls’ basketball team to a disappointing 44-41 loss to archrival Masuk on Tuesday.

A desperation three-pointer by Meg Kelley at the buzzer bounced off the side of the rim and the Lady Nighthawks dropped to 10-7 overall, 7-4 in the South-West Conference.

After Masuk pulled ahead 33-29 early in the fourth quarter, it didn’t appear as if the ‘Hawks had much hope but Ashley LaRocque hit a pair of jumpers to tie the score. The Lady Panthers took the lead back, but then Carly Curran drained a three-pointer – her first of the year – to put the ‘Hawks back on top, 36-35.

Kelley then canned a three-pointer – her 13th of the year – with 3:47 left to play to stake the ‘Hawks to a 39-35 lead. The ‘Hawks couldn’t keep the 10-2 run going, though, as the Lady Panthers popped in a bucket with 2:07 left to play and added a three-pointer (after a missed Newtown free throw) with 1:16 left to go to take a 40-39 lead.

The ‘Hawks took the lead back, 41-40, when Katie O’Connor put back a missed free throw by Ashley LaRocque with 59.4 seconds left to play and after Carly Curran made a steal with 38.4 seconds left, it seemed as if the ‘Hawks were going to survive the finish.

But – when it comes to the storied Newtown-Masuk rivalry – that would be too simple.

The Lady Panthers stole the ball back 10 seconds later and converted a basket in the lane to take a 42-41 lead. Then a Newtown turnover with 15.5 seconds left was a critical blow as the Panthers converted a pair of free throws at the other end with 9.5 seconds left to salt the game away.

LaRocque led all scorers with 18 points while Kelley chipped in with 13. Barb Bria (12) and Kellye Caulfield (10) powered Masuk.

The ‘Hawks will travel to Bethel on Friday (weather permitting) before coming back home on Monday and Wednesday to conclude the regular season with games against Stratford and Lauralton Hall.

Masuk 44, Newtown 41

MASUK (44): Jess Kramer 1 0-0 3, Katie Stock 1 0-0 3, Alexis Bates 4 0-0 8, Barb Bria 6 0-0 12, Kellye Caufield 3 4-4 10, Amy Corchard 4 0-0 8. TOTALS: 19 4-4 44.

NEWTOWN (41): Meg Kelley 6 0-0 13, Katie O’Connor 1 0-0 2, Ashley LaRocque 7 4-6 18, Carly Curran 1 0-2 3, Ciara Simek 2 1-2 5, Siobhan Cooper 0 0-0 0, Kristi Nowak 0 0-0 0, Kacy Foehrenbach 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 5-10 41.

Three-pointers: Meg Kelley (N), Carly Curran (N), Kramer (M), Stock (M).

BOYS BASKETBALL

Immaculate 62, Newtown 60; Newtown 59, Kaynor Tech 49; Masuk 56, Newtown 48

After five wins in six games between January 7 and January 25, the Newtown High School boys’ basketball team – after a tough 0-4 start – appeared to be hitting its stride.

But a couple of tough South-West Conference games (sandwiching a non-league tussled with Kaynor Tech of Waterbury) has the Nighthawks stumbling a little bit. Losses to Immaculate (62-60) and Masuk (56-48) have dropped the locals to 7-8 overall, 6-3 in the SWC.

In the loss to Immaculate, Joe DeVellis led Newtown with 13 points while Marcus Tracy chopped in with 11 and Anthony Santella added 10. Bob Plumb of Immaculate led all scorers with 19 points in a game that saw 13 three-pointers dropped in the cylinder.

In a 59-49 win over Kaynor Tech last Friday, Tracy canned 17 points while Brennan Coakley added 15 and Josh Rouse contributed eight points and 15 rebounds. Santella had nine points with the aid of three three-pointers. Free throws made the difference as the ‘Hawks were 20-of-32 from the line and the Panthers were 10-of-14.

And in the loss to Masuk, Tracy once again led the way with 12 points while Rouse chipped in with eight and Kevin Troy added seven. The ‘Hawks had trouble containing the tandem of Shawn Cavanaugh (16), Kyle Mason (15) and Alex Malandra (14).

The locals will host Bethel on Friday before traveling to Stratford next Wednesday.

Immaculate 62, Newtown 60

IMMACULATE (62): Kendall White 0 2-7 2, Jon Nelson 0 6-9 6, Bob Plumb 6 4-6 19, David Simone 2 0-0 5, Brandon McEwan 10 0-0 20, Mark Cordery 3 2-2 10, Steve Mulvey 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 14-24 62. 

