So far so good for the Newtown High School boys’ lacrosse team, which opened the campaign with nonconference victories over FCIAC teams, host Fairfield Warde on April 5 and visiting Stamford on April 7, and a South-West Conference triumph over visiting Bunnell-Stratford the next night.

Newtown beat Warde 9-3 behind eight goal scorers. Nate Pickard had two goals and an assist and Owen Hannah had a goal and two assists. Cole Stockwell, Asher Williams, Marcus Gerace, Graham Spencer, Luke Stewart, and Kyle Albrecht also hit the back of the net. Marty Dunn logged a trio of assists. Williams and Stockwell each had five ground ball scoops, Nick Stockwell had four ground balls and an assist, and Andrew Corey, Gerace, and Luke Gagnon each had three ground balls.

The win over Stamford took place in a light rain on a chilly night at Blue & Gold Stadium. Newtown jumped out to a commanding 6-1 halftime lead and appeared poised for a runaway victory, which ultimately came to fruition in the form of an 11-4 victory, although not until after the visiting Black Knights made things very interesting in the third quarter.

Stamford scored three unanswered goals out of the halftime break and threatened for more before NHS goaltender Andrew Faircloth and the defense shut the door for good. An apparent Nighthawk goal was waved off on an offside call just past the mid point of the third, but Charlie Massett netted his third of the game when he used speed to get past the defense on the right side and score from a sharp angle with 4:47 left in the stanza. It was 7-4 Nighthawks going to the fourth.

Newtown killed off a one minute penalty late in the third and early in the fourth with Faircloth coming up with a save, and the Hawks pulled away with a scoring barrage, netting four in a span of 3:25 in the final quarter.

Massett’s spin move and bounce shot made it 8-4 as he finished with a four-goal performance. Nick Stockwell went top shelf to finish a transition attack for his second tally of the night, set up by Hannah and Cole Stockwell (who finished with four ground balls), Williams made it 10-4, and Hannah finished the scoring when he capitalized on the efforts of Dunn who fought to get to a loose ball near midfield before setting up his teammate.

Cruising to victory is rewarding in its own right, but having to battle and persevere certainly comes with a level of satisfaction.

“The best part about tonight is we had a bit of resiliency. We talked about it at halftime how they were going to come out in the second half and bring it,” Newtown Coach Tony Fitti said of the anticipated Stamford run to begin the third quarter.

The plan was to stick to the strategy of trying to outwork the opposition, use energy, win ground balls, and have that effort offset the counterpart’s push.

“I’m super proud of the guys, the way they battled some adversity today and pulled through,” Fitti said.

Newtown’s players did not get nervous when the momentum shifted in Stamford’s favor.

“We just never lost sight of the goal. We have confidence on our team,” Massett said. “At the end of the day we know if we stuck to our game plan we’d pull through.”

NHS defeated Bunnell-Stratford 13-3. Gerace scored a hat-trick, Dunn had two goals and an assist, Gavin Doyle scored twice, Graham Spencer had a goal and an assist, Nick Stockwell recorded a trio of assists, and Stewart and Pickard both logged two assists. Stephen Johnson, Hannah, Williams, Billy Massett, and Kyle June also hit the net with a goal apiece.

Newtown also has nonconference foes Southington and Brien McMahon of Norwalk on the schedule in April, in addition to some tough SWC opponents.

“We scheduled a tough three weeks for a reason — to learn a little about ourselves in a tight time,” Fitti said.

The Nighthawks look to continue their winning ways while figuring out what to work on as they try to better position themselves for success in the postseason.

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