the Colonial Division of the South West Conference. All SWC schools are members of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference. The Nighthawks participate in cheerleading, cross country, field hockey, football, soccer, swimming, volleyball, basketball, ice hockey, indoor track, wrestling, baseball, golf, lacrosse, softball, tennis, and track. Until 1996, the school's teams were called "The Indians;" they featured an Indian mascot. This was changed among controversy of the mascot being racist in nature. In 1996, local Connecticut students, all native American and actively involved with their culture, visited Newtown High School and explained that the pep rally and game activities—the war chants, tomahawk chants, the Indian costumes and dancing—trivialize religious customs. Representatives from other local tribes explained that mascots should not depict a race or ethnic group because it is dehumanizing. They were renamed the Newtown Nighthawks. On December 14, 2019, the football team won the school's first state championship since 1992. Scoring in the final seconds of the game, the win made national news. Newtown was ranked second in the state at the end of the year, behind St. Joseph, who went undefeated, beating every team by a combined 44.7 points. They won on the 7th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where several of the players on the team went for elementary school. Marching band and color guard The Newtown High School Marching Band, known as the Marching Nighthawks, is a Class III Open marching band currently under the direction of Aaron Ovsiew. In 1995, the marching band performed at the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, CA. The band won the USSBA 2006 Class IV Connecticut State Championship and placed in the top 10 in the USSBA 2007 Group IV National Championship. In 2012 and 2013, the band was the USBands Group V Open Connecticut State Champion. In 2015, the marching band came in third place at the USBands Group V Open National Championship. In 2016, the marching band won the Group V Open Connecticut State Championship. In 2017, the marching band won the USBands Group IV Open New England States Championship and the USBands Group IV Open National Championship with the captions of "Best Overall Effect" and "Best Percussion" with their show "Dystopia". This was the school's first national championship and record score of 97.363 out of 100 points. In 2018, the marching band took third place at the USBands Group IV Open National Championship. In