Newtown High School’s boys’ lacrosse team put together an amazing comeback effort to turn what seemed like a sure loss into a near victory, ultimately falling 12-11, in overtime, to host Barlow of Redding in the May 28 South-West Conference Division I championship game.

The fourth-seeded Nighthawks scored the final goal of the third quarter and all six net-finders in the fourth, culminating with a Brad Kretz tally which was set up by Jared Pearson with just 10 seconds to go. They erased an 11-4 deficit and had a few chances early on in the four-minute overtime, but second-seeded Barlow’s Connor Martin scored the winner with 38 seconds left in the extra session.

Jon Rospenda, Newtown’s goaltender, stopped Barlow’s Bryan Gallaer with just two seconds to play in regulation. The Hawks couldn’t get a shot past Rospenda’s counterpart, Greg Fracassini, despite some quality overtime opportunities.

Deegan Beauchemin scored four times, and Matt Meyers, Ryan Sullivan, Pearson, David MacKinnon, Mark Urso, Clay Gattey, and Kretz all added goals in the loss.

The Nighthawks return to action in the Class L state tournament with a first round visit to New Milford at 4:30 pm on June 3. Newtown is the No. 11 seed, and the Green Wave is seeded sixth, but the Hawks have beaten their familiar SWC foes twice this campaign, including in the tournament semifinals. New Milford was the top seed in the SWC bracket.