When one door closes, another opens. For student-athlete Maddie Patrick and Coach Mike Brienza, after their respective school doors closed, Newtown High School’s opened. They joined the Nighthawk volleyball team and played roles in the Hawks going undefeated and winning the South-West Conference North Division championship.

The Newtown High School Unified Sports soccer team competed this fall, participating in a pair of games against the Wildcats of Bethel. The Blue Heat hosted the Wildcats at Blue & Gold Stadium on October 19. Newtown’s Blue Heat came out strong with a day of fun, teamwork, and participation on their home turf that kicked off with Will Eaglesch giving the Unified Oath and his teammate, Patrick Risert, lighting the Unified torch.

Even when things get competitive there is a place for sportsmanship, and there are always great examples of perseverance in sports. Plenty of both were on display with the Newtown High School’s girls’ soccer team and its three seniors this season, especially in what turned out to be the final win of their high school careers.

With the conclusion of fall high school athletics, a season like no other has come and gone. Even through the difficulties and coronavirus regulations, champions were crowned and senior seasons completed. For the senior-packed Newtown High School boys’ soccer team, their championship season full of memories meant a little more than just soccer.

Participants of the virtual Newtown Turkey Trot benefiting the C.H. Booth Library are asked to submit photos to

It was quite a performance — one full of record-setting efforts, in fact — by the Newtown High School girls’ swimming and diving team in the South-West Conference championships this fall.

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) Board of Control, on November 17, postponed all winter sports until January 19, 2021.

Newtown High School's boys' soccer team, its roster loaded with varsity-experienced seniors, was made to win this fall. And the Nighthawks certainly did their share of coming out on top, going unbeaten and all the way to the South-West Conference North Division Tournament championship.

The outcome may not have been what members of Newtown High School's girls' soccer team were hoping for — a 2-0 loss to the host New Milford Green Wave in the November 14 South-West Conference North Division championship game — but below the surface are some positives to be found.

In a season that was anything but perfect, Newtown High School's girls' volleyball team was exactly that — unbeaten, going 14-0 on the way to the South-West Conference North Division championship.