Cardinals handle Polar Bears

DES MOINES — What to do following a defensive stop with an interception in the end zone and a 30-yard run to start the offensive drive? For Newton High’s Cardinals Friday night, it was to go “NASCAR,” which is what head coach Ed Ergenbright and the Cardinals call their up-tempo pace.

Newton’s NASCAR fueled an 80-yard touchdown march in the third quarter. The Cardinals kept the tempo up against the Polar Bears for a 28-7 victory.

Newton’s Blayden Rhone intercepted a pass by Des Moines North quarterback Kaine Burch to halt the opening drive by the Polar Bears in third quarter. The Cardinals took possession at their own 20-yard line holding onto a 14-7 lead at Des Moines North’s Grubb Stadium.

Reese Rosenquist got to the edge and gained 30 yards on the first play of the series.

“We went tempo after that,” offensive center Benny Cheng said about the 80-yard scoring drive. “We picked up the pace and wore them down.”

Jordan Norvell, who had scored from 13 yards out late in the second quarter, went to the other side on the second play for a 10-yard gain. Newton quarterback Garrett Sturtz busted loose for a 37-yard run to the Polar Bears.

Rosenquist scored on a 2-yard run to end the march. Zach Combs kicked the extra point for a two TD lead for Newton. The drive was six plays and took two minutes.

The Cardinals rolled up 348 yards on the ground on a rainy night on a natural grass field against host Des Moines North. Both teams went into the non-district game at 2-0.

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

“There was talk of rain all week. There’s a difference in playing on a flat turf field to a grass field with a crown on it. Our kids handled the field and weather conditions pretty well,” Ergenbright said. “It was the game I thought it would be. I knew it was going to have to be a smashed-mouth type of game. They battled us right to the end.”

Ergenbright was right on that account. The Polar Bears, who had a 2-34 record over the past four years, came right back at the Cardinals. Burch hit Roger Griffith over the middle with a pass-and-catch play to flip the field position from the North 23-yard line to the Newton 24.

North moved to the 7-yard line when Newton defensive nose guard Caleb Kite knocked the ball out of Burch’s hand and popping it up in th air. Newton linebacker Brady Smith made the fumble recovery in midair to set Newton up at its own 13 with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.

“We bent, but we didn’t break,” Combs said of the Newton defense. “We stayed together as a team and kept fighting. This was a big win in our biggest challenge of the year. It’s a good feeling to know where we stand.”

The Cardinals pushed up the field in the fourth quarter but fumbled the ball away to the Polar Bears at the North 20-yard line. North moved the ball then went backward as Newton had back-to-back quarterback sacks by Jaise Gulling and Rosenquist.

Phillips went back to punt, but Newton was on the alert for a fake punt. Phillips took the snap and attempted to pick up the 15 yards his team needed for a first down. He failed because of a play by Combs.

“We knew they would be trying something tricky in this situation, so we were ready for the fake punt,” Combs said. “My assignment was to stay at home on the back side. I was manned up on the outside man, but I saw the punter take off. I left my man, and I went after the punter.”

Newton fumbled the ball again at the Des Moines North 36 with 3:37 left in the game. Cardinal linebacker Joe Busch had a chance at an interception but the ball bounced off his chest. On the next play, Griffith fumbled the ball, and Busch was there to recover it for the Cardinals.

It took three plays for the Cardinals to go 35 yards for the final touchdown of the contest. Rosenquist dashed 15 yards and Miller pushed ahead for 16 yards. Smith bulled over the goal line from the 4-yard line with 2:38 left in the game.

North had one last scoring threat in it. Using two big pass plays, the Polar Bears were at the Newton 23. Under pressure from the Cardinals, Burch misfired three straight times then was sacked on fourth down with 12 seconds on the game clock.

“Our team passed a pretty good test tonight. Des Moines North proved it is not a flash-in-the-pan. They’re a pretty good team. They have some legitimate defense players up front and Musa Allison at linebacker was a handful. We made some blocking adjustments to handle him,” Ergenbright said.

Newton scored on the opening possession of the game and never trailed. The Cardinals had a seven-play, 63-yard drive capped by an 11-yard touchdown run by Josh Miller. Combs kicked 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. Burch found Philips on a 14-yard scoring pass play and Nahimana Meshack tied it with the extra-point kick.

