Clinging to a 4-2 lead as play began in the second half, Newtown High School’s boys’ lacrosse team seized control and pulled away for a 10-3 win at South-West Conference rival Weston, on April 28.

Goaltender Tommy Elliot made one of his eight saves moments into the third quarter to help the Nighthawks maintain their two-goal advantage, which the Hawks promptly built on.

“He had some big saves for us today,” Newtown Coach Glenn Adams said.

Ryan Sullivan followed up his own rebound, crashed the net, and deflected the ball into the goal for a 5-2 lead. Sullivan extended the advantage to four when he circled around to the front of the goal and underhanded a low shot home. Newtown surrendered a late third-quarter net-finder but shut down the Trojans throughout the fourth quarter.

Sullivan, Matt Meyers, Deegan Beauchemin, and Bubba Condon all scored twice, and Jared Pearson and David MacKinnon also hit the back of the net. Condon led the way with four assists. Nick Rubino and Matt Bouton both scooped three ground balls for the Nighthawks.

Draw controls proved to be significant — particularly in the second half. Mark Urso, Newtown’s faceoff specialist, won eight of 11 faceoffs in the second half after some struggles in the circle early on in the game.

Adams noted that communication among players picked up as the game unfolded, and also contributed to the Hawks stretching the lead in the second half.

The Hawks had first half leads of 2-0 and 3-1, and a turnover led to Weston’s second goal, trimming the lead to just one, before Meyers reclaimed the two-goal cushion with just 21 seconds left before the intermission, and only two seconds to go in a man-up situation.

Strong defensive work, led by Rubino, Bouton, and Jimmy Walters, also was key for the Hawks as they held the opposition to under a handful of goals for the second time this spring (Newtown beat Bunnell of Stratford 17-1 earlier in April).

This marked the second straight game in which Newtown held an opponent scoreless in the final quarter; the Hawks beat visiting Simsbury 7-6 in a nonconference clash on April 25.

“That was a really big win,” said Adams, noting that Simsbury was unbeaten.

Logan Walsh and Pearson had two goals each, and Beauchemin, Meyers, and Christian Hoffman also scored. Pearson added a trio of assists, and Joey Santella scooped six grounders.

The Nighthawks, winners of five of their first seven contests, are slated to take on New Milford on Thursday, April 30, and will host Guilford on Saturday, May 2, both at 7 pm.

They’ll get back to SWC action with a makeup game at Masuk of Monroe on Tuesday, May 5, beginning at 4:30 pm.