By Kim J. Harmon

Mark it on the calendar – Saturday, April 26, 7 pm.

That is when the Newtown High School boys’ lacrosse team will renew acquaintances with Joel Barlow … 10 months after the two schools met in the CIAC Division II state championship game (with Barlow coming away the winner).

The Nighthawks – now in Division I – crushed D-I Branford, 17-5, to open the 2003 season and then eased past New Milford, also 17-5, to run their record to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the South-West Conference.

Head coach Brian Micena knew there would be some tough challenges for his team this season and the first was expected to be on Tuesday night in a meeting with Guilford. Now the ‘Hawks will have to wait until Saturday.

Face off is at 7 pm at Blue & Gold Stadium.

The Nighthawks earned a regular season win over the Falcons in 2002 and then, after defeating New Fairfield to capture their first SWC championship, the ‘Hawks eventually met the Falcons again in the D-II championship game.

And there the ‘Hawks fell 10-9.

Just like last year, though, the ‘Hawks are displaying an extremely explosive offense. Casey Kirch (who became the all-time leading male scorer in school history with his 80th goal last year), scored six goals in the season-opening win over Branford. John Oliver chipped in with four goals while Mike Soder and Kyle Kirch added two goals apiece. Tom Ryan, who scored 61 times a year ago, contributed one goal along with Jay Romanelli and Devon Manfredonia.

Ryan and Oliver dished off three assists apiece while Kyle Kirch dished off two.

That was a bit of an unexpected performance for the ‘Hawks, but the 17-5 win over New Milford last Thursday went pretty much as everyone expected. Casey Kirch scored five more goals (giving him 136 career goals, just eight shy of overall career leader Caitlin Collier) but it was Oliver who did him one better, scoring six times as the ‘Hawks opened up a 12-1 lead by halftime. Ryan added a pair of goals while Soder, Romanelli, Kyle Kirch and Brendan O’Connor scored one goal apiece.

Ryan had three assists as Kyle Kirch and O’Connor had two apiece. Manfredonia also dished off an assist.

After the game with Barlow on Saturday night, the ‘Hawks will host Guilford on Monday at the stadium and then will travel to Monroe on Thursday, May 1, to take on Masuk.