March 28, 2024

Cardinals are 3-0; four area teams play first district games

Newton and Lynnville-Sully improved to 3-0 in the 2016 season with wins Friday night. Prairie City-Monroe won to go 2-0 while Colfax-Mingo and Collins-Maxwell/Baxter lost. Lynnville-Sully, PCM, Colfax-Mingo and CMB began district football play Friday.

Newton 28, Des Moines North 7

DES MOINES — Newton High’s Cardinals rolled up 350 yards on the ground on a rainy Friday night on a natural grass field against host Des Moines North’s Polar Bears. That translated into a 28-7 victory for the Cardinals at Grubb Stadium and a 3-0 start to the season.

The Polar Bears fell for the first time this season. Newton scored on the opening possession on a 10-yard touchdown run by Josh Miller with Zach Combs kicking the extra point.

A muffed punt by the Cardinals with 11:03 left in the second quarter set up North for a short 14-yard scoring drive. North quarterback Kaine Burch found Andrew Philips on a 14-yard scoring pass play and Nahimana Meshack tied it with the extra-point kick.

Newton grabbed the lead for good on a 51-yard drive capped by a 13-yard TD run by Jordan Norvell with 1:42 left in the first half. The Cardinals held a 14-7 halftime lead.

The Polar Bears threatened to tie the game on their opening drive of the second half. They had the ball inside the Newton 15-yard line, but the Cardinal defense held. Blayden Rhone intercepted a Burch pass in the end zone.

“We went tempo after that,” offensive center Benny Cheng said about an 80-yard scoring march by the Cardinals following the turnover in the third quarter. “We picked up the pace and wore them down.”

Runs by Reese Rosenquist, Norvell and Garrett Sturtz pushed Newton down the field. Rosenquist capped the drive with a 3-yd TD run.

Newton’s defense turned the Polar Bears away again with 25 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The football slipped out of Burch’s hand, went into the air and Newton’s Brady Smith plucked the ball out of the air.

In the fourth quarter, Rosenquist, who had 106 yards rushing, and Miller had big runs to set up the final score. Smith bulled his way over the goal line from 4 yards out at the 4:38 mark. Combs added his fourth extra-point kick of the night.

“Being 3-0 means a lot to us because we worked so hard in the offseason,” offensive lineman Landon Hansen said.

Newton head coach Ed Ergrenbright said he was proud of his players and was impressed with how Des Moines North’s players played in the game.

“It was the game I thought it would be. They battled us right to the end,” Ergenbright said.

Newton travels to Burlington next Friday for its final non-district game.

Lynnville-Sully 35, North Mahaska 0

NEW SHARON — Elijah Collins threw four touchdown passes — three to Caden Dunsbergen — as Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks soared past host North Mahaska, 35-0, Friday. The Hawks are 1-0 in Class A District 6 play and 3-0 overall.

It was a safety by the Hawk defense which got the scoring going in the first quarter. Sage Zylstra sacked the North Mahaska quarterback in the end zone for the two points.

Collins had TD passes to Dunsbergen and Brevin Hansen in the first quarter to put Lynnville-Sully up 15-0. Corey McCoy and Dunsbergen caught scoring passes in the second period. Evan Squires, who had 64 yards rushing, tacked on a 10-yard TD run the quarter.

Lynnville-Sully led 35-0 at halftime.

The Hawks host Cardinal in district play next Friday in Sully.

PCM 52, Albia 6

MONROE — Prairie City-Monroe football coach Greg Bonnett came into Friday night's game without a win over Albia in his four years as a Mustang player and six five years as the head coach.

In his sixth season as coach, that streak is over. And it wasn't even close.

The Mustangs jumped all over the Blue Demons early and pounded them into submission in the Class 2A District 6 opener.

Sophomore Wes Cummings got all 103 of his rushing yards in the first half and also scored on a 90-yard screen pass on the first play from scrimmage in the second half.

Senior Sheldon Speers threw for 192 yards and three scores, senior Luke Greiner hauled in five passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns and senior Clayton Welch wreaked havoc on the Albia defense all night long.

Cummings scored three rushing touchdowns in the first half to help the Mustangs gain a 45-0 lead at halftime.

Albia, who did not have a first down until there was 3:45 left in the third quarter, scored for the first time this season when Kyle Sinnott rumbled 72 yards for a touchdown against PCM's third stringers in the fourth quarter.

Welch had two of PCM's four sacks in the game, and he also recovered a fumble. Welch's first sack resulted in a safety that put the Mustangs up 31-0 midway through the second quarter.

Greiner also had a sack, fumble recovery and six tackles, while Isaac Telfer recovered a fumble and had 6.5 tackles.

Bonnett was 0-4 against Albia as PCM's head coach prior to Friday's win. In those games, the Blue Demons (0-3) outscored the Mustangs 174-54.

PCM forced Albia into four turnovers. The Mustangs converted the four miscues into 21 points.

Roland-Story 21, CMB 6

STORY CITY — Senior tailback Blake Coughenour rushed for another 112 yards and a score, but the CMB football team couldn't overcome four turnovers in the loss.

The Raiders ran more plays, had a better time of possession and recorded more first downs, but Roland-Story improved to 2-1 on the season following a big fourth quarter.

The game was scoreless at halftime before the Norse led 7-6 after three quarters. In the fourth, Brett Staton hooked up Matt Moore for a 60-yard touchdown and then Staton iced the win with an 11-yard touchdown run with 1:59 to play.

Coughenour's TD run came from 2 yards out and followed Roland-Story's first touchdown of the game, a 1-yard TD run by Caleb Schlatter.

CMB's balanced offense included 129 passing yards and 117 rushing. Roland-Story though rushed for 196 yards in the win.

Hunter McWhirter was 7-of-14 through the air for 72 yards and two interceptions. Braydon Aker was 6-of-16 for 57 yards.

Coughenour rushed for 112 yards on 22 carries. Schlatter gained 129 yards on 27 carries and Staton added 57 rushing yards.

CMB senior Tucker Maxwell had five catches for 81 yards, while Coughenour caught four passes for 26 yards and Travis Lindemoen hauled in three catches for 19 yards.

Jason Hilgren led the Raider defense with nine tackles, while Caleb Van Zante had 6.5 tackles. Brady Kemp had 4.5 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.

Hudson 45, Colfax-Mingo 0

COLFAX — Hudson kept the Tigerhawks off the scoreboard for the third straight week during a road shutout Friday night.

Colfax-Mingo dropped to 0-3 on the season and 0-1 in district play. Hudson improved to 3-0 after the win.