Cardinals overwhelm Waterloo East

Newton High’s Cardinals scored touchdowns in all three phases of the game — offense, defense and special teams — in a convincing 63-0 win over visiting Waterloo East Friday.

Waterloo East’s Trojans opened the non-district game with two quick first downs, then went backward. Newton’s defensive pressure forced the Trojans to punt with 9:09 left in the first quarter.

The Cardinals brought pressure against the Trojan punting unit, and it paid off. Newton set up for its first offensive series of the game at the Waterloo East 29-yard line.

Junior quarterback Garrett Sturtz found junior running back Jaron Roush down the sidelines on a pass play. Roush made the catch, turned to run and then dove across the goal line for the touchdown. The play took 10 seconds.

“We knew they struggled with their punting unit and we took advantage of that. We put pressure on early and got great field position,” Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright said of the short distances for drives by the Cardinals. “We were able to get out quickly on Waterloo East, which is what we wanted. You can’t allow a team with athletes to hang around.”

Newton’s longest scoring drive of the night was 48 yards. The Cardinals used four plays including runs by Sturtz, senior running back Jordan Norvell and Roush and a pass play from Sturtz to junior Trevor Ergenbright to reach the 1-yard line.

Sophomore running back Josh Miler pushed his way up the middle from 1-yard out for the touchdown at the 5:11 mark of the first quarter. A little bobble of the snap to Sturtz on the extra-point attempt prevented Newton’s Zach Combs from kicking it through the uprights. Newton was up 13-0.

Three plays and another short punt by the Trojans put the Newton offense back on the field at Waterloo East’s 29-yard line. Roush finished off Newton’s third TD drive with a 3-yard scoring run then added a 2-point conversion run to put the Cardinals up 21-0 with 1:33 left in the opening period.

“We were playing together and executed well tonight,” Sturtz said of the Cardinal offense. “That was our main goal going into the game and we did it perfectly.”

Sturtz was perfect in the passing game, going 4-for-4 and throwing two touchdown passes. The second one came in the second quarter.

Newton had to overcome a couple of penalties to drive 37 yards for its fourth score of the night. On a third-and-13 play, Sturtz hooked up with junior Trevor Ergenbright for an 18-yard scoring strike. Combs nailed the extra-point kick increasing the Cardinal lead to 28-0 with 8:49 left in the second period.

The Trojans fumbled the ball on the first play of their next possession. Newton senior nose guard Caleb Kite recovered the ball in the end zone, giving the Cardinal defense a score in the game.

Newton’s pressure on the Trojan punting unit paid dividends four plays later.

A pair of juniors teamed up for a score as Grayson Graham blocked the punt and Blayden Rhone picked up the ball and scored from 2-yards out.

“I’m so excited. It was my first touchdown,” Rhone said after the game. “We were just going for the block, and Grayson made the block. I was there to scoop and score.”

Waterloo East junior running back Tyrell Gordon busted out of containment on an apparent 75-yard touchdown run on the Trojans’ next possession. The score was wiped out on a holding penalty against the Trojans. The Trojans never reached Newton territory again until the final play of the game.

Newton’s defense had 11 tackles for loss in the game and two quarterback sacks. Waterloo East finished with 135 yards rushing and no yards in the passing game. Andrew Mora had 108 yards rushing and 75 of it came on the final play of the game. Mora broke loose and almost scored.

“We switched some guys around this week. They put Joe and I at outside linebackers and I thought it worked well. We’re (Newton’s defense) the swarm.”

Joe Busch, a junior linebacker, led the Newton defense with six solo tackles and one assisted tackles. Senior inside linebacker Reese Rosenquist racked up six solo tackles — four were for losses. Rhone had four solo tackles and two quarterback sacks.

Senior linebacker Brady Smith had three solo stops and two assisted tackles. Recovering fumbles for the Cardinals were Kite, senior Reed Shepard and sophomore Aaron Bartels.

