By Kim J. Harmon

Boy, were there plenty of thrills last week or what?

The football team defeats New Fairfield on a 71-yard touchdown pass with less than 50 seconds to go in the fourth quarter. The boys’ soccer team rallies back from a 1-0 deficit with two rapid-fire goals against Kolbe Cathedral at Tilson Field. And the girls’ soccer team rallies back from consecutive 1-0 deficits to defeat New Milford and tie Lauralton Hall in order to remain unbeaten.

And through 42 contests thus far, the Newtown fall sports program is a combined 33-5-4 (an .833 winning percentage).

Read on –

FOOTBALL

Newtown 21,

New Fairfield 14

Junior quarterback Jake DeVellis can be a dangerous guy when he is flushed from the pocket and out on the run.

He can scramble for a first down.

He can tuck it and run upfield.

Or he can throw.

That last one is the thing that did in New Fairfield last week in a special Thursday edition of South-West Conference football. With the game tied 14-14 and less than 50 seconds left on the clock, DeVellis was forced out of the picked and spied his No. 1 receiver, Bob Lapple, cutting back on his route to help out.

But DeVellis was okay and he pointed deep and Lapple turned back upfield.

DeVellis then launched a near perfect pass – better than 30 yards in the air – that dropped softly in Lapple’s hands out by the New Fairfield 35. Lapple shed the Rebel defensive back (who had provided pretty good coverage on the play, by the way) and scampered the rest of the way, untouched, for the go-ahead touchdown.

“We’ve been trying to get the ball deep all game,” said head coach Steve George. “We called a deep route (there) and Jake got outside and just threw it.”

The play covered 71 yards and it was only Lapple’s second catch of the night. The first came a few moments before, a nine-yard toss on first down.

DeVellis was 6-of-11 on the night for 169 yards and two touchdowns. He found five different receivers around the field – Tyler Tarantino (1-for-5), Brian Reszoly (1-for-19), Kurt Nacewicz (1-for-37), Brendan Martin (1-for-33) and Lapple (2-for-80).

The Rebels went on top, 7-0, with 5:31 left in the first period on a 62-yard pass from Dave Elser to CJ Costabile. But only a minute later, the Nighthawks evened things up when DeVellis hooked up with Nacewicz on a sideline pass that Nacewicz won on a jump ball and turned into 34-yard touchdown.

With 5:55 left in the half, the ‘Hawks took a 14-7 lead when Tarantino burst off tackle for an 11-yard touchdown.

That led held up until the Rebels scored on a 6-yard pass from Elser to Pat Cassidy with 10:18 left to play.

“We knew New Fairfield would be a good team,” said coach George. “They had a lot of kids from that state championship lacrosse team and that kind of worried us a little.”

But the ‘Hawks – who had opened the season with an easy win over Nonnewaug – were determined. Even though they had a drive stall on the New Fairfield 10, the ‘Hawks redeemed themselves when Brett Mauro picked off an Elser pass at the Newtown 16 with 1:23 left to play.

It was Newtown’s fourth pick of the night.

“(Elser) is a good quarterback,” said George. “But we moved our coverages around and it seemed to work.”

Brendan McNamara, Tarantino and Kyle O’Connor all had picks.

It was the last one, though, that did the most damage. Just two players later, DeVellis was hitting Lapple for the go-ahead touchdown. All that was left was for the locals to survive a spirited return that brought the Rebels near midfield with 24.4 seconds left in the game.

Two plays later, Elser fumbled after being flushed from the picked and Newtown fell on the loose ball to close out the game.

The ‘Hawks moved to 2-0 on the year.

“It was a good win, but we made a lot of young mistakes,” said coach George. “But we’ll clean those up in practice.”

The ‘Hawks will host Notre Dame on Friday at 7 pm at Blue & Gold Stadium.

Newtown 21, New Fairfield 14

First Quarter: New Fairfield – Costabile, 62 pass from Elser (Macey kick); Newtown – Nacewicz, 34 pass from DeVellis (Noonan kick). Second Quarter: Newtown – Tarantino 11 run (Noonan kick). Fourth Quarter: New Fairfield – Cassidy, 6 pass from Elser (Macey kick); Newtown – Lapple, 71 pass from DeVellis (Noonan kick).