NEWTOWN (60): Brennan Coakley 3 3-6 9, Kyle Lyddy 1 0-0 3, Kevin Quinn 1 0-0 3, Josh Rouse 3 2-4 8, Anthony Santella 4 2-2 10, Marcus Tracy 4 3-4 11, Joey DeVellis 6 0-0 13, Ryan McGrath 0 0-0 0, Kevin Troy 1 0-0 3. TOTALS: 23 5-10 60.

Three-pointers: Plumb (I) 3; Cordery (I) 2; Anthony Santella (N) 2; Simone (I); Joe DeVellis (N); Kevin Troy (N); Kyle Lyddy (N); Kevin Quinn (N).

Newtown 59, Kaynor Tech 49

NEWTOWN (59): Brennan Coakley 4 7-9 15, Kyle Lyddy 0 0-0 0, Kevin Quinn 1 0-2 2, Josh Rouse 2 4-8 8, Anthony Santella 3 0-0 9, Marcus Tracy 6 5-7 17, Dave McLaughlin 0 0-0 0, Joey DeVellis 0 4-6 4. TOTALS: 18 20-32 59.

KAYNOR TECH (49): Rinehart 3 4-6 10, Ferrucci 4 2-2 10, Joyner 4 1-2 9, Sherwood 2 2-2 6, J. Merrit 1 1-2 3, Taylor 2 0-0 4, B Merrit 3 0-0 7. TOTALS: 18 10-14 49.

Three-pointers: Anthony Santella (N) 3; B. Merrit (K).

Masuk 56, Newtown 48

NEWTOWN (48): Marcus Tracy 5 2-3 12, Josh Rouse 2 4-5 8, Joey DeVellis 0 1-2 1, Anthony Santella 3 0-0 6, Kevin Troy 3 0-0 7, Kyle Lyddy 1 3-4 5, Kevin Quinn 1 1-1 3, Brennan Coakley 1 3-4 5. TOTALS: 16 14-19 48.

MASUK (56): Shawn Cavanaugh 6 4-6 16, Alex Malandra 4 4-4 14, Kyle Mason 3 6-8 15, Brian Smith 1 2-3 5, Ryan Carter 1 0-0 2, David Longley 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 17 16-21 56.

Three-pointers: Mason (M) 3, Malandra (M) 2, Smith (M)

WRESTLING

New Fairfield 58, Newtown 22; Platt Tech 39, Newtown 33; Staples 56, Newtown 16; Newtown 45, Holy Cross 28; Newtown 53, Frfld Prep 26

There had to be a way to stop the bleeding.

After dropping decisions to New Fairfield last week and then Platt Tech and Staples at the Wrecker Duals on Saturday in Westport, the staggering Newtown High School wrestling team – decimated by injuries – saw its losing streak balloon to eight meets.

The Nighthawks had been 9-2 and riding high but – in the space of two weeks – stumbled to a 9-10 mark.

But there had to be a way to stop the bleeding. So, midway through the duals, coaches Al Potter and Steve Ford got together with captains Skye Perry and Alex Read and took the team aside to talk about the situation.

“The team talked about what it would take to stop this losing streak and to beat Holy Cross and arch rival Fairfield Prep,” said coach Potter. “Sure we have had a large number of our starters knocked out of the season, but we needed to pull together as a team and find a way to win. We discussed person by person what everybody needed to do to beat those teams and the team stepped up and really did it. I am proud of the way they battled though this tough period.”

The ‘Hawks rallied to defeat Holy Cross (45-28) and Fairfield Prep (53-26) to run their record to 11-10 overall, 4-4 in the South-West Conference.

The win over Fairfield Prep saw pins from Kevin Wasicki (130), Colin O’Connor (145), Ryan Peters (152), Perry (160), Bob Pattison (171) and Read (189), forfeit wins for Zach Klein (135) and Kris Kling (125) and a technical fall from Marc Bonamici (112) as the Hawks built a 36-3 lead and never looked back.

In Holy Cross match, Jeff Lipnick (125) and Wasicki (130) had the key wins in the final two matches when the ‘Hawks were clinging to a six-point lead. Wasicki (130), Pattison (171) and Read (189) were all 4-0 on the day with Read running his personal winning streak to 13 matches in a row and 90 wins for his career.

O’Connor and Bonamici were 3-1 with three falls each while Perry grabbed two more pins to bring his team-leading total to 16 pins for the season.

“Quite a number of our wrestlers will be strong competitors for SWC medals this coming weekend,” said coach Potter. “It was great to see the team rise back up and win.  We built some really momentum going into the SWC and state championships.”

