By Kim J. Harmon

 

The opportunity to start a high school football game almost never came for Brett Eastman. But when it did, he was ready for it.

Eastman was one of those guys who didn’t look like a football player right off. Nevertheless, he worked hard and paid his dues on the freshman and junior varsity teams, always thinking his chance would someday come.

As a junior, he got a taste of varsity as a special teams player.

But then as a senior –

“The first or second week, I wasn’t getting much playing time and I was thinking about quitting,” admitted Eastman, 17, a cornerback/wide receiver. “But then someone got injured. I started one game and I’ve been starting ever since.”

And in 10 games, Eastman has registered eight interceptions (two of those in a great win over New Milford in the annual Boot Trophy game) and thus earned himself a selection as a South-West Conference First Team All Star.

“I expected to come in as a senior and play,” said Eastman, “but I had some tendonitis and I think that hurt me. I never talked to the coaches about it, but I would have if I had decided to quit.”

He stayed, though, and the Nighthawks are much better for it.

Of course, there certainly was not a whole lot to get excited about – either for Eastman or the ‘Hawks in general – in the first four games; losses to Stratford (15-6), Bethel (7-0), Brookfield (22-14) and Bunnell (21-3) dropped the locals to 0-4.

But on Friday, October 10, everything changed.

The ‘Hawks started to win.

And Eastman started to shine.

“It started to come together against New Milford,” he said. “That was our first win and I had two interceptions. That was the turning point.”

Since then, the ‘Hawks are 4-1-1 and have – as the coaching staff expected back in September – dominated with defense. They allowed just 54 points in the six games (just nine points per game) and even though they did lose to Immaculate, the ‘Hawks allowed just 14 points to a team that would go on to play Masuk for the SWC championship.

“We’ve been pretty consistent every game,” said Eastman. “Immaculate is a good team and I think we held them to their lowest point total of the season (before the Mustangs lost 40-7 to Masuk in the SWC final).”

That has provided the kind of confidence that wasn’t evident in the first four weeks.

“I’d like to replay every game we lost,” said Eastman. “The way we’re playing now, we’d put up some points and win some of them.”

And the way Eastman is playing now – when, just 10 weeks ago, he didn’t think he’d be playing at all – there is some hope for a college football career. A prospective chemistry major, Eastman has sent his best tapes to Tufts University in Massachusetts, Wesleyan and Rochester Polytechnic Institute (RPI).

Like at Newtown High School, all he needs is the opportunity.