By Kim J. Harmon

FAIRFIELD - Without a doubt, coach Ken Roberts is pleased to get that first win under his belt (heck, who wouldn’t be?) but not one can blame him for being a bit guarded with his optimism.

Sure, Newtown defeated Notre Dame last Saturday down in Fairfield, 26-13, but it had to manage that while being flagged for more than 100 yards in penalties.

“We didn’t play well in the second half,” said coach Roberts, who will take his team into a tough South-West Conference battle with Bunnell on Friday night at the Stadium. “We got out to a 26-6 lead and just hung on. We didn’t play as well as we would have liked.”

But the ‘Hawks did play well - in spots.

“We had everyone play well in spots,” said coach Roberts. “(Adam) Hayden had a big first half and (Rich) Petretti looked good, but we just didn’t get it all together. We weren’t crisp.”

The ‘Hawks sure seemed plenty crisp in the first half, scoring four touchdowns to take that 26-6 lead.

Less than five minutes into the game, Petretti hit Dave Roodhuyzen with a seven-yard scoring pass to give Newtown a 6-0 lead. And in the second period, John Werbeck (3-for-22 one the ground) scampered 12 yards for a touchdown, Hayden (18-for-166) rumbled 33 yards for another touchdown and Petretti (7-of-11, 95 yards) hit Matt McCarthy with a three-yard scoring pass.

The last touchdown came with just 47 seconds left in the half.

Yes, the ‘Hawks were rolling.

But . . .

“We didn’t play as well as we would have liked in the second half,” said coach Roberts, who lamented the 100 yards of penalties and the two touchdowns brought back.

The Newtown offense was through scoring for the evening. All that was left was for Notre Dame’s Ryan Baylis to score on a two-yard run in the fourth quarter to trim the Nighthawk lead to 26-13.

Still, the signs are good.

The Newtown backfield was largely without tailback Kyle Tobin (1-for-5 on the ground) but Hayden did the job in his absence, accounting for 64% of the 258 yards the Nighthawks gathered up on the ground. With Werbeck and Matt Saunders (5-for-25), the rushing attack was solid.

And in the air, Petretti proved he is ready to take a full-time handle on the job of quarterback. Throughout most of 1999, he split time with Les Russell, but in his first full 48 minutes of action he hit on 7-of-11 passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns. He found his big tight end, Matt McCarthy, four times for 38 yards and then hit Tobin, Roodhuyzen and Nick Savino each once in the game.

Plus . . .

“One thing I was happy about is we didn’t turn the ball over,” said coach Ken Roberts. “We had two picks and, finally, for the first time in my two years we’re on the plus side with the turnover ratio.”

As good as the ‘Hawks were, though - at least for the first half - they all admit they will have to be much better than that to defeat Bunnell on Friday night. The Bulldogs, 21-14 winners over Newtown a year ago, were a pre-season favorite in some circles to challenge for the SWC championship.

Kick off is 7 pm.

Newtown     6       20     0       0       -       26

Notre Dame 0       6       0       7       -       13

 

First Quarter

N – Roodhuyzen, 7-yard pass from Petretti (pass failed)

Second Quarter

ND – Baylis, 2-yard run (run failed)

N – Werbeck, 12-yard run (run failed)

N – Hayden, 33-yard run (Petretti run)

N – McCarthy, 3-yard pass from Petretti (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

ND – Baylis, 2-yard run (Bohanon kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

 

Rushing

 

NHS  ATT  YDS   TD

Adam Hayden 18      166     1

Rich Petretti  12      40      0

Matt Saunders         5        25      0

John Werbeck 3        22      1

Kyle Tobin    1        5        0

Totals        39     258    2

 

ND    ATT  YDS   TD

Jason Accettullo       3        1        0

Ryan Baylis    11      45      1

Sam Accettullo         15      59      0

Saitu Jones    2        8        0

Steve Scinto  1        4        0

Justin Slosser 1        2        0

Totals        33     119    1

Passing

 

NHS  ATT  CMP  YDS   TD

Rich Petretti  11      7        95      1

Totals        11     7       95     1

 

ND    ATT  CMP  YDS   TD

J. Accettulo   5        2        -1      0

Evan Bowen   7        2        10      0

Totals        12     4       9       0

 

Receiving

 

NHS  REC  YDS   TD

Matt McCarthy        4        38      1

Nick Savino    1        35      0

Kyle Tobin    1        15      0

Dave Roodhuyzen     1        7        1

Totals        7       95     2

 

ND    REC  YDS   TD

Justin Slosser 1        12      0

Ryan Baylis    2        13      0

Saitu Jones    1        6        0

Totals        4       31     0

 

 

Pigskin Preview

 

Coach Roberts still feels that Newtown should have won that game last year down in Stratford and the ‘Hawks will get their chance to avenge that 21-14 loss this Friday night.

The ‘Hawks and the Bulldogs are in similar situations. Both return a lot of starters from their 1999 squads and the question will be, which one of these teams has improved the most?

“Bunnell is good up front, with four of their five linemen back,” said coach Roberts. “They are a good team and didn’t change much from last year. Plus, they have the best running back in the league - by far - in Shannon James.”

It will be a war and the key, in coach Roberts’ mind, is the turnovers.