Leading 42-0 at halftime, Newton was able to rotate in players throughout the game. Coach Ergenbright said it was great to get everybody playing time.

“At halftime, we talked about keeping up our level of execution and keeping it going throughout second half,” Sturtz said. “We came out and Jaron had the good runback to kickstart the second half for us.”

Roush found the end zone for the third time in the game as he returned the second half kickoff 79 yards for a touchdown. Combs, who kicked seven extra-points on the night, booted the ball through the uprights to push the lead to 49-0.

Senior Logan Zibert scored his first touchdowns for Newton back-to-back in a 2-minute span late in the third quarter. Zibert finished with 56 yards on six carries. Roush had 43 yards on five carries.

“It was a great opportunity for the younger guys to get playing time and some experience, which will help us later in the season,” Sturtz said. “We’re on the road next week. We’ll celebrate tonight then let it go. We’ll move on to the next game at Des Moines North, which will give us a tough test.”

Newton’s offense rolled up 235 yards on the ground and had 67 yards passing. Ergenbright caught three passes for 38 yards.

“I’m really pleased with our guys’ effort. I love coaching these guys. They show up wanting to put in the work and wanting to do well,” Ergenbright said.

“Games get a great deal tougher from here on out. This team can improve. We have some kids nicked up who we need to get healthy to continue to win.”

Newton was without starting running back Josh Miravalles and starting defensive end Jaise Gulling Friday. Several other players are among the walking wounded for the Trojans and Ergenbright wasn’t to get players healthy again.

Newton (2-0) has its first road game Friday against Des Moines North (2-0). The varsity game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Des Moines North’s stadium.

Waterloo East 0-0-0-0—0

Newton 21-21-21-0—63

Newton — Roush 29 yd pass from Sturtz (Combs kick)

Newton — Miller 1 yd run (kick blocked)

Newton — Roush 3 yd run (Roush run)

Newton — Ergenbright 18 yd pass from Sturtz (Combs kick)

Newton — Kite fumble recover in end zone (Combs kick)

Newton — Rhone 2 yd blocked punt return (Combs kick)

Newton — Roush 79 yd kickoff return (Combs kick)

Newton — Zibert 20 yd run (Combs kick)

Newton — Zibert 13 yd run (Combs kick)

Newton Waterloo East

15 First Downs 8

37-228 Rushes-Yds 43-142

67 Passing Yds 0

295 Total Offense 142

4-4-0 Passing 0-6-0

3-0 Fumbles-lost 3-3

4-25 Penalties-Yds 8-50

1-33 Punts-Avg. 8-13.9

Individual Leaders

Rushing: Newton-Zibert 6-56, Roush 5-43, Gumerov 7-40, Norvell 5-38, Miller 5-28, Barr 2-16, Sturtz 3-7, Smith 1-7. Waterloo East-Mora 8-109, Gordon 16-47, Clemensen 9-17.

Passing: Newton-Sturtz 4-4-67-0. Waterloo East-Clemensen 0-6-0-0.

Receiving: Newton-Ergenbright 3-38, Roush 1-29. Waterloo East-none.

Punting: Newton-Sturtz 1-33 (33-yd avg.). Waterloo East-Nielsen 8-111 (13.9-yd avg.).

Newton Defense

Tackles (solos/assisted): Busch 6/1, Rosenquist 6/0, Rhone 4/0, Smith 3/2-, Kite 2/1, Combs 2/1, Caves 2/0, Bleakney 2/0, Bartels 2/0, Josh Gulling 1/2, Steinbach 1/1, Romberg 1/1, Lampman 1/1, Barr 1/0, Maple 1/0, Shepard 0/1, Peterson 0/1, Graham 0/2, Ergenbright 0/1.

Quarterback sacks (solo/assisted): Rhone 2/0.

Fumbles (forced/recovered): Bartels 0/1, Kite 0/1, Shepard 0/1.

Interceptions: none

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