By Kim J. Harmon

Even though the regular seasons had been completed and the South-West Conference champions had been decided, there was still some noise to be made at state-level competitions at noise was definitely made by a few Newtown High School teams.

The boys’ lacrosse team avenged an regular-season 14-5 loss to Amity and advanced into the first round of the CIAC Division I tournament; the girls’ lacrosse team staged an exciting rally and nearly pulled off a late win over Branford; and the track teams challenged the best in the state and did quite well.

Here it is:

Boys Lacrosse

Come on, nobody expected there to be any excitement left in the building in the fourth quarter of the South-West Conference Boys’ Division I championship game between Newtown and Joel Barlow last Wednesday – but there it was on the scoreboard, 8-8 with 7:20 left to go.

Whoa.

But Newtown (9-10 overall) could not hang on to the tiger’s tail much longer. Barlow (15-3 overall) scored three goals in the final seven minutes to put the game away.

“I am totally proud of the guys,” said head coach Brian Micena. “They did everything we asked them to do.”

Judging from a 10-5 shellacking the ‘Hawks suffered at the hands of the Falcons back on May 6 (all five Newtown goals coming in the fourth quarter), no one really gave the locals much of a chance in the first-ever SWC Division I championship.

But despite falling 2-0 early in the first and 6-3 midway through the second, the ‘Hawks kept at it.

“We told the guys at the half, ‘hey – this is a ball game. We’re still in it.’ ” said coach Micena. “When we came out of the half (Barlow) scored a quick goal and then we scored. I think that’s when the guys bought into it.”

Down 7-4, goals by Kyle Kirch (2), John Oliver and Tyler Law helped the ‘Hawks knot the score, 8-8, at the end of the third.

And then, in the final stanza, the game took on a new life. The ‘Hawks had an opportunity to get ahead in the game, but Barlow goaltender Frank Mazzucco became impenetrable and stopped cold a few clean shots.

“That turned out to be huge,” said coach Micena. “We had a couple of shots, but the goalie came up big and I think that took the wind out of our guys.”

The ‘Hawks would have been unable to stay in the game that long, however, if goaltender Chris Body did not have a huge performance of his own. The senior recorded 22 saves on the evening, a couple of those on point blank shots.

“He was huge,” said coach Micena. “All year he has made the saves he’s had to make – and made the saves he shouldn’t have to make, but does.”

Body made two big stops early in the first quarter and that – coupled with some poor passing and rushed shots by Barlow – kept the game close.

“They had three or four shots early,” said coach Micena, “but had some problems and I think that helped the guys gain some confidence.”

The Falcons scored their first goal at 8:42 and added another just 42 seconds later to take a 2-0 lead. At 4:44, however, Brenden O’Connor grabbed a pass from Oliver and notched the first Newtown goal of the afternoon. Goals by Jeff Bell and Grant Speer tied the game at 3-3 with 2:15 left in the first period.

The Falcons took the lead before the period ended, however, and added two goals in the first four minutes of the second period to take a 6-3 lead. Oliver scored off a nifty spin move with 7:44 left in the half to trim the Barlow lead to two.

In the rally that closed out the third period, it was Kirch’s goal with 10 seconds left in the stanza that deadlocked the game.

It was an amazing performance and, yet, the amazement continued the following day in the playdowns of the CIAC Division I state tournament when Newtown traveled to Woodbridge last Thursday to take on Amity, a team that pummeled the ‘Hawks 14-5 back on April 20.

But, lo and behold, with a superlative defensive effort the ‘Hawks earned a 5-1 win to advance.

Kirch and O’Connor scored two goals apiece while Oliver had a goal and four assists to power the ‘Hawks. Body made 20 saves in the cage and allowed only a second-period goal to Ben Wolf while making 20 saves.

The ‘Hawks scored three goals in the opening period and then added solo goals in the second and third periods.

NOTE: John Oliver finishes his career with 118 goals, fourth on the all-time list behind Casey Kirch, Tom Ryan and Charlie Heinzer.

Newtown             8

Joel Barlow        11

GOALS: Newtown – Kyle Kirch 3, John Oliver, Brendan O’Connor, Grant Speer, Tyler Law, Jeff Bell; Joel Barlow – Adam Lanehart 3, Alex White 3, Nick Fletcher 2, Mike Distler 2, Chris Distler. ASSISTS: Newtown – Oliver 3, Devon Manfredonia; Joel Barlow – Mike Distler 4, Lanehart, Fletcher, White. SAVES: Newtown – Chris Body 22; Joel Barlow – Frank Mazzucco 19.

