NHS Laxmen Confident And Clicking As Season Winds Down

By Andy Hutchison

The goals kept coming. Newtown High School’s boys’ lacrosse team had tallied 20 before all was said and done. The Nighthawks played to their standards before holding back and running out the clock during most of the fourth quarter to the tune of a 20-0 thumping of Bunnell at home on Tuesday afternoon.

In case you hadn’t guessed, it was Newtown’s highest scoring game and most lopsided win of the season. Newtown improved to 12-3 overall heading into the regular season finale against Bethel on Thursday (after this issue of The Bee went to press) and Bunnell fell to 3-10.

Newtown went to its bench players and that didn’t stop the productivity as 12 different Nighthawks tallied goals. Brendan Martin led the way with five, Christian Beitel had three and Kevin Canavan and Jamie Vavrek had two apiece. The game was played at the NHS grass practice field, a change of pace after Newtown played most of its season on the turf at Treadwell Park. The slightly slower-paced game on grass couldn’t slow down the firing-on-all-cylinders Nighthawks.

With the South-West Conference Tournament playoffs right around the corner, this was far from a postseason tune-up, but the Hawks made the most of this laugher. NHS Coach Brian Micena told his players to pass the ball around before shooting and strive to record assists on each goal.

“We were able to get everybody in and get everyone a lot of time,” Micena added.

Tuesday’s win was carryover from the high-scoring success the Hawks had on Monday, when Newtown, in its game at Norwalk, pulled away in the second half for a 17-5 win.

“I think we’re starting to feel our stride,” Micena said.

Not bad for a team that has been pounding opponents basically all season long. But, as is the case with almost any team, there have been some bumps in the road. NHS, before the 12-goal toppling of Norwalk, had lost two straight. The Hawks lost 11-9 to Conard and 18-6 to Weston last week. Aside from those setbacks, the Hawks have been progressing as the season has unfolded much to the satisfaction of Micena. The players are moving well off the ball and players have gained a solid understanding of their roles on the field, he said.

Certainly, winning as many games as the Hawks have should give the team a feeling they can contend for SWC and state titles in the coming weeks.

When the Hawks are on their game, they play aggressively even without the ball, not allowing opposing offenses to get comfortable, Conor Martin said.

“When we’re playing our game and doing what we should, be there aren’t too many teams we can’t run with,” Martin added.

Two of Newtown’s three defeats were to nonconference teams: Fairfield Prep and Conard. The only team in the SWC that the Hawks have not been able to run with thus far is Weston, but Micena said his team did not play to its ability in that game. Never mind running with teams; Newtown has run over pretty much every opponent, outscoring the opposition by a combined 179-56 through the middle of this week. The only catch, come playoff time, is that one loss can’t be overcome.

“We want to be confident but not too confident going into [the postseason],” goaltender Max Beitel said. “If we’re doing what we should do, we should do really well.”