By Kim J. Harmon

Whether or not the weather was perfect – and strangely enough it always was, for every game – the Newtown Nighthawks always seemed to bring along a little thunder and lightning. Thunder, that is, being Adam Hayden and Lightning being Kyle Tobin.

Okay, admittedly it is a gimmick first used by the New York Giants of the National Football League, but clearly – the way things have gone for the Giants as well as the Nighthawks this season – it is much more appropriate here.

Much more appropriate.

See, Adam rumbles over tacklers like thunder and Kyle flashes through holes like lightning and with the combination of power and finesse the two running backs have combined for more than 1,900 yards and 20 touchdowns in leading the Nighthawks to an 8-1 record.

Thunder . . .

“I’m amazed with some of the things (Adam) can do,” said Kyle, who has rushed for 1,089 yards and 11 touchdowns. “He got away from, like, five guys against Foran. He is a power threat and kind of has breakaway ability. He’s not an ordinary runner.”

And lightning . . .

“Kyle runs by people,” said Adam, who has rushed for 841 yards and nine touchdowns. “He’s so fast. He’s small, but he’s not afraid to go up the middle. I love watching Kyle run. When I’m out there, too, I just try and block harder.”

Adam and Kyle were moderately successful last year in a backfield that was anchored by senior Sean Raby. The two of ‘em combined for more than 830 yards, with Adam scoring six touchdowns and Kyle scoring one.

With Raby gone, though, it became their backfield in 2000.

“When I talked to coach (Ken Roberts) about it,” said Adam, “he said Kyle would be the speed guy and I would be the short yardage guy.”

Adam was a lot more than a short yardage guy in the season opener against Notre Dame of Fairfield. With Kyle, for the most part, out of the lineup while nursing a sprained tendon suffered in a pre-season scrimmage, Adam had to shoulder the load and all he did was gain 166 yards on 18 carries.

“I just thought I had to do my part with Kyle out,” said Adam.

Now, nobody did much of anything against Bunnell (that was the problem, since the loss to the Bulldogs in Week 2 kept the Nighthawks out of the South-West Conference championship game), but in Week 3 the Thunder and Lightning tandem began building up the storm clouds.

4While Jon Werbeck led all rushers with 109 yards, Adam and Kyle combined for 152 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Stratford.

4In Week 4, a 39-0 bombing of Brookfield, Kyle rushed for 162 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Adam added 53 yards on just seven carries.

4In Week 5, a 48-0 blitzing of Jonathan Law, Kyle rushed for 128 yards while Adam rushed for 90 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

4In Week 6, a 39-16 pounding of Pomperaug, Adam rushed for 202 yards and three touchdowns while Kyle – who said, “I saw how he was running and I didn’t even want to touch the football.” – ran for 60 yards.

4In Week 7, a 34-20 win over Immaculate, Kyle – with carries of 16, 41, 26, 45, 15 and 23 yards – rushed for 265 yards and three touchdowns while Hayden rushed for just 27 yards on 10 carries.

4In Week 8, in a 50-12 win over Foran, Kyle rushed for 262 yards and four touchdowns while Adam – with the aid of an amazing 90-yard run in which he seemed to have been stopped at the line of scrimmage three times – rushed for 138 yards and one touchdown.

4And in Week 9, in a 30-14 win over New Milford, Tobin rushed for 136 yards and one touchdown while Adam – who had to shrug off three tacklers on a 20-yard touchdown run – rushed for 72 yards and one touchdown.

 

When you talk about one-two punches you talk about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, or a left jab and a right hook from Muhammed Ali.

And Adam Hayden and Kyle Tobin.

Thunder and Lightning.

These two guys will, of course, be the first to admit that all of their moves – their quick jolts up the middle or around the corners and the way they either run past people or run over people – would be for naught if it weren’t for their offensive line. If Adam and Kyle had any real money, they’d take those guys on the O-line out to dinner or something.

“The offensive line has been awesome,” said Adam. “They open holes that are huge.”

Kyle added, “It’s been a complete turnaround. Last year, the line would open lines once in a while but this year they open holes on every play.”

More remarkable than all that, perhaps, is that everyone seems to be on the same page.

“I think that right after the Brookfield game,” said Kyle, “we realized we could really accomplish something only if we worked together. It was hard because no one believed in us at the beginning of the year – not the students, not the newspapers, no one.”

People believed, all right, after Newtown defeated Immaculate, 34-20, at Homecoming. Besides the loss to Bunnell, the win over Immaculate was the Nighthawks’ toughest game because of the way the Mustangs – who tied the scored twice in rapid fashion – tested the mettle of the ‘Hawks.

“Last year,” said Kyle, “if we had been in that situation I think we would have given up.”

But it’s a different team in 2000.

“We got rid of the people who didn’t believe,” said Adam. “We have people now who are 100% dedicated.”

And it’s because they are so dedicated to the common goal, perhaps, that there seems to be none of those petty jealousies or rivalries that have plagued other teams.

“It doesn’t matter who runs the ball,” said Adam. “Against Stratford, we were happy to see Jon Werbeck have a good game (109 yards). And it was nice to see Matt Saunders, who does a great job blocking at fullback, have a great game running against New Milford (102 yards).”

And the stats – the 1,089 yards for Kyle or the 841 yards for Adam or the 20 touchdowns between them – are just window dressing for a team looking for bigger things.

“They mean nothing,” said Kyle. “Not a thing. It’s the W that matters.”

The ‘Hawks have eight Ws – and were looking to make it nine the day before Thanksgiving – and have a strong team mentality, a tough and resilient defense, a strong offensive line and two of the best tandem runners in the South-West Conference to thank for that.