A physical battle, under a mostly steady drizzle, came down to a round of penalty kicks at Blue & Gold Stadium, on November 10. For the second day in a row, a Simsbury soccer team ousted Newtown High from the state playoffs in PKs. A day after the girls were eliminated, Newtown’s Class LL ninth-seeded boys suffered a 2-1 (5-4 in PKs) loss to the No. 24 Trojans in the first round.

The Nighthawks scored first, when Elliot Bennett’s shot from the right side slipped through the hands of diving goalkeeper Gabriel Towles, and Jack Oltran was in position to capitalize and deposit the rebound just 4:37 into the second half.

Newtown held its 1-0 lead until just 5:54 remained in regulation. Elijah Rowland booted in a rebound of a shot after Newtown goalkeeper Zach Laros punched out a shot by Caleb Ralphs. Newtown defender James Cochrane made several plays, including headers, to clear the ball out of danger, and teammates including Michael Meyer, Brian Araujo, and Josh Houle helped move the ball away from Newtown’s goal area.

In the first of a pair of ten-minute overtime periods, Laros made a save late, and the Nighthawks had two chances to take the lead at the other end of the field, but couldn’t cash in. Newtown’s Owen Sampson clanked a hard shot off the crossbar, off a rebound, midway through the second OT. Moments before that, Towles appeared to get away with picking up the ball about a yard outside the 18-yard box with Newtown’s Omar Rodriguez closing in on him.

Oltran and Towles collided later in extra time. Both teams were physical, slide-tackled hard at times, and committed fouls. At times, players pushed and shoved while trying to get into position during stoppages for free kicks following contact violations.

In a best-of-five round of penalty kicks, Cochrane, Houle, James Carney, and Oltran scored. Both teams scored on four kicks, but Simsbury backup goalkeeper Jack Medve, who took over after overtime to face penalty kicks, came up with one save heading into the fifth round, and then Medve took the final shot and scored on his counterpart to end it.

“We didn’t do enough to win it in regulation. We didn’t deserve to win,” Newtown Coach Brian Neumeyer said. “We didn’t play with enough urgency.”

Despite the fact the Trojans (7-6-3 in the regular campaign) ended Newtown’s season, it was a good one on the whole for the Nighthawks (12-2-2).

“We had a very good year. I’m proud of the kids in terms of what they were able to do,” said Neumeyer, adding that it was disappointing to not come away with some postseason success.

Note: This article was updated on November 11 to reflect that Simsbury backup goalkeeper Jack Medve made a save and scored in the round of penalty kicks.