By Kim J. Harmon

The winter sports season is about to lumber into action (tryouts open on Monday, November 24, for girls’ basketball) and so the finishing touches are being put on the 2003 fall campaign.

But with the Newtown High School swimmers finishing sixth at the CIAC Class L championships and the football team slamming Bullard Havens for its third win in a row, there are still successes to be found.

Gridders A Hair

Below .500 Mark

There was a time when the Newtown High School football team was drowning. At least now it is treading water.

After starting out the season 0-4, the Nighthawks – on the strength of consecutive wins over Jonathan Law, Weston and then Bullard Havens last Friday – have gone 4-1-1 to put themselves on the verge of a .500 record.

Of course, to earn that .500 mark the ‘Hawks would have to beat Masuk.

Still, it has been a good swim back up from the depths.

John Collins scored a pair of touchdowns and Roy Scheunemann rushed for 104 yards to power the ‘Hawks to a 40-8 win over Bullard Havens.

Collins scored on a 44-yard run in the first quarter to put the ‘Hawks up 7-0 and then scored on a one-yard run in the second quarter to put the ‘Hawks ahead 14-0. Scheunemann chipped in with a 30-yard run later in the second quarter to put the ‘Hawks out on top 21-0 at the end of the half.

In the third quarter, Ben Bagaglio scored on a four-yard run to push the lead to 27-0. And then in the fourth, freshman Joe DeVellis scored his first varsity touchdown on a 69-yard run and Billy Beatty followed with a nine-yard touchdown run to stake the ‘Hawks to a 40-0 lead.

Ross Coates was 3-for-5 on extra points.

The ‘Hawks rushed for 325 yards – the sum total of all their offense.

DeVellis rushed for 69 yards on two carries, Bagaglio rushed for 59 yards on nine carries, Collins rushed for 41 yards on six carries, Steve Kean rushed for 35 yards on four carries, and Beatty rushed for 17 yards on two carries.

With DeVellis and Beatty scoring their first touchdowns of the year, that makes eleven different players who have scored touchdowns for the ‘Hawks in 2003.

Bullard Havens   0     0    0    8   - 8

Newtown            7   14    6  13 - 40

First Quarter

N - Collins 44 run (Coates kick)

Second Quarter

N - Collins 1 run (Coates kick()

N - Scheunemann 30 run (Coates kick)

Third Quarter

N - Bagaglio 4 run (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

N - DeVellis 69 run (Coates kick)

N - Beatty 9 run (kick failed)

BH - Craig 47 run (Craig run)

Swimmers Roll Sixes

In Class L Finals

There are a few certainties in this life and besides death and taxes, one other is that the Cheshire High School girls’ swim team is going to win the CIAC Class L championship.

And it was pretty clear this year – although not quite as certain – that Ridgefield, Amity Regional and Staples were going to take the next three spots.

So with all that being said, Newtown High School (undefeated in the dual meet season, second at the South-West Conference championships) did pretty well by finishing sixth overall.

Six was a popular number for the Lady Nighthawks, too.

They were –

Sixth overall.

Sixth in the 400 medley relay.

Sixth in the 200 individual medley.

Sixth in the 100 breaststroke.

The only things throwing off the pure symmetry of it all was the fifth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay and the 12th- and 15th-place finishes in diving. It all added up to 191 points, six shy of Fitch in fifth and 113 shy of Staples in fourth. The ‘Hawks finished well ahead of Windsor (135) and Masuk (130).

Abby Atkinson shined for the ‘Hawks, grabbing sixth in the 200 individual medley at 2:17.15 (a little less than eight seconds behind of Margaret Fenn of Staples) and sixth in the 100 breaststroke at 1:12.37 (less than four seconds behind Anna Flores of Conard).

The 400 freestyle relay team of Sally Tabler, Maggie Hemingway, Atkinson and Amy Robinson finished fifth at 3:49.75, about 14 seconds behind Amity Regional. And the 200 medley relay of Maricate Conlon, Atkinson, Jenny Cupero and Robinson finished sixth at 2:01.47, almost 10 seconds behind Cheshire.

Outside of the top local finishes –

[Tabler was 16th in the 200 individual medley at 2:24.12 and Conlon was 17th at 2:26.89.

[Hemingway was 14th in the 50 freestyle at 26.18 and Robinson was 18th at 26.65.

[Kim Mayers was 12th in diving with 249.85 points and Tierney Carey was 15th with 232.40 points.

[Robinson was 14th in the 100 freestyle at 57.08 and Hemingway was 15th at 57.29.

[Tabler was 15th in the 500 freestyle at 5:46.04.

[Conlon was 12th in the 100 backstroke at 1:05.66 and Carol Ann Smith was 14th at 1:06.42. Margaret Randall was in a swim-off to qualify for the finals and was edged by Allison Krustapentus of Fermi.