NEWTOWN STATISTICS

Rushing – Kurt Nacewicz 11-84, Tyler Tarantino 9-48, Jake DeVellis 12-15, Brendan Martin 2-8, Tim Wheeler 3-5, Gabe Giusti 1-4, Brian Reszoly 3-3 (TOTALS: 41-167). Passing – Jake DeVellis 6-of-11 for 169 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions. Receiving – Bob Lapple 2-80, Brendan Martin 1-33, Kurt Nacewicz 1-32, Brian Reszoly 1-19, Tyler Tarantino 1-5 (TOTALS: 6-for-169). Tackles – John Aminti 6, Pat McNulty 4, Keith McGrath 3, Tim Wheeler 3, Conor McNamara 3, Tyler Tarantino 3, Eric Puffer 2.5, Jamie Goodwick 2, Jeremy Yapp 2, Jacob Phenix 1.5, Brett Mauro 1.5, Tory Deakin, Tucker Schmidt, Jason Kostecki, Kyle O’Connor, Michael Kearns (TOTALS: 37 tackles, 6 TFL)

SWIMMING

Newtown over Bunnell

Pomperaug 94, Newtown 90

Freshman Krysta Gates was supposed to be too sick to swim in the 500 freestyle Tuesday afternoon against Pomperaug.

At least, that’s what she told head coach Mary Atkinson.

But whatever medicine Gates took before the meet must have worked wonders because not only did she swim in the event, she finished second (6:07.13) and shaved five seconds off her previous personal best time.

“There’s always one moment in ever meet for me,” said coach Atkinson, “and that was it.”

Ultimately, that second-place finish wasn’t enough to lift the Lady Nighthawks past the Lady Panthers – but it was one of several nice finishes for a team that dropped to 2-2 on the year, which includes a win over Bunnell last week.

There was the first-place finish (2:02.96) by the 200 medley relay team of Emma Atkinson, Lucy Remitz, Leah Barrett and Jaclyn Van Waalwijk. Then there was the first-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:26.46) and second-place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:09.02) by Atkinson; the second-place finish in the 50 freestyle (27.13) and 100 freestyle (58.54) by Van Waalwijk; the first-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay (1:58.14); the first-place finish by Barrett  in the 100 backstroke (1:08.13); and the first-place finish by Baylis in the 100 breaststroke (1:17.17).

Annie Hull also had a pair of third-place finishes in the 200 individual medley (2:37.00) and 100 freestyle (1:01.61) while Liz Anne Kroon added a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle (2:16.56).

It just didn’t add up to enough points in the end.

In the win over Bunnell last week, Van Waalwijk (200 freestyle – 2:13.81), Remitz (100 butterfly – 1:07.79) and Atkinson (100 breaststroke – 1:20.37) were all individual winners while the 200 freestyle relay foursome of Barrett, Atkinson, Remitz and Van Waalwijk came iun first at 1:54.36.

The girls will host New Fairfield on Friday and will visit Weston next Tuesday. Both meets start at 4 pm.

FIELD HOCKEY

Pomperaug 2, Newtown 0

Newtown 1, New Fairfield 0

Considering that the Newtown High School field hockey team opened the season with a 0-0 draw against New Milford … and considering that New Milford beat Pomperaug last week … well, then, it seemed only logical that Newtown had, at least, a reasonable chance of beating Pomperaug last Friday.

Right?

The Lady Panthers had other ideas, though, and pinned a 2-0 loss on the Lady Nighthawks. Jamie Orrico scored in the first half and Laura Atkinson scored in the second half for Pomperaug, which improved to 4-1 with the win.

Newtown goaltender Lisa Isabella turned away six shots in the loss, which dropped the locals to 1-1-1 overall.

But the ‘Hawks rebounded well on Tuesday, slipping past New Fairfield, 1-0, in overtime on a goal by Jackie Isabella six minutes into the extra session.

Now at 2-1-1, the locals were set to visit Bethel on Thursday before hosting traditional non-conference rival Haddam-Killingworth on Saturday at 7 pm at Blue & Gold Stadium. The girls will be home next Tuesday to face Weston and will be on the road next Thursday to take on Immaculate.