Newtown             5

Amity                    1

GOALS: Newtown – Kyle Kirch 2, Brendan O’Connor 2, John Oliver; Amity – Ben Wolf. ASSISTS: Newtown – Oliver 4, Kirch; Amity – Chris Diette. SAVES: Newtown – Chris Body 20; Amity – Sean Glynn 6.

Final statistics –

Players                       G       A     PT

John Oliver               29      37     66

Kyle Kirch                 42      13     55

Grant Speer              24        7     31

Jeff Bell                     15        5     20

Brendan O’Connor     9        4     13

Tyler Law                    9        0       9

Dan Gindraux             2        0       2

Dave Kugieslky          0        2       2

Pat Keating                 2        2       4

Bob Pattison                0        2       2

Devon Manfredonia   2        1       3

Zach D’Agostino        1        0       1

Mike Conroy               1        1       2

Jim Davis                    0        1       1

Totals                      136      75   211

Girls Track

It may be hard for some people to believe – and, boy, does it ever same something about the future – but one freshman and three sophomores got together and captured a state title for the Newtown High School girls’ track and field team.

Sadie Ball, Alex Konneker, Tara Gaston (all sophomores) and Julie Landin (a freshman) crossed the finish line less than a half-second ahead of Simsbury and captured a CIAC Class L 4x400 relay championship at Willowbrook Park.

The foursome won the 4x400 relay at the South-West Conference championship meet with a time of 4:11.46, but at the Class L meet that time would have only been good for fifth. A six-second drop allowed the Lady Nighthawks to beat out Simsbury, Mercy and Fitch for the title.

The finish was a huge jolt for the ‘Hawks, who scored 27.5 points and finished 10th overall. Simsbury was the top team on the afternoon, easily out-distancing Fitch.

The foursome went on to finish 13th at the CIAC State Open at 4:10.89, nine seconds off the pace.

Jacky Curran finished third in the high jump for the ‘Hawks, going over the bar at 5-0, while Konneker was fifth in the 400-meter dash at 59.58 (winning time – 55.95) and seventh in the 200-meter dash at 26.58 (24.38).

Ciara Simek earned a fifth-place finish in the long jump at 15-111/2 (18-08) while Jessica Cosgrove finished eighth in the discus at 93-03 (115-09) and Leah Herity finished eighth in the pole vault at 8-0 (11-0 state record for Daniela Ponte of Torrington).

The 4x800 relay of Ball, Gaston, Carolyn Brennan and Kate Stickles finished 10th at 10:12.42 (9:33.91 state record for Simsbury), a 10-second drop from their seed time.

In other finishes, Emily Neff was 18th in the 300 intermediate hurdles at 51.40; Brennan was 24th in the 1,600 meters at 5:45.94; Ball was 29th in the 1,600 meters at 5:48.60; and Stickles was 30th in the 1,600 meters at 5:49.44.

At the State Open, Konneker was seventh in the 400 meters at 58.26, just three seconds behind Shantea Calhoun of Wilbur Cross, who set a new state record of 55.32 in the event.

Curran was 13th in the high jump at 4-10 while Simek was 23rd in the long jump at 14-111/2.

Girls Lacrosse

The end was near, but the Newtown High School girls’ lacrosse team was not going down without a fight.

Facing a four-goal deficit against Branford in the first round of the CIAC Division I state tournament, the Lady Nighthawks staged one final rally and scored four goals inside the final four minutes – but just fell short, 12-11.

The ‘Hawks finished at 12-5 overall.

The Lady Hornets jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first half before Kelly Collier could score the first of her five goals. The Hornets popped in another goal, but then Kim Solheim and Meg Regnery scored back to back goals to draw the ‘Hawks to within one.

The Hornets would stay just out of reach for the remainder of the half despite goals by Collier and Rachel Maley.

Collier opened the second half with a Newtown goal, but Branford scored three successive goals to take a 10-6 lead. Maley stopped the bleeding with a goal off a Louisa Yemc assist, but the Hornets scored twice more to put the ‘Hawks in a deep, five-goal hole at 12-7.

Then the rally began.

First it was Heidi Ekstrom from Collier and then Kate Fenton from Solheim to trim the Branford lead to 12-9. Collier then followed with goals with 1:10 and 53.1 left in the second half to trim the lead to just one, 12-11.

And that’s where the rally ended.

Collier finished with five goals and an assist while Maley added two goals. Casey Frobey chipped in an assist.

NOTE: Regnery – a junior – now has 110 career goals, third on the all-time list behind Ellie Champagne (148) and Caitlin Collier (134). Kelly Collier finishes her career with 68 goals, fifth on the all-time list. Collier, Heidi Ekstrom and Kate Fenton will play in the state senior All-Star game on Saturday, June 19, at Branford High School.

