After 60-plus minutes of strong defensive play and an increasing number of scoring chances that went by the boards the Newtown High School boys’ soccer team’s persistence paid off. Manny Adomako crossed the ball from the right corner where Eli Brady deposited the game’s first goal with 19:43 remaining, propelling the Nighthawks to a 2-0 win over visiting Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport at Blue & Gold Stadium on September 21.

A last-second deflection by Noah Kooper off a Jonah Kaiser right-side corner kick added to the tally and the Nighthawks picked up their second consecutive shutout and third blanking of an opponent this season.

Prior to those successful strikes the Nighthawks piled up some chances and thwarted many of the Kolbe attacks at the mid field and back line area before shots made it in on goal. When they did, Nighthawks goalkeeper Luke Doherty was up to the task. In soccer very often the team with more opportunities is not the one to score and Kolbe had a great chance to strike first, in the opening half.

“They hit a pipe once. That could have changed the game. We fought through it, had a little grit, we changed some things up a bit, and got the win,” Newtown Coach Ryan Lyddy said.

Newtown’s coach said some of the players who previously saw less playing time have been making a case for some minutes in game action and were rewarded by the coaching staff. He was pleased with the play of some of those contributors and the regulars alike, particularly that of Brady, Brendan McAnaspie, Adomako, and Ed Liu.

Matt Yermolin, Aiden Jennings, Kaiser, and Liu were like a wall in the back, regularly breaking up plays with headers, kick-away clears, and tackles.

“The back line’s been doing a great job all year,” said Lyddy, whose team surrendered only seven goals in as many contests to begin the slate.

The offense worked hard to generate chances. McAnaspie and Erik Arpi crossed the ball into the 18 yard box, Brady and Ryan Payne had chances; Curtis Verdi set up Brady for a one-on-one chance with the goalkeeper that was denied.

The Nighthawks followed up the back-to-back shutouts in a home clash with Joel Barlow of Redding on September 24 and earned a 1-1 tie with Brady recording the lone NHS goal.

Newtown was coming off a 1-0 win over host Immaculate of Danbury two days earlier. Malakai Ortner scored, assisted by Adomako, in the win. Before that contest was a 1-1 tie with Weston on September 17; Payne assisted Verdi. The Hawks stood at 5-0-3 through their first eight games of play.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.