By Kim J. Harmon

 

Rebuilding is a fate that befalls a lot of high school sports programs and it is often unavoidable.

Now, that particular fate has befallen four teams at Newtown High School and that just doesn’t seem fair at all. The boys’ basketball, wrestling and hockey teams may suffer the most in their respective rebuilding projects but all three have dynamic, young stars who have been waiting in the wings for an opportunity.

The girls’ basketball team – which seems to have re-invented itself after losing four of its top five leading scorers – may be on the fast track in its own rebuilding project. And the indoor track team, although losing nearly 30 athletes from a year ago, is hardly in a rebuilding mode as it still numbers 91 strong with a full complement of strong competitors.

There are always question marks entering a new season and Newtown High School may have more questions than answers right now, but the Nighthawks have never been short on excitement. Buckle up and get ready for another fun ride.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Who is going to score?

With the losses of Ashley Larocque and Meghan Kelley, that is the biggest question facing the Newtown High School girls’ basketball team – who is going to score? But if wins Joel Barlow on Saturday and Notre Dame on Tuesday are any indication, there are more than a few players ready to step into that void.

Tri-captain Kacy Foehrenbach (with a school-record five three-pointers) canned 19 points, Kristi Nowak (in a new and more demanding position) added 15 points and Christie Iwanicki (fresh off a very strong volleyball season) tossed in 12 more.

There may be some uncertainty, however, since those three combined to score just over seven points a game last year. On top of that, tri-captain Carly Curran and tri-captain Ciara Simek are the leading returning scorers at 5.4 and 3.0 points per game, respectively.

No doubt, it’s a different team.

But it’s one that values speed, defense, and a refreshing team concept that filters the ball (and the offense) through everybody’s hands. In a win over Notre Dame on Tuesday, the Lady Nighthawks scored 64 points and defeated one of the top teams in the South-West Conference with the use of crisp, clean passing.

That is the product of good team chemistry.

“Our team chemistry is so much better than it was last year,” said Iwanicki after the win on Tuesday night.

Foehrenbach added, “Most of us have been together since seventh grade and we really get along. We thought we would be good this year.”

Nowak starts at center for the ‘Hawks (2-1 as of this writing) with Curran and Foehrenbach getting the nod at forward and Simek and Iwanicki in the back court. Darcy Fiscella gets off the bench quickly with All-American soccer standout Casey Frobey, center Morgan Knees and transfer Lauren Ciccomascolo getting some minutes.

Sophomores Kellie Tenney and Katie Condon may see some minutes, as well.

Last year the ‘Hawks (14-9 overall, 10-4 in the South-West Conference) relied quite a bit on Kelley (16.6 points per game) and Larocque (11.2 points per game) to carry the offense and both had the shooting touches to handle the load.

This year there is no such go-to player – which may be good. Foehrenbach is a nice long-range option and Nowak – despite being only 5-foot-7 – should be strong down low despite battling bigger players. Also, Simek, Iwanicki and Curran are good ball handlers who can create off the dribble and all have quietly developed a nifty shot.

It’s a different team – and likely a very good one.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Can a team survive losing the dynamic athleticism of a Marcus Tracy, the strong inside presence of a Brennan Coakley and a Josh Rouse and the quickness of an Anthony Santella? It’s an awful lot to ask, but the Newtown High School boys’ basketball team is sure going to try,

The top five leading scorers (Tracy – 12.5, Coakley – 8.7, Santella – 8.6, Rouse – 7.2, and Kyle Lyddy – 6.7) have departed a team that finished 10-10 a year ago and the task of rebuilding has been left to one returning starter (Joe DeVellis) and two bench players (Kevin Troy and Dave McLaughlin) who saw only sparse minutes last season.

But here is the thing –

DeVellis may be one of the most dynamic players in the South-West Conference – a player who can dribble, play ferocious defense, and find the open man with brilliant passes; Kevin Troy may be the best pure shooter the Nighthawks have had since Kevin’s brother, Mike, scored 401 points in 2003 to finish with 709 for his career; and McLaughlin has the range from three-point land (nailing down four last year in limited action).