Branford              12

Newtown            11

GOALS: Branford – Caitlin Cuckanavage 4, Marta Iaccarino 3, Lauren Mallory 2, Katherine Donavan 2, Jamie Perdo;  Newtown – Kelly Collier 5, Rachel Maley 2, Kimberly Solheim, Meg Regnery, Kate Fenton, Heidi Ekstrom. ASSISTS: Branford – Iaccarino 3. Newtown – Collier, Solheim, Casey Frobey, Louisa Yemc. SAVES: Branford – Margaret Rice 6; Newtown – Kerrie Canavan 6.

Final statistics –

Players                       G       A     PT

Meg Regnery            59        5     64

Karli Beitel                34      12     46

Kelly Collier              31      10     41

Kate Fenton              23      13     36

Heidi Ekstrom           19      12     31

Kim Solheim              12      10     22

Casey Frobey              7      11     18

Lindsay Coyle             6        6     12

Moira Collier               8        4     12

Jackie Darigo             3        5       8

Rachel Maley             6        1       7

Louisa Yemc               3        2       5

Jess Budnick                1        1       2

Rachel Eastman          1        0       1

Kate Sudbey               0        1       1

Totals                      213      93   306

Softball

The goal was a simple one – score.

But the Newtown High School softball team (like everyone else in 2004) was unable to do that against Southington and dropped a 3-0 decision last week in the second round of the CIAC Class LL state tournament.

The Lady Nighthawks finish the season 13-9 overall.

Head coach Jay Edwards kept the goal simple because the ‘Hawks were battling a team that had not allowed a run all season long … not once in 22 games. And it became readily apparent how the Lady Knights were able to accomplish such a feat.

“That infield is nasty,” he said. “Every kid is an all-conference player.”

Trina Ramsdell opened the game with a single and was sacrificed to second by Christina Wolf. But Ramsdell rounded the bag and kept on chugging for third hoping to beat the left fielder (who normally covers third on a bunt). But third baseman Brooke Perrone, who charged the bunt, managed to back track to third, grab a throw from first baseman Nicole Davenport, and tag Ramsdell out on a bang-bang play.

The ‘Hawks did not threaten again as Southington pitcher Natalie Volpe completed her eighth one-hitter of the season.

On the other side, Newtown pitcher Lisa Morgan fired a three-hitter – two of those hits (both doubles) coming in the second inning, when the Lady Knights scored all three of their runs. Morgan finished with seven strikeouts.

Southington – amazingly, only the No. 2 seed in Class  LL – went on to blank Bristol Eastern, 3-0, and appears to be on a collision course with No. 1 seed Amity, which closed out the regular season on a 50-game winning streak.

Newtown                       0      1     1

Southington                    3      3     0

Baterries: Newtown – Lisa Morgan and Annie Grills; Southington – Natalie Volpe and Elisa Van Kirk. WP: Volpe (18-0). LP: Morgan (12-8). SO: Newtown – Morgan 7; Southington – Volpe 11. BB: Newtown – Morgan 2; Southington – Volpe 4. Extra bases: Southington – Van Kirk (2B), Brooke Perrone (2B).

Boys Track

The track belonged to Tim Carlisle – literally.

When a runner inexplicably crossed into his lane during the 300-meter intermediate hurdles at the CIAC Class L state championships last week, Carlisle – who had been forced to slow up – was allowed to run the race over again.

All by himself.

And with a 41.26 finish, Carlisle finished fourth overall and earned a trip into the CIAC State Opens on Tuesday, where he came in 11th at 41.41, two seconds behind Orville Bernard of Staples.

His fourth-place finish at the Class L meet in the 300 hurdles (winning time was 40.07) and eighth-place finish in the 110-meter high hurdles (15:80, less than a second behind the winning time of 15:07) helped lead the Nighthawks to a 22nd-place finish at the state meet last week. Jeff Linpkick finished 17th in the 300 hurdles at 44.48 while Pete Dittmar finished 20th in the 3,200 meters at 10:17.62.

The 4x100 relay of Carlisle, Ryan Davies, John Collins and Adam Konneker came in 12th at 46.12 (winning time – 43.52) while the 4x400 relay of Collins, Scott Forstrom, Davies and Konneker came in 13th at 3:37.48 (state record time of 3:22.97 for Staples). And the 4x800 of Chris DeRoo, Dan McIlrath, Jon Larsen and Scott Nichols came in 17th in 8:48.18 (state record time of 8:03.72 for Notre Dame).