Bits & Pieces

By Kim J. Harmon

You think it’s easy getting two teams on to a field to play a game, don’t you?

Okay, sometimes it’s easy – but only when the schedule has been made weeks in advance, the officials have been confirmed and the weather cooperates. But when one, two or all three of those things are in a state of flux that’s when the hard work comes in.

A couple of weeks ago the Newtown High School girls’ lacrosse team was poised and waiting to see who its first-round opponent would be in the CIAC Division I state tournament – Hall of West Hartford or Guilford.

Now, the Lady Nighthawks didn’t care so much who they played, but for athletic director Gregg Simon that information was vital.

You see, if Hall won the first round game would need to be played on Friday (June 2) since the school had its senior prom on Saturday (June 3). And if Guilford won, the game would have to be played on Saturday since Guilford had its senior prom on Friday.

Okay, fairly simple so far … especially since Newtown was able to play on either day.

Oh, but wait. A major storm front was expected to roll over the area that weekend and drop several inches of rain and with that in mind, Mr Simon – who found out soon enough that it would be Hall coming to town – knew there was no way the game could be played at Blue & Gold Stadium.

The solution? Shift the game to Treadwell Park.

Seemed like a simple solution since Treadwell has a new turf field with fresh lines still painted on the ersatz grass. Oh, but wait. Although everything looks perfect, coaches Maura Fletcher and Mark Feltch inform Mr Simon the game can’t be played at Treadwell because the football goalposts (soccer goals) are closer than six meters from the end line and Newtown – in its April matchup with Cheshire – was already warned about that.

The solution? Move the game to the back field, which drains better than Blue & Gold Stadium.

“After all of that,” Mr Simon said, “I had to call Carl Samuelson (Parks and Recreation maintenance superisor) and say, ‘thanks for your help but we can’t use Treadwell because the goalposts are two close to the end line.”

“What if I take them out?” Mr Samuelson responded.

“You can do that?”

“It won’t be easy, but for you – I’ll get it done.”

So the goalposts were pulled out of their sleeves (which wasn’t easy, as all the rain created a lot more suction and made the pulling of the posts a real chore) and stacked behind the field. What’s more, the teams and officials got there on time and the game went right off at 4 pm.

Then a few minutes later, BOOM – a big peel of thunder and flash of lightning and everyone runs for cover as rain begins to pound Newtown.

As Hall went back on the bus and Newtown sheltered under the pavilion, the thunderstorm and subsequent rain resulted in a one-hour delay. When both teams were finally able to come out of hiding, they were allowed 15 minutes to warm up.

At 5:15 the game gets re-started.

“And all the time I’m thinking,” said Mr Simon, “Newtown Youth Lacrosse has the field at 7 pm; there’s no way were getting off in time.”

Especially not after the Newtown-Hall game goes into overtime. It’s okay, though, as a call to Woody Thompson resolved the conflict.

The game finally finished and Newtown had a hard-earned 15-13 victory to its credit and Mr Simon could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“With all that rain,” he said, “we never would have finished the game if it were on the back fields. We were only able to get that game in because Carl Samuelson bent over backwards to help us.”

Sometimes getting two teams together for a game is fairly routine.

And sometimes it’s not.

Now it seems kind of odd that Newtown High School was able to somehow get this particular game in when the Wolcott Tech and Farmington High School boys’ volleyball teams were not able to make similar arrangements for a CIAC Class M playoff match earlier this month.

It seems that a quarterfinal matchup between the two schools fell on Wolcott Tech’s senior prom night and no amount of finagling was able to rectify the situation. Wolcott Tech seniors went to their prom and the junior varsity played the tournament match, getting waxed 25-15, 25-11, 25-15.

And remember, that’s an indoor sport.