Seven of Newtown High School’s boys’ lacrosse team’s first 12 games were decided by just one goal, and a contest with nonconference team Norwalk on May 12 looked to be headed to yet another nail-biting finish. The game was even, 3-3, at halftime, but the Nighthawks turned it on in the second half and pulled away for a 13-4 triumph under the lights at Blue & Gold Stadium.

“We finally woke up,” said Newtown Coach Glenn Adams, adding that the team simply did everything better — on both sides of the ball — following the intermission.

“We were moving the ball a lot better on offense, and we were getting after ground balls. That turned the tables in the second half,” the Newtown coach added.

Matt Meyers had three goals and an assist, Bubba Condon netted two goals and a pair of assists, David MacKinnon had two net-finders, and Brad Kretz added two more goals in the triumph. CJ Dunn and Joey Santella scooped five and four grounders, respectively. Goaltender Tommy Elliott made three saves.

Newtown improved to 9-4 overall, and stands at 4-1 in South-West Conference Division I play, its only loss coming to New Fairfield (in overtime); New Fairfield is also 4-1. The Hawks have one more game left against an SWC DI foe, unbeaten Joel Barlow. The Hawks have beaten New Milford (which beat New Fairfield), giving Newtown a tiebreaker advantage for one of the top two playoff seeds as it battles to earn a first-round bye in the six team playoffs.

The Nighthawks are also jockeying for stronger positioning in the state playoffs, but seeding isn’t as important as being playoff ready for Adams and company.

The abundance of down-to-the-wire games are a product, in part, of Adams scheduling tough nonconference matchups. Newtown is 3-4 in those one-goal games, most recently falling to SWC rival New Fairfield 6-5 on May 7 and nonconference team Glastonbury 7-6 (also in OT) two days later.

Against New Fairfield, in a road contest, Deegan Beauchemin had a goal and two assists, MacKinnon netted two goals and had a helper, and Jared Pearson logged two assists. Elliott stopped ten shots.

In the Glastonbury game, at home, Beauchemin led the way with four goals, and Elliott made ten saves again.

“Obviously, we’re showing we can compete with anybody in the state,” said Adams, adding that he’d prefer to come out on top in these games but knows his squad has gained something by facing formidable foes week in and week out.

“Our ultimate goal is to be ready for the playoffs,” Adams said. “If these games can get us battle-tested for the postseason then that’s really what we want.”

The Hawks were slated to visit SWC DII team Immaculate of Danbury on Thursday, May 14, at 4:15 pm; they’ll visit Staples of Westport in another potentially challenging out-of-conference clash (Staples was the Class L state runner-up each of the past two years), Saturday, May 16, at 1 pm; and the regular season ends when Barlow visits Blue & Gold Stadium on Monday, May 18, beginning at 7 pm.