March 29, 2024

Cardinals win 4A district opener; all area teams notch victories

It was 5-for-5 for area high school football teams Friday night. Newton, Prairie City-Monroe, Collins-Maxwell/Baxter, Lynnville-Sully and Colfax-Mingo claimed victories —all in district play. It is the first time this season all five teams won.

Newton 45, Marshalltown 14

Newton’s Class 4A District 4 opener and Homecoming game did not go according script, but the Cardinals prevailed, 45-14, over Marshalltown’s Bobcats.

“It was a strange game. I was aggravated with the offense being out of kilter,” Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright said. “We practiced great all week. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot, but the kids made up with it with a huge special teams play. We overwhelmed them (the Bobcats) on defense.”

The Bobcats recovered two Newton fumbles in the first five minutes of the game, even after giving up a blocked punt. Marshalltown struck first with a pick-six as Thomas Snyder intercepted a Garrett Sturtz pass and dashed 74 yards for the touchdown.

Newton found itself down 7-0, but not for long. Trevor Ergenbright returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for the Cardinals. Zach Combs kicked the extra point to even the score, 7-7, with 3:32 left in the first quarter.

The Cardinals did not play their best game of the season. They did control the game the rest of the way which began with a defensive stand on the second play of the second quarter.

Marshalltown had driven to the Newton 22-yard line by the conclusion of the first period. An incomplete pass opened the second quarter on a third-down play. The Bobcats went on a fourth-and-7, but the pass fell short of its target.

Six plays later, Ergenbright was back in the end zone. This time it was a 54-yard touchdown pass from Sturtz. Combs, who had kicked two extra points in the game, nailed his first varsity field goal from 36 yards out at the 5:57 mark of the second quarter.

“With homecoming week there were a lot of distractions and we weren’t as focused to start the game, but we kept battling,” Combs, who also plays defense, said. “It felt great — it was a great snap, a great hold and I did what I do.”

Reese Rosenquist, whose interception set up Combs’ field goal, scored on a dive to the pylon for his first of two TDs in the game. It came with 52 seconds to halftime. The lone score in the third quarter was a 4-yard run to the end zone.

Newton led 31-7 heading into the fourth quarter. The Cardinals got a 55-yard TD run from Jordan Norvell and a 1-yd TD run by Jaron Roush in the fourth period. In between, Marshalltown’s Avery Brooks got loose for a 41-yard scoring run.

Norvell led the Newton ground game with 83 yards on 12 carries. Sturtz was 5-of-7 passing with 133 yards. Ergenbright made four catches for 131 yards.

Brady Smith, who was crowned 2016 Homecoming King on Thursday, racked up 11 solo tackles and one assisted tackle. Rosenquist had two quarterback sacks while Blayden Rhone and Smith each had one sack. Jaise Gulling had the blocked punt for Newton.

The Cardinals improve to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in district play. They travel to Fort Dodge Friday.

Newton’s freshmen improved to 4-0 with a 42-12 win over Marshalltown.

Lynnville-Sully 44, Winfield Mt. Union 6

SULLY — On its first offensive play of the game, Lynnville-Sully gave up an interception for a touchdown Friday night. Visiting Winfield Mount Union led the Class A seventh-ranked Hawks, 6-0, with 9:54 left in the first quarter.

“We came out a little flat, but the guys responded well,” Hawk head coach Mike Parkinson said following the Hawks’ 44-6 win. “We played outstanding defense the whole night. Our offense got on track, especially in the second half.”

Lynnville-Sully answered with a scoring drive capped on a 25-yard TD pass from Elijah Collins to Brevin Hansen to close out the first quarter. The 2-point conversion run by Sage Zylstra put the Hawks in front for good, 8-6.

Collins connected with Caden Dunsbergen midway through the second period for a 34-yard TD pass play and Hansen kicked the extra point. Zylstra, who finished with 161 yards on 20 carries, broke off a 40-yard scoring run three minutes later.

The Hawks were up 22-6 at halftime. Gage Vander Leest and Zylstra each had a short TD run in the third quarter. Vander Leest added a 1-yard dive over the goal line in the fourth period. Hanson kicked two more extra points and caught a 2-point conversion pass from Collins.

