By Kim J. Harmon

NORWALK – Standing ovations are usually reserved for champions, but when the Newtown High School boys’ lacrosse team walked off the field Tuesday night after being saddled by Darien with a 15-3 loss in the CIAC Division I quarterfinals it got an ovation it richly deserved.

Just a week after winning their second consecutive South-West Conference championship, the Nighthawks met the crème de la crème of Connecticut lacrosse – Darien, ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 19 in the nation according to Laxpower.com – and saw a spectacular season come to an end.

“I was hoping for something better,” said head coach Brian Micena, who led his charges to a 15-3 record in their first year in Division I. “But we were never in our game and (Darien) is a great team with a great goaltender.”

That’s how one of the state’s most prolific offenses (234 goals, 13.8 a game) was limited only to scores from Casey Kirch (2) and John Oliver (1).

But the ‘Hawks did not bow out of the CIAC Division I playoffs without something to hang their collective hat on. In the opening round last Saturday, the locals shocked defending Division I champion Cheshire, 11-9.

“That was great,” said coach Micena, “It was the biggest win for our program. Cheshire was looking to go deep (into the playoffs) and maybe overlooked us.”

John Oliver scored four goals and Kirch added three more in the win. The ‘Hawks jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the first period, only to have the Rams rally in the second to tie the score 6-6 at the half. But the ‘Hawks scored three more goals in the third – allowing none – and that provided the cushion they needed.

Tom Ryan, Mike Soder, Kyle Kirch and Jay Romanelli all scored in the win over Cheshire. Ryan chipped in with three assists while Ross Coates had two. Goaltender Chris Body made 11 saves with the support of defensemen Dan Mallen and Marc Ingerman.

The ‘Hawks did not have the same kind of luck on Tuesday night at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk. The Blue Wave possessed a very strong offense, a tenacious defense, and superior superb stick skills and all the ‘Hawks could hope to do was slow them down.

The Blue Wave scored just 1:34 into the game to take a 1-0 lead. Goals with 5:12 and 2:01 left in the opening frame staked the Wave to a 3-0 lead. But with 35.6 seconds left, the ‘Hawks found the cage. Body made a brilliant stop and his outlet pass was turned into a fast break opportunity – Ryan to Kirch for the goal.

But the Wave scored six unanswered goals – three in the final 2:03 – to take a 9-1 lead into the half.

Nevertheless, the ‘Hawks came out with a little juice in the third period. Oliver grabbed a nifty pass from Kirch and flipped a shot into the cage as he was falling. That trimmed the Darien lead to 9-2 and gave the Newtown crowd something to cheer about.

For a minute. Darien scored less than two minutes later and went on a streak of six unanswered goals before Kirch backhanded a shot into the cage with 21 seconds left in the game.

But even though the ‘Hawks walked off the Jack Casagrande Field in Norwalk with their season having just ended, the fans still gave them that standing ovation. It might not have been a great finish, but it was a great season.

NOTE: Casey Kirch finished with 65 goals, giving him a school-record 189 for his career. Tom Ryan finished with 50 goals, giving him 147 – good for second place on the all-time list. According to Laxpower.com, the Nighthawks are ranked 98th in the nation.