Head coach John Quinn will lean on those three players and mix in Mike Mitchell (a transfer from Virginia), Mike Kennedy, Shaun Coakley, Jack Quinn and Marc Ingerman (a solid middle school player who has been away from the game for two years). Sophomores Dan Smith and Jason Smith could see some minutes.

“We’re very young with a lot of new faces,” said coach Quinn. “We have a lack of height and experience, but our team speed and team defense will be a strong point. We’ll try to play smart and play hard every night.”

Few people will play harder than DeVellis, who will be the emotional leader of the team. But the additions of Mitchell and Ingerman added some basketball ability, solid athleticism and senior leadership on the floor.

“We were really showing our inexperience during the pre-season,” said coach Quinn. “This season will be one of learning and growing, getting better and more competitive every time we play/practice.”

As usual, the Nighthawks will play a tough non-league schedule with tussles against Norwich Free Academy, Bridgeport Central and Ridgefield. Of course, the SWC is always tough with teams like Bunnell and Kolbe Cathedral.

“We will have to be very aggressive on defense,” said coach Quinn, “laying a strong team defense. On offense we will need to be very patient, organized and looking for shots within our system.”

 

SWIMMING

Newtown High School head swim coach Matt Childs has put together quite a formidable schedule for the 2005-06 season (seven of the Nighthawks’ 11 opponents finished in the top five of their respective state meets), but he hardly seems concerned.

After all, it looks like he has a team that can meet the challenges the schedule has to offer with more than 20 returning varsity letter winners, three new senior additions, a bright new freshman class and a sharp new group of divers on the pool deck.

“Certainly one of our strengths will be our depth as we move through the dual meet season,” said coach Childs. “We should have every lane filled in each event, which will help our team stay competitive in dual meets.”

Depth aside, the ‘Hawks also boast a impressive front line with senior tri-captain Max Barrett and sophomore Stefan Toi leading the way. And freshman Brendan Deveney has a tremendous amount of upside.

Barrett will captain the team with senior Scott Whalley and junior Nick Maurer and all will provide the Nighthawks with excellent leadership. New senior arrivals include Chris Hoagland (via the boys’ soccer team), Alister Ratcliff (via the cross country team) and Zack Moliver.

“It will be a long and demanding season,” said coach Childs, “and the team will look to (our captains) for guidance. We are still young, with only two returning seniors, and we will have to see how that plays out over the course of the season.”

The upside to the team is, a number of swimmers – new to the sport at the high school level – qualified for the South-West Conference and CIAC state tournament last year and that experience should serve them well as they seek to improve.

Juniors include Alex Albritton, Jeff Bonacorso, Max Hoagland, Taylor Mammen, Mike Parker, Joe Pisacreta, Dave Rothacker and Ali Swink.

Sophomores include Hunter Cedergren, Anthony Fiore, Chris Fragoso, Kevin Herring, Jackie Hornak, Allen Hubbard, Allison Jagoe, Rob Morlath and James O’Connor.

And freshmen include Scott Bierce, Christian Edwards Van Muijan, Tony Fragoso, Shandon Moffat, Chris Parker and Patrick Stein.

“Our goals are to qualify a number athletes in each event at SWCs,” said coach Childs, “reach school record times in our relays, and have athletes qualify for the State Opens. It should be an exciting season.”

HOCKEY

Getting hit with an ice-covered snowball hurts, but what happened to the Newtown High School hockey team hurts even worse.

The heart and soul of an 8-10-0-2 team – the LaPorta brothers, Sean and Blaise – were plucked off the team by graduation. With their loss, and the loss of Corey Regensburger, Nick Magoulas and Dave Haladjian, the Nighthawks could be facing a potentially cruel winter on the ice.

But wait –

Left behind was a mixture of young players who were just starting to make their mark on the program when the season came to a close in the South-West Conference Division III semi-finals and from that mixture second-year coach Dustin Zima hopes to create a few lines to pick up the offensive slack.

No doubt he will have to be patient, but he can afford to be since he had the luxury of returning two of the top goaltenders in the SWC – seniors Peter Oggeri and Mike Jurasek.

“Our success will depend on a handful of players stepping into the roles of being goal-scorers and playmakers,” said coach Zima. “Having the two best high school goalies in the area will provide us with the opportunity to beat any team that we play—provided that we put points on the board.”