The SWCs will be held Saturday at Masuk High School in Monroe.

Meanwhile, the CIAC Class LL championships will be held Friday and Saturday, February 18 and 19, in East Hartford. And the current seeding records of the Newtown wrestlers are – 103 pounds, Kim Solheim (6-12); 112 pounds, Dana Van Buskirk (5-9) and Marc Bonamici (5-2); 119 pounds, Mike Rambone (7-13); 125 pounds, Jeff Lipnick (12-13); 130 pounds, Steve Giacolone (18-4) and Kevin Wasicki (10-10); 140 pounds, Justin Bass (14-6); 145 pounds, Colin O’Connor (14-11); 152 pounds, Ryan Peters (12-12); 160 pounds, Skye Perry (20-6); 171 pounds, Bob Pattison (22-6); 189 pounds, Alex Read (25-4); 215 pounds, Brandon Thomas (16-8); 275 pounds, Joel Minalgo (5-13).

New Fairfield 58, Newtown 22

215 – Nick Cupo (NF) dec. Brandon Thomas 4-0; 275 – Joel Minalgo (N) won by forfeit; 103 – Mikhail Grant (NF) maj. dec Kimberly Solheim 12-0; 112 – Matt Fusco (NF) pinned Mark Bonamici 1:18; 119 – Chris Fusco (NF) pinned Mike Rambone 1:02; 125 – Kevin McLain (NF) pinned Andrew Kmetz 2:26; 130 – Mark Gilerston (NF) pinned Brett Cloak-Gentile 2:59; 135 – Andy Kelly (NF) pinned Zack Klein 1:02; 140 – Andrew Klabonski (N) pinned Dylan Martinez 3:19; 145 – Shane Yachulke (NF) pinned Colin O’Connor 1:11; 152 – James Ktorides (NF) pinned Ryan Peters 2:21; 160 – Skye Perry (N) won by forfeit; 171 – Ryan Quinn (NF) pinned Bob Pattison 1:10; 189 – Alex Read (N) major dec T.J. Silva 13-0

Newtown 53, Fairfield Prep 26

103 – Dennis Lee tech. fall Kimberly Solheim (N) 15-0; 112 – Marc Bonamici(N) tech fall Brayton Dachby 17-1; 119 – Paul Macciola pinned Mike Rambone (N) 1:39; 125 – Kris Kling (N) won by forfeit; 130 – Kevin Wasicki (N) pinned Brian Zeanings 5:10; 135 – Zach Klein (N) won by  forfeit; 140 – Kevin Collins dec. Kenny Cardelle (N) 10-5; 145 – Colin O’Connor (N) pinned Joe Frederickson 1:23; 152 – Ryan Peters (N) pinned Dillon Deits 1:44; 160 - Skye Perry (N) pinned Cornelius Walsh 1:49; 171 – Bob Pattison (N) pinned Nabic Brutogy 5:24; 189 – Alex Read (N) pinned Tom Lane 3:00; 215 – David Bernstein pinned Bryant Aliaga (N) 2:43; 275 – Jonah Demby pinned Joel Minalgo (N) 1:42.

Platt Tech 39, Newtown 33

103 – Mazzaccaro pinned Kimberly Solheim (N) 2:30; 112 – Marc Bonamici (N) pinned Riberio 1:59; 119 – Zabaubias dec. Mike Rambone (N) 9-3; 125 – Gonzales pinned Jeff Lipnick (N); 130 – Kevin Wasicki (N) dec. Reillo 9-3 ; 135 - Gonzalez pinned Zach Klein (N) 2:52; 140 – Kenny Cardelle (N) tech fall Cross 15-0; 145 – Colin O’Connor (N) pinned Slulski :58; 152 - Sullivan dec. Ryan Peters (N) 10-3; 160 – Felicianno pinned Skye Perry (N) 3:54; 171 – Bob Pattison (N)  dec. Mingrino 5-2; 189 – Alex Read (N) pinned Larry :52; 215 – Velez dec. Brandon Thomas 10-8; 275 – Polta pinned Joel Minalgo (N) 0:33.

Newtown 45, Holy Cross 28

103 -  Kimberly Solheim (N) won by forfeit; 112 – Marc Bonamici(N) pinned Colbel 4:46; 119 – Jackson pinned Mike Rambone (N) 1:25; 125 – Jeff Lipnick (N) dec. Branellard 15-12; 130 – Kevin Wasicki (N) pinned Andrew Wells 3:52; 135 –Peisson pinned Zach Klein (N) 1:39; 140 -  Paza dec. Kenny Cardelle (N) 12-9; 145 – Colin O’Connor (N) pinned Doely 1:48; 152 – Cabbal dec. Ryan Peters (N) 15-2; 160 – Skye Perry (N) won by forfeit; 171 – Jagi (N) won by forfeit; 189 – Bob Pattison (N)  dec. Williams 9-7; 215 – Alex Read (N) won by forfeit; 275 – White pinned Joel Minalgo (N) 2:00.