Newton’s next drive was bogged down with a couple of penalties. Sturtz’s punt pinned the Polar Bears at their own 7-yard line. It was three plays and punt for North.

Newton grabbed the lead for good on a 51-yard drive at the end of the second quarter. The Cardinals did it all on the ground including a fourth-and-1 run by Sturtz.

It was finished on a 13-yard run by Norvell up the middle. Norvell kept his feet driving forward and his teammates kept pushing the pile forward. Norvell fell over the goal line with a pile of North defenders on him with 1:42 left in the first half. The Cardinals held a 14-7 halftime lead.

“Being 3-0 means a lot to us because we worked so hard in the offseason,” offensive lineman Landon Hansen said. “We did four 100-yard sprints every Tuesday and Friday in the offseason as part of our conditioning. I’m just so happy to be a Cardinal.”

Ergenbright said he stayed more conservative than he should have calling the offensive play, but the Cardinals ground it out. Rosenquist led the rushing attack with 124 yards on 12 carries followed by Sturtz with 84 yards on eight carries and Norvell 59 yards on nine carries.

Sturtz only attempted two passes, completing a 7-yarder to Rosenquist.

“Our defense played awesome in the second half,” Ergenbright said. “It made plays when we needed to make plays including three turnovers. I wasn’t happy with the two turnovers we had, but the guys stayed with it and we got the win.”

Leading the Newton defense was Smith with 13 solo tackles and three assisted tackles along with the fumble recovery. Ben Peterson and Combs each had five solo stops and two assisted tackles. Rosenquist and Jaise Gulling were credited with five solo tackles, one assisted tackle and two quarterback sacks apiece.

Des Moines North finished with 183 yards rushing led by Phillips with 76 yards on 12 carries. Burch was 12-of-27 passing for 166 yards. James Deng had four catches for 52 yards and Griffith had two catches for 53 yards.

Newton plays its final non-district game at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Burlington (2-1).

“We will gameplan it, take these guys down there and do battle,” Ergenbright said of facing the Burlington Grayhounds.

Newton 7-7-7-7—28

DM North 0-7-0-0—7

Newton — Miller 11 yd run (Combs kick)

DM North — Phllips 14 yd pass from Burch (Meshack kick)

Newton — Norvell 13 yd run (Combs kick)

Newton — Rosenquist 2 yd run (Combs kick)

Newton — Smith 4 yd run (Combs kick)

Newton Des Moines North

21 First Downs 21

44-348 Rushes-Yds 45-183

7 Passing Yds 166

355 Total Offense 349

1-2-0 Passing 12-27-1

3-3 Fumbles-lost 3-2

7-60 Penalties-Yds 8-50

2-42 Punts-Avg. 2-35.5

Individual Leaders

Rushing: Newton-Rosenquist 12-124, Sturtz 8-84, Norvell 9-59, Miller 8-51, Roush 4-26, Smith 2-5. Des Moines North-Phillips 12-76, Montoya 11-53, Burch 20-52,Griffth 1-2.

Passing: Newton-Sturtz 1-2-7-0. Des Moines North-Burch 12-27-166-1.

Receiving: Newton-Rosenquist 1-7. Des Moines North-Deng 4-52, Phillips 4-34, Griffth 2-53, Crawford 1-17, Star 1-10.

Punting: Newton-Sturtz-2-84 (42-yd avg). Des Moines North-Phillips-2-71 (35.5-yd avg.)

Newton Defense

Tackles (solos/assisted): Smith 13/3, Peterson 5/2, Combs 5/2, Rosenquist 5/1, Jaise Gulling 5/1, Graham 4/2, Kite 3/2, Josh Gulling 2/3, Steinbach 3/0, Busch 3/0, Ergenbright 1/1, Roush 1/0, Shepard 0/1, Manning 0/1, Miller 0/1.

Quarterback sacks (solos/assisted): Rosenquist 2/0, Jaise Gulling 2/0.

Fumbles (forced/recovered): Smith 0/1, Busch 0/1, Kite 1/0. Jaise Gulling 1/0.

Interceptions: Rhone 1.

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