GIRLS SOCCER

Newtown 2, New Milford 1

Newtown 1, Lauralton Hall 1

Learning how to fight back.

As much as pure talent is a key to success, so to is the ability to rally back when your back is against the wall.

The Newtown High School girls’ soccer team learned a little bit about that this week, rallying back from consecutive 1-0 deficits to defeat New Milford (2-1) and tie Lauralton Hall (1-1) to remain unbeaten at 4-0-1.

Last week, the ‘Hawks had a lot of trouble squeezing a shot through a clogged up penalty area as the Green Wave pulled everyone back in an effort to somehow slow down a powerful offense led by Kasey Schulz and Tania Domingos.

The Wave scored the opener on a nifty corner kick Brittany Klein to Liza Maizel and then settled back on defense. While the Wave did not pose much of an offensive threat for the remainder of the game (Newtown goaltender Emily Kluga needed to make just one save), the locals tried again and again to get through the New Milford defense.

But while the locals slammed two shots off the crossbar and then drilled another pounded another right into the gut of New Milford goaltender Desarae VanCoughnett (who made 15 saves on the day), it was a side-of-the-foot roller by Domingos and, later, a penalty kick by Megan Hansen which lifted the ‘Hawks to the win.

Time was running out on the ‘Hawks on Monday against Lauralton Hall. After the Lady Crusaders went up, 1-0, in the 19th minute the locals struggled to find the net – and didn’t until the 71st minute when Domingos fed Schulz for the equalizer.

With the tie, the ‘Hawks moved to 4-0-1 on the year heading into a showdown with a high-powered Bethel team (coached by former Newtown High School soccer/basketball player Jayme Beckham) on Wednesday night.

The ‘Hawks will host Notre Dame on Saturday at 10 am and will visit Masuk next Tuesday, at 3:45 pm in Monroe, for a re-match of the season opener (and, this time, it’s a league game).

Newtown 2, New Milford 1

GOALS: New Milford – Liza Maizel; Newtown – Tania Domingos, Megan Hansen (penalty kick). SHOTS: Newtown – 19; New Milford – 2. SAVES: Newtown – Emily Kluga; New Milford – Desarae VanCoughnett 15. CORNER KICKS: Newtown – 8; New Milford – 1.

Newtown 1, Lauralton Hall 1

GOALS: Newtown – Kasey Schulz; Lauralton Hall – Christina Collins. ASSISTS: Newtown – Tania Domingos; Lauralton Hall – Kelly D’Ambrisi). SHOTS: Newtown – 9; Lauralton Hall – 13. SAVES: Newtown – Emily Kluga 10; Lauralton Hall – Miranda Raine 6. CORNER KICKS: Newtown – 1; Lauralton Hall – 5.

VOLLEYBALL

Newtown 3, Masuk 0

Newtown 3, Stratford 0

Fifteen in a row.

Ever since the Newtown High School volleyball team gave away the first game in its season-opening match with Bunnell back on September 11, it has been nearly perfect in running its record to 5-0 on the year.

Last week, it was 3-0 wins over Masuk (25-22, 25-14, 25-14) and Stratford (25-7, 25-13, 25-22) that kept the locals on a beeline to the South-West Conference tournament and, potentially, their second championship.

In the win over Masuk, Morgan Knees registered 10 kills and three blocks at the net and added eight service aces. Sarah Truitt had 19 assists and Michelle Narayanan made seven digs in the back. In the win over Stratford – which allowed head coach Tom Czaplinski to sub in most of his bench – Knees had six kills and six service aces with the aid of a nifty jump serve. Emily Loose added four kills and seven service aces.

The ‘Hawks met Brookfield on Wednesday and will travel to Lauralton Hall on Friday before returning home next week to host Pomperaug (Monday, 5:30 pm) and Notre Dame (Wednesday, 5 pm).

BOYS SOCCER

Newtown 1, New Milford 1

Newtown 2, Kolbe Cathedral 1

Harsh words at halftime served to wake up a lethargic and unfocussed Newtown High School boys’ soccer team, which rallied back from a one-goal deficit to slip by Kolbe Cathedral, 2-1, on Tuesday afternoon at Tilson Field.