SWIMMING

New Fairfield 95, Newtown 89

Let’s play a game of – “You know it’s going to be …”

As in, you know it’s going to be a tough high school swim meet when your 200 medley relay team (in this instance, it was Anthony Fiore, Jake Maher, Andrew Heller and Chris Jacob swimming the event) breaks a 27-year-old pool record and – yet – finishes second!

Oh yeah, the medley foursome marked a time of 1:47.08, beating by 22/100ths of a second the previous pool record set in 1978 by Dave Hiteshew, John Kirhoffer, Dave Sullivan and Gregg Dainaik. Trouble was, New Fairfield also broke the record – at 1:46.81 – and it’s their record that is going up on the board.

“That’s going to be the story of this meet,” head coach Matt Childs said ruefully.

Newtown swam well, but it was New Fairfield coming out on top 95-89 and dropping the Nighthawks to 6-3 overall, 5-3 in the South-West Conference. The only dual meet remaining on the schedule for the ‘Hawks is a visit with Staples of Westport in a meet postponed from last Friday.

Other than that, it will be a long layoff for the locals as they prepare for the SWC championships on Wednesday, March 2 (diving) and Friday, March 4 (swimming) at Pomperaug High School in Southbury.

In the loss to New Fairfield, Chris Jacob (50 freestyle), Bryan Lacouture (diving) and the 200 freestyle relay team of Heller, Jacob, Maher and Toi all earned first-place finishes. Jacob did it in the 50 free with a blistering mark of 23.77 while Lacouture put together a steady 175-point performance in diving.

Other results –

In the 200 freestyle, Toi (1:59.50), Scott Whalley (2:08.20) and Dave LaMarche (2:09.26) went 3-4-5 and in the 200 individual medley, Heller (2:13.72), Fiore (2:22.50) and Mike Parker (2:33.27) went 2-3-4.

In the 50 freestyle, Max Barrett had a strong finish of 24.87, but came in fourth. Then Britta Cedergren (131.60 points) finished fourth in diving before Heller (58.42), Toi (1:00.17) and LaMarche (1:03.21) went 2-3-4 in the 100 butterfly. Then, in the 100 freestyle, Jacob (52.28) took second as Barrett (54.56) and Maher (55.21) went 4-5 before Whalley (5:56.81), PJ O’Dell (6:01.35) and Dave Modzelewski (6:15.04) went 3-4-5 in the 500 freestyle.

The ‘Hawks were putting up strong times, but the Rebels were always a little bit stronger.

In the 100 breaststroke, Maher (1:09.73), Allen Hubbard (1:12.54) and O’Dell (1:26.44) went 3-4-5 before the 400 freestyle relay foursome of Modzelewski, Fiore, Barrett and Toi finished second at 3:46.02.

HOCKEY

Milford 4, Newtown 1; Masuk 4, Newtown 3 (OT); Milford 2, Newtown 1

Things had been looking okay for the Newtown High School hockey team.

With the first half of the 2004-05 season in the books, the Nighthawks were 6-4 overall and 2-3 in the South-West Conference and considering they only posted five wins all of last season that was pretty good.

But things have soured on the ‘Hawks and with five consecutive losses the locals are now 6-9 overall and 2-5 in the SWC. The most recent losses came at the hands of the Milford Co-Op (4-1), SWC rival Masuk (4-3 in overtime) and Milford again (2-1).

Last Friday at the Danbury Ice Arena, the ‘Hawks – who had beaten Division I Milford last year – were victimized by three goals from Chris McCabe in a 4-1 loss. Blaise LaPorta scored the lone Newtown goal off an assist from Nick Magoulas.

The following day, the ‘Hawks suffered a 4-3 overtime loss to Masuk – a team they had beaten back on December 11 at the Shelton Ice Rink – and followed up with a 2-1 loss to Milford Academy on Monday in which Blaise LaPorta once again notched the lone Newtown goal.

The locals hoped to snap the string when they took on winless Joel Barlow on Wednesday afternoon at the Danbury Ice Arena. They will visit with Bethel-Brookfield on Saturday and New Fairfield next Tuesday before hosting Watertown on Wednesday.