By Kim J. Harmon

BROOKFIELD – Emotion is a fickle thing.

When Stratford was in town two weeks ago, led by former coach Bob Zito, the Nighthawks were as sky-high emotionally as a football team could be and that translated itself into a stunning 30-14 win over the Red Devils.

But last Friday night down in Brookfield, none of that same emotion was evident and Newtown suffered for it in a 44-16 defeat.

The Bobcats came off the opening kick fast and hard and all but knocked the Nighthawks out of the game in the first 12 minutes of play. For most of the game, though, the ‘Hawks were their own worst enemy (the problems included five interceptions, four fumbles, a bad snap on a punt, a blocked punt, and two failures to recover an onsides kick) and that was hard enough for the ‘Hawks to overcome even if the Bobcats had not been playing well.

Brookfield took the opening kick at its own 42 and drove 35 yards to the Newtown 23. A pass broken up at the goal line kept the Bobcats back at the 23, attempting a long 40-yard field goal.

But the ‘Hawks first drive – starting at the 20 - went nowhere and that’s where things started to come unglued. A bad snap on the punt sailed into the end zone for a safety and the 2-0 Brookfield lead. And soon after the free kick, the Bobcats found themselves back near the goal line where Brad Lutrus (58 yards rushing, 44 yards receiving, two touchdowns and three interceptions on the night) took the ball up the middle for a six-yard touchdown. With the extra point wide, Brookfield held an 8-0 lead.

There was nothing fancy about the Bobcats’ attack. While the option was in evidence, as was the downfield passing game, the Bobcats seemed content to attack the line right over the tackles and made a living running down the center of the field.

It was too tough to stop.

Newtown’s next drive ended quickly, thanks to a sack of Les Russell, and once again the punt attempt proved to be problematic. Brookfield swarmed the line and came up with a powerful block that sent the ball tumbling all the way back to the goal line, where Matt Luczak scooped it up and stepped into the end zone for another Bobcat score and an eventual 16-0 lead.

And there was still 1:04 left in the first period.

The Nighthawks could get nothing going and nothing changed on their next possession. A third down pass was intercepted at the Newtown 37 yard line, giving the Bobcats the ball in excellent position.

But the ‘Hawks’ defense limited Brookfield to just seven yards, forcing the Bobcats to attempt another long field goal that came up short. The ‘Hawks took over and instantly moved 14 yards upfield on an Adam Hayden run. A quarterback keeper on fourth-and-inches at the Newtown 44 kept the drive alive, but it died soon after on a fumble.

On the very next play, Brookfield set up a screen play nicely that turned into a 44-yard touchdown. One Newtown tackler went low and missed and another slipped on the sloppy field and it was all open space for Brookfield’s Lutrus.

With the kick, Brookfield had a 23-0 lead with 7:48 to play in the half.

As if it could get worse, a very hard, but very short kick by Devin Quintard bounced off a Newtown special teams player on the front line, giving the ball right back to the Bobcats. And the ‘Cats sooned moved off down the field, but a desperation throw to avoid a sack was intercepted by Sean Raby at the five yard line.

Newtown took that turnover and mounted its best drive of the night, putting the ball down at the Brookfield 20 with just 29 seconds left. Rich Petretti, though, was leveled on a sack and a final pass with eight seconds left in the half was broken up inside the 10 yard line.

It appeared to be pass interference, which would have given the ‘Hawks one final crack at the end zone, but no flags were thrown – much to the dismay of the Newtown coaching staff.

The ‘Hawks were in the same type of hole they were in against Notre Dame in the opening game of the 1999 season. Back then, they nearly crawled out of that hole.

Could it happen again?

When Kyle Tobin took the opening kick off 75 yards down to the Brookfield 20, it looked as if the Nighthawks had found the catalyst to get their emotions and their offense going. But a fourth-and-five pass from the 15 yard line fell incomplete and the threat was over.

Brookfield was stymied on its opening drive of the half, but Newtown once again hurt itself. On a third-and-long play, Petretti was picked off by the Bobcats. That set up another drive that took just a few plays to complete – which was done on a three-yard run by Andy Buttendorf.

With 5:24 left in the third, Brookfield had a 30-0 lead.

Once again, it seemed all over with just 17 minutes separating the Bobcats from the post-game celebration. But Newtown still showed some vital signs and injected a little energy back into the game with two touchdown drives to close out the third period.

First, Hayden scored on a three-yard run with 3:14 to go in the period and Tobin followed with a 71-yard scamper (Rich Petretti passed both times to Matt McCarthy for the two-point conversion) and all of a sudden the Bobcats were ahead only 30-16.

But the Nighthawks could only come back so far. Two Brookfield scores in the fourth quarter – another by Buttendorf and one by Chris Jakymec) iced the game for the Bobcats.

The Bobcats rushed for 233 yards on 45 carries for the night while the ‘Hawks – so strong on the ground a week before – came up with just 189 yards on 46 carries. In the air, Petretti was 4-for-11 for 69 yards while Steve Bologna of Brookfield was 2-for-5 for 61 yards.

Newtown fell to 1-3 while Brookfield raised its mark to 2-2.

NEWTOWN    0   0 16   0 - 16

BROOKFIELD 16 7   7 14 - 44

I.                   

First Quarter

I.        B – Safety, snap on punt downed in end zone

II.       B – Lutrus 6 run (kick failed)

III.      B – Luczak blocked punt recovery (Truchess pass from Bologna)

IV.        

Second Quarter

I.        B – Lutrus 44 pass from Bologna (Quintard kick)

II.         

Third Quarter

B – Buttendorf 3 run (Quintard kick)

N – Hayden 3 run (McCarthy from Petretti)

N – Tobin 71 run (McCarthy from Petretti)

Fourth Quarter

B – Buttendorf 2 run (Quintard kick)

B – Jakymec 41 run (Quintard kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

 

Rushing

NEWTOWN: Hunzeker 7-19, Raby 7-42, Hyaden 8-36, Tobin 11-107, Russell 7-minus 5, Petretti 5-minus 10, Cascone 1-0. TOTALS: 46-189.

BROOKFIELD: Buttendorf 14-52, Jakymec 10-102, Lutrus 10-58, Bologna 4-5, Crocitto 2-2, Sutherland 5-14. TOTALS: 45-233.

Passing

NEWTOWN: Russell 0-2, 0 yards; Petretti 4-11, 69 yards.

BROOKFIELD: Bologna 2-5, 61 yards.

Receiving

NEWTOWN: Savino 2-19, Cascone 1-22, Hunzeker 1-28.

BROOKFIELD: Lutrus 1-44, Taptick 1-17.