Newton finishes with a victory; four area teams advance into playoffs

Five area high school football teams played their regular-season finals Friday night and all notched victories. For Newton it was an end to a rough season, snapping an eight-game losing skid. Lynnville-Sully, Colfax-Mingo, Collins-Maxwell/Baxter and Prairie City-Monroe head to next week’s Iowa postseason play with a bounce from victories.

The playoff pairings are out for the first-round games Wednesday. Colfax-Mingo and Lynnville-Sully advance as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds out of Class A District 7 while PCM and CMB are the No. 2 and No. 4 seeds out of Class 2A District 7.

In Class A, Colfax-Mingo (7-2) hosts Earlham (6-3) and Lynnville-Sully (6-3) is at Pekin (7-2). In Class 2A, PCM (7-2) hosts Mid-Prairie (7-2) and CMB (6-3) is at Anamosa (9-0). All games are at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Newton 42, Nevada 19

Emotionally-charged Newton High seniors Dalton Nevels and Jacob Smith were not fighting back tears following the Cardinals’ 42-19 win Friday on Senior Night.

“We stuck together as a team. We’re family. We’re brothers,” Nevels said. Nevels scored two touchdowns in his final game as a Cardinal.

When asked what it meant to get the victory following a tough season, Nevels couldn’t answer. Smith stepped in.

“It meant a lot. As coach said in the paper, we had some tough stuff happen, and we weren’t suppose to be where we are now (1-8),” Smith said. “We were looking to be in the playoffs, and we stayed together through all of it.”

Coming into the Class 3A District 6 game, the Cardinals were 0-8 and the Nevada Cubs were 2-6, but no district win. The Cardinals controlled the contest from the opening kickoff, even when the Cubs held a 7-6 lead midway through the first quarter.

Nevels had a walk-in 4-yard touchdown run to open the scoring, but Josh Gulling’s kick was off the mark. Nevada answered with a swing pass play from Macade Matuska to Brendan Sellberg that covered 68 yards for a touchdown.

Newton responded with an 11-play drive capped by a short touchdown run by senior Joseph Banfield, who also ran in the two-point conversion. Banfield scored from 1 yard out at the 11:13 mark of the second quarter to put Newton up 21-7.

Senior Bryce Tish intercepted a Cub pass to set up Newton’s next score, which was a pass to Tish from Garrett Sturtz. Leading 28-7, Newton’s defense gave up a 13-yard touchdown run by Sellberg.

Just before halftime, Banfield scored his third touchdown of the game and with Gulling’s kick, the Cardinals went into the break up 35-13.

After a scoreless third quarter, Nevels bulled over the goal line from 5 yards out with 10:58 left in the game. Nevada scored on a hook-and-lateral pass play five minutes later.

Newton’s freshmen also won to end the season, beating Nevada, 35-0.

Lynnville-Sully 34, Belle Plaine 8

SULLY — Caden Dunsbergen put the Lynnville-Sully Hawks on the winning path Friday night. Dunsbergen, a junior, broke loose for a 49-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Senior running back Sage Ehresman took over from there. Ehresman found senior wide receiver Kobe Fisk for a 30-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Ehresman scored three touchdowns on runs of 15 yards, 3 yards and 2 yards in the second half.

It was a defensive stand at the end of the first half that Hawk head coach Mike Parkinson pointed to as a big factor in the 34-8 win. Lynnville-Sully was protecting a 13-8 lead with Belle Plaine driving toward the Hawk goal line.

“They had a first-and-goal at the 10. We stopped them at the five. Kobe Fisk intercepted a pass to halt that drive. Kobe was on fire as a receiver plus he had the interception and a fumble recovery on defense,” Parkinson said.

“This was a big win for us, because you always want to go into the playoffs on a victory.”

Lynnville-Sully is back in the Class A playoffs after missing out last year. Lynnville-Sully joins Colfax-Mingo as the No. 3 and No. 2, respectively, seeds out of the Class A District 7. The playoffs begin Wednesday.

Tyler Van Zante was 4-of-7 for 83 yards for the Hawks. Ehresman finished with 151 yards on 23 carries.

Carson Dunsbergen racked up nine tackles for the Lynnville-Sully defense while Fisk had eight tackles as did Dylan Roozeboom. Ehresman had seven tackles.