The Hawks rolled up 415 yards of total offense while holding Winfield Mt. Union to 45 total yards. Dylan Roozeboom had nine tackles for Lynnville-Sully. Ryan Hofer and Zylstra each had six tackles.

Lynnville-Sully (5-0) is 3-0 in Class A District 6 play, and goes to Pekin next Friday.

CMB 27, East Marshall 21

BAXTER — Blake Coughenour rushed for 209 yards and three touchdowns, the Raiders out-gained the Mustangs 408-268, but the game was close because CMB committed 112 yards worth of penalties.

CMB led 7-0 after one quarter and had a 14-7 lead in the first half on the night of the program's final Homecoming game. East Marshall won the second half 14-13, but the Raiders held on for their second straight win.

Hunter McWhirter was 6-for-8 for 47 yards through the air, while Braydon Aker passed for 22 yards, including a 9-yard TD to Tucker Maxwell. That score put the Raiders up 27-13 in the fourth quarter. Aker also rushed for 73 yards on 10 carries.

East Marshall's Tyler DeBondt threw for 267 yards and two scores in the loss. The Mustangs only rushed for 19 yards on 19 carries.

CMB's defense had five sacks and the Mustangs turned the ball over on a kickoff following a Raider touchdown in the third quarter. It was the only turnover in the game and the first time this season that the Raiders did not have a miscue in a game.

The Raiders, who played this game without the services of head coach Rob Luther, still need to clean up the penalties. Coughenour had a 62-yard touchdown run called back because of a holding penalty in the third quarter after East Marshall got within 21-13. That's the same drive that Aker found Maxwell for the passing TD and was a drive that covered 62 yards in 12 plays.

CMB's final drive featured back-to-back holding calls, one of which came on another big gain by Coughenour.

Brady Kemp led the Raider receivers with five catches for 42 yards. Maxwell's only catch was the TD, while Travis Lindemoen hauled in two passes for 18 yards.

Jason Hillgren and Archer McFadden each had two sacks to lead the CMB defense. Will Clapper had the other sack, and he also batted down a DeBondt pass on the final play of the game.

It was the second straight win for CMB, which is now 2-3 overall and 2-1 in Class 2A District 3 action. East Marshall falls to 1-4 overall and 0-3 in district play.

PCM 42, Central Lee 0

DONNELLSON — Another big night through the air led the PCM football team to an easy win over Central Lee in 2A District 6 action Friday night.

Sheldon Speers threw for 333 yards and five scores, Luke Greiner hauled in four TD catches and Wes Cummings compiled 237 total yards as the Mustangs are now in the driver's seat for the district championship.

PCM, now 4-1 overall and 3-0 in district play, led 21-0 at halftime.

Speers and Greiner started their big nights with a 20-yard TD hookup. Speers then found Cummings for a 73-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 and the Mustangs were off and running.

The next three scores for PCM were all TD catches by Greiner. The first and last from Speers covered 40 yards each and the third scoring grab went for 51 yards. Greiner hauled in 10 catches for 205 yards and four scores on the night.

Noah Anderson gained 75 yards on the ground in just five carries. He capped the win with a 37-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter.

The Mustangs gained 548 total yards and held Central Lee to just 143.

Since its opening week loss to 3A Keokuk, Central Lee averaged 50 points per game in winning three straight. Central Lee fell to 3-2 on the season and 2-1 in district play.

On the flip side, PCM is allowing just 4.5 points per game since its opening week loss to 1A No. 2 Pella Christian. The Mustangs have pitched two straight shutouts defensively.

Speers now leads 2A in passing yards with 1,229 and also has 16 TDs. Greiner now has 611 receiving yards and 11 TDs, both of which rank first in 2A.

Colfax-Mingo 42, Grand View Christian 6

DES MOINES — Reegan Van Dyke threw for five touchdowns and Zarek Hill caught three TDs as the Tigerhawks got into the win column with an easy victory over the Thunder.

Alex Lewis and Adam Teed both had TD catches as well, while Nick Barnes returned a pick 60 yards for a score.

The Tigerhawks improved 1-4 on the season and are now 1-2 in Class A District 5 action. Grand View Christian fell to 0-5 overall and 0-3 in district play.