Cardinals strive for pressure and poise

Winless teams are dangerous.

Newton High’s Cardinals face Waterloo East’s Trojans Friday and the Trojans have not won a football game since Oct. 24, 2012. The Cardinals and Trojans kickoff Friday’s non-district game at 7:30 p.m. at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

Going into the game, the Cardinals are counting on their always-attacking style defense to put pressure on the Trojans as it did against Ottumwa’s Bulldogs last Friday. Newton’s players played with emotion and intensity throughout their opener for the win against Ottumwa.

“Our kids know they have to channel their emotion effectively during the game. There’s nothing like playing high school football under the lights on Friday nights,” Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright said. “Winning the opener was a great start for our players, who played with tremendous energy. They fed off the great crowd, even in the bad weather, we had at the game.”

Ergenbright said his team is not overlooking Waterloo East, which lost 41-6 to Des Moines North on the season-opening weekend. Ergenbright said while watching a video of the Waterloo game, he was impressed with what he saw the Trojans doing on the field.

“They are doing a lot of basic football on both sides of the ball. They have athletes and speed, which is dangerous. I know what their coach is doing in doing something his players can have success in,” Ergenbright said.

Xavier Leonard was named the new head coach at Waterloo East in July. The Trojans have 12 lettermen back from a year ago including senior quarterback Landen Clemmenson and junior running back Tyrell Gordon.

Gordon rushed for 94 yards on 20 carries for the Trojans against Des Moines North. Sophomore running back Kendall Robinson scored the Trojan’s touchdown on a 10-yard run. Waterloo East had 218 yards rushing and a minus-3 yards passing in its opener.

“They are old-school offensively with the quarterback under center and I-formation backfield. They want to run the ball more than throw it,” Ergenbright said. “Defensively, we’ll continue to move our guys around and make sure they get in the right gaps to stop the running game. It’s about attention to doing the little things right and playing your spot right, which makes the defense as a whole strong.”

Switching it with Newton on offense and Waterloo East on defense, Ergenbright pointed to paying attention to the details — blocking, reading keys and adapting to what the defense gives your offense. Ergenbright said Newton’s offensive players were concerned about their roles on plays when Ottumwa had trouble lining up defensively against them.

“Ottumwa was struggling in lining up on defense and offense all night. Our guys have a certain way to block on a play on offense. Ottumwa was out of position on some plays, and our guys weren’t sure exactly had to react,” Ergenbright said. “We need to know how to change things in game situations if that presents itself again.”

Newton and Waterloo East were members of the Big Eight Conference in the 1960s through 1980s. Both ended up in the CIML, but Newton left the CIML for the Little Hawkeye Conference in 2006-07.

The Trojans enter Friday’s game on a 29-game losing streak. Waterloo East has had three straight 0-9 football seasons. It lost 45-0 to Cedar Rapids Xavier on Oct. 29, 2012. Its last win was Oct. 24, 2012, 33-14, against Davenport Assumption.

“Our kids have been focused again this week. Their enthusiasm during the whole game last week was great. They’ve invested in the weight room, meaning they all have seen what each other has done and is doing in the weight room and practices. They know everybody is all in,” Ergenbright said.

Injuries and illnesses were a bug-a-boo for the Cardinals in 2015. Ergenbright said they’ve a few injuries to start the season, but the depth of the team has helped work around them.

“The guys are excited to have another chance to play at home. We had a great student body crowd along with the other fans who stuck out the rain last week. It appears we should have better weather Friday,” Ergenbright said. “We should be close to the same starting lineups on both sides of the ball this week as we had last week.”

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com