PCM 35, North Polk 18

MONROE — The Mustang defense had four interceptions and Prairie City-Monroe rallied from a halftime deficit to outscore North Polk 28-6 in the second half..

PCM locked up the second seed and will host a home playoff game on Wednesday.

The Mustangs trailed 12-7 at halftime but used a pair of interceptions by seniors Tyler Dredge and Reid Jenkins to jump start a big second half.

Dredge's pick set up Clayton Welch's second rushing touchdown of the game and gave the Mustangs the lead for good.

Jenkins' second interception of the game came two plays after North Polk's Matthew Cox picked off PCM quarterback Logan Gilman. The Mustangs then scored one play later following a 15-yard touchdown run by Logan Littrell, who rushed for 94 yards on 18 carries.

North Polk got within 20-18 when Max Karpinske hooked up wih Lucas Leopold for a second touchdown, but the Mustangs came right back with a two-play drive that culminated with a 76-yard touchdown catch and run by Luke Greiner from Gilman.

Noah Clark sprung Greiner on the touchdown reception with a big block on the screen pass, On PCM's next possession, Clark faked the block on a similar play and then released down the middle of the field where Gilman hit him for a 19-yard touchdown to make it 35-18.

Gilman threw for 363 yards and two scores in the win, while Greiner had 138 yards on seven catches and Clark hauled in four catches for 107 yards. Welch's only two carries went for touchdowns as he scored from 3 yards out in the first quarter and 4 yards out in the second.

Jenkins led the defense with two picks, while Dredge and Littrell each had one interception.

PCM concluded its regular season with a 7-2 overall record and was 5-1 in Class 2A District 7 play.. North Polk is the No. 3 seed out of the district. The Comets are 5-4 overall and 4-2 in district play.

CMB 20, Centerville 13

CENTERVILLE — Nate Bishop threw two touchdown passes and rushed for a third as the short-handed Raiders clinched a playoff spot and the fourth seed out of Class 2A District 7.

Centerville jumped out 7-0 early, but Bishop tied the game with a 1-yard touchdown run and then he connected with Brady Stover on a 20-yard touchdown catch to put the Raiders ahead for good.

Hunter Maddy connected on two field goals for the Big Red, including one that was put through the uprights with 1 second to play in the first half.

CMB led 13-10 at halftime and then sealed the victory when Bishop and Hunter Gunderson hooked up for a 91-yard pass play in the third quarter.

Bishop threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns, Gunderson had five catches for 131 yards and Stover had five catches for 50 yards. Stover also had seven tackles and one sack to lead the defense, while Tucker Maxwell had six tackles and a sack.

The Raider defense had four sacks in all and Ben Gunderson ended the game with an interception on the final play. Hunter Gunderson had four tackles and one sack.

CMB finished the regular season 6-3 overall and 3-3 in district play. Centerville finished 2-7 overall and 2-4 in district play.

CMB played the game without starting tailback Blake Coughenour, starting quarterback Hunter McWhirter and starting center Toren Schultheis.

Coughenour tore his ACL against North Polk last week and will miss the rest of the season. McWhirter and Schultheis suffered concussions last week and could return for Wednesday's first-round playoff game.

The Raiders won't have starting linebacker Charles Robertson for that playoff game after he was ejected against Centerville on what CMB coach Rob Luther called a "questionable call."

Colfax-Mingo 65, Green Mountain-Garwin 0

GARWIN -- The Tigerhawks wrapped up the regular season with an easy win over the Wolverines. Colfax-Mingo improved to 7-2 overall after jumping out to a 37-0 lead after one quarter.

Jared Myers finished 8-of-12 through the air for 151 yards and five touchdown passes. He left thegame after throwing one pass in the second quarter, a 40-yard touchdown strike to Lietz.

The 37-0 lead after one quarter included four touchdown passes by Myers. He hooked up twice with Jacob Lietz and threw a touchdown to Jacob Buehrer and Jarod NIchols. Buehrer also rushed for two scores.

Buehrer added another touchdown run in the second quarter as the Tigerhawks led 49-0 at halftime.

Lietz returned a kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to make it 57-0. He finished with three touchdown catches in the win.

The final points came on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Reegan Van Dyke to Zarek Hill in the fourth quarter.

The Tigerhawks are the No. 2 seed in Class A District 7. They host their first playoff game since 2003 when the playoffs kick off Wednesday.