Reaffirmation for Newtown In State Title Game

The Newtown High football team was able to generate some joy for the
town and the state on a mournful day when the Nighthawks topped the
Darien Blue Wave to capture the 2019 Class LL state title.

TRUMBULL—Hey, Alex Jones… Eat THIS.

On a day that marked the seventh anniversary of the most horrific event in the history of this state, the Sandy Hook massacre, the town of Newtown was able to experience some small degree of resurrection when their beloved Newtown Nighthawks defeated the Darien Blue Wave, 13-7, to win the 2009 Class LL state football title in a game played at nearby Trumbull High on Saturday. The triumph completed the Nighthawks' first undefeated season since 1992.

In the game’s final seconds, Newtown quarterback Jack Street launched a soaring 36-yard pass to senior wide-out Riley Ward who carried the ball into the end zone as time expired. The crowd erupted in cheers as Ward threw his helmet in the air and took a celebratory sprint across the field. The stands cleared, and the young man was soon surrounded by teammates, coaches and a throng of supporters.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Ward told the Hartford Courant. “I love this town. I love everybody. I’m at a loss for words.”

It was a moment of pure athletic glory that lifted spirits in the town of 28,000 and rippled out into a nation where gun violence claims tens of thousands of lives every year.

Several of the team’s players attended Sandy Hook, and the brother of one of the linebackers, Ben Pinto, was among the children killed in the massacre.

“7 years ago in Newtown, CT was an unspeakably awful day. 7 years to the day, kids from that town and school did this,” tweeted veteran sportscaster Scott Van Pelt of ESPN. “Sports are amazing sometimes.”

“Amazing,” said Jimmy O’Brien, a popular sports video blogger.

“This is a movie,” wrote sportswriter Molly Knight of the Athletic.

Ahead of Saturday’s football game, many Newtown residents attended memorial services for the victims at local churches. Some expressed frustration that the country had made little progress in combating gun violence in the years since the shooting that upended life in the town, despite wave after wave of desperate calls for gun control.

At the game, Newtown supporters donned bold green, the Sandy Hook school color that has become associated with the push to end gun violence. Cheerleaders wore green bows, fans put on green face paint, and Newtown players wore green tape, as the Courant reported. Even some Darien fans showed up in green apparel.

The teams fought through thick fog for most of the game. At the 1-minute, the score was tied at 7-7. The daring, game-winning pass came with less than four seconds left on the clock.

“The whole town showed out on this special night,” senior Jared Dunn told Courant. “We knew we had to bring it home for our town.”

—Staff Reports

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