Oggeri will captain the 2005-06 ‘Hawks along with senior forwards Joe Brewer and Mike Conroy and senior defenseman Steve Borchetta. At forward, coach Zima will look to senior Justin Pacheco and junior Pat Daly to make contributions but it may be the emergence of junior forward Chris Kraft and sophomores Braeden Conlan (defense), Francis Oggeri (forward), Blake Bell (forward) and PJ Horoszko (defense) that could lift the Nighthawks into the thick of the Division III race.

“We have a young, hard-working team that has a great deal of potential,” said coach Zima. “We look forward to a competitive season in the SWC.”

WRESTLING

The scuttlebutt around the South-West Conference is that the Newtown High School wrestling team is going to go 0-11 in 2005-06. An absurd assumption, of course, and head coach Al Potter is the first one to say so.

Sure, the Nighthawks lost several key seniors from a 9-10 team – SWC 189-pound champion Alex Read, emotional lightning rod Bobby Pattison, Skye Perry, Ryan Peters, Brandon Thomas, Justin Bass, Steve Giacolone and Mike Rambone. But more than 50 wrestlers came out for the team – 20 or so in the freshman class alone – and that’s enough to give anyone hope.

“Losing eight seniors would devastate any team,” coach Potter admitted, “but our four returning seniors will anchor a young team that surprised us all with more than 50 kids coming in for tryouts. This is nuts. It could give us phenomenal dividends in the future. But, right now, this will help us be competitive in the SWC.”

The ‘Hawks return four seniors – Kim Solheim, Gary Andrews and the two captains, Colin O’Connor and Jeff Lipnick – who played key roles last year. Solheim performed well at 103 pounds, O’Connor was solid at 145 pounds and Lipnick was pretty sharp at 119 pounds (finishing fourth at the SWCs).

Junior Anthony Klabonski was a spark plug for the team last year in limited action and could have a key role in 2005-06 and junior Jeff Bray – who performed very well as a freshman two years ago – returns after losing his sophomore season to a knee injury. Sophomore Dana Van Buskirk also wrestled well at 112 pounds last season, registering more than few wins, and returns to the mat.

Coach Potter won’t really know what he has until the squad has a couple of matches under its belt, but despite all the naysayers he remains confident.

INDOOR TRACK

It may be shocking to hear that the Newtown High School indoor track team is nearly 30 athletes lighter than a year … until you understand that the Nighthawks (girls and boys) still number more than 90.

And that’s a good number. Despite losing Quincey Blanchard, Dan Gindraux, Jon Larsen, Liam Cawley, Nick Varga, Mike Cash and Leah Herity from squads that finished third (girls) and fourth (boys) at the South-West Conference championships head coach Doug Russell is confident the team will remain a force.

“I’m excited about this season with the numbers we do have,” said coach Russell, who will handle both programs with the departure of former boys’ coach Dave Foss. “We have a large contingent of sprinters and jumpers and the addition of most of the girls’ and boys’ cross country teams makes the distance team very strong.”

Of the 91 athletes on the squad (52 girls, 39 boys) 48 are underclassmen.

The distance chores will be handled by Sadie Ball, Michelle Brennan and Moira Collier on the girls’ side and Eric MacKnight, Scott Nichols, Matt Cole, Zach Schwartz and Charlie Baldour. Except for Baldour, who missed the fall season while dealing with health issues, all are fresh off very strong cross country campaigns (remember, the boys were State Open champions).

“We also have some young distance kids who are showing a lot of potential and are willing to do the work,” said coach Russell.

When it comes to the field events, coach Russell will look towards Lindsay Weber, Jenna Van Waalwijk and Ryan Morrissey in the high jump, Chris Nuelle and Remy Ball in the pole vault, and Teresa Taylor, Jaclyn Van Waalwijk, Megan Rawson, Corey Stokes and Luke Powers in the throwing events.

Dan Tichon and newcomer Brian Pennarolla should spark the sprinters.

I feel we will be competitive with other teams in the SWC and will begin to see new potential in the large numbers of new athletes,” said coach Russell. “It is exciting to see all of these kids in our program. I know many of them will go into other sports in the spring, but it also gives us a chance to see potential athletes for our boys and girls outdoor programs as well.”