After a tough first half against a fast, determined Kolbe team – which took a 1-0 lead on a Hector Pommills goal – Newtown head coach Brian Neumeyer pulled aside a few of his players for a frank discussion on the first 40 minutes of the South-West Conference tilt.

Then the rest of the team heard about it in the far corner of the field.

And it responded.

The Nighthawks dominated the Cougars – who had beaten Pomperaug, 3-1, seven days before and then tied Joel Barlow, 0-0, last Thursday. Strong play in the midfield and up front by Evan Kennedy, Andrew Meisel and Neris Halili kept the Cougars and their goaltender, Sergio Lara, back on their heels.

Pommills goal in the 28th minute put Kolbe on top, 1-0, but Kennedy scored the equalizer in the 57th minute off an assist from Jeff DiNicola.

The second goal came less than a minute later, almost like a bolt of lightning. Throughout the second half, the ‘Hawks had pressured the goal (finishing with a 17-14 advantage in shots) and had a couple of near misses, but a great serve by Halili gave Meisel a perfect opportunity to drill a shot past Lara into the net.

It was like manna from heaven for the ‘Hawks, who had battled to a 1-1 tie with New Milford last week.

The defense held tough for the last 22 minutes as goaltender Kyle DiNicola (four saves on the afternoon) earned his second win of the season.

The ‘Hawks – battered by massive graduation losses – haven’t been perfect and the games haven’t always been pretty, but they have battled to a 2-1-2 record through their first five games and now have Bethel (Thursday) and Notre Dame (Saturday) coming up on the road and Masuk (Tuesday) coming up at home.

Confidence gained in securing a come-from-behind win over Kolbe should only help.

Newtown 2, Kolbe Cathedral 1

GOALS: Kolbe Cathedral – Hector Pommills; Newtown – Evan Kennedy, Andrew Meisel. ASSISTS: Kolbe Cathedral – Steven Osorio; Newtown – Jeff DiNicola, Neris Halili. SHOTS: Kolbe Cathedral – 14; Newtown – 17. SAVES: Kolbe Cathedral – Sergio Lara 8; Newtown – Kyle DiNicola 4. CORNER KICKS: Kolbe Cathedral – 4; Newtown – 3.

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

Newtown 15, New Fairfield 46

Newtown 24, Immaculate 37

Newtown 15, Notre Dame 50

The Newtown High School girls’ cross country team may be 9-0 right now after another sweep on Tuesday, but the Lady Nighthawks are not taking their position for granted.

Head coach Doug Russell says the girls continue to look for ways to improve ... which is a dangerous sign for the rest of the South-West Conference.

In a sweep of New Fairfield, Immaculate and Notre Dame on Tuesday at Tarrywile Park in Danbury, Elise DeRoo was the top Newtown finisher, second overall, at 15:56.

Immaculate’s superb No. 1,  Moira Kenny, came in first at 15:18.

Following DeRoo in for the ‘Hawks was Sara Pollock (17:08), Jen Brill (17:36), Christie Attanasio (17:51) and Carolyn Gingras (18:04).

All four girls came in one after the other.

Erin Nemeth (18:17) came in 10th overall and Anne Martino (18:22) came in 11th, but did not figure into the scoring.

Up next week for the locals is New Milford, Brookfield and Bethel ... at New Milford.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

Newtown 25, New Fairfield 32

Newtown 17, Immaculate 33

Newtown 15, Notre Dame 50

Sure, the Newtown High School boys’ cross country team was decimated by graduation.

But, still, they continue to impress.

With a sweep of New Fairfield, Immaculate and Notre Dame on Tuesday at Tarrywile Park in Danbury, the boys improved to 7-1 overall.

Once again, senior Kevin Hoyt was the first one across the finish line, this time in 17:18.

David Meyer (18:24), Jordan Reed (18:26) and Alex DiNoto (18:28) came in fourth, fifth and sixth overall and Adam Schankman trailed in 11th overall (19:22) to round out Newtown’s top five.

Jon Zigman (19:29) and Tucker Grose (19:33) came in 12th and 13th overall, but did not figure into the scoring.

The tough test for the Nighthawks comes next week when they visit New Milford, Brookfield and Bethel.