New coach directing Cardinal boys on soccer pitch

Three close postseason games — a 1-0 win, a 4-3 overtime victory and a 1-0 loss — in May 2016 whetted the Newton High Cardinal boys’ appetites for more soccer. They just had to wait until the spring of 2017 to act on it.

Changes came to the Cardinal boys’ soccer program for 2017. There’s a new coach and the Cardinals lost top scorers from 2016 to graduation. Change can be a good thing.

New head coach Zach Jensen and the 2017 Cardinals are on the same page and going in the same direction.

“We have a strong group of upperclassman with great direction. I have all the confidence in the world they will give us great leadership and lead us to a successful season,” Jensen said.

“I have high expectations for this team as we look to get back to the state tournament for the first time since 1995 as our long-term goal.”

It may be Jensen’s first high school head coaching position, but he brings experience on the pitch. He played for Johnston High School with his late goal in a substate game in 2009 defeated Newton, 2-1. He played for Central College in Pella.

After his playing days, Jensen went to the sidelines as a coach. He has five years of coaching experience as an assistant coach at Johnston High and at Central College along with club soccer level coaching. Jensen’s assistant coaches this season for Newton are Eric Robbert, who is new, and Steve Weeks, who coached for NHS last year.

Graduation hit the Cardinals in all three areas — offense, defense and goal keeping — but the cupboard is not bare for Jensen and his assistant coaches. There are 13 returners with varsity experience and eight others with junior varsity playing time.

“With graduating a large group last year we expect players to step up, step into big roles and perform for us to achieve our goals and expectations,” Jensen said. “We have a team of committed hard workers who show up day in and day out looking to get better.”

Newton finished 13-6 in 2016, losing to 10th-ranked Adel-DeSoto-Minburn, 1-0, on a goal coming with five minutes left in regulation of a Class 2A substate final. The last time a Newton boys’ soccer team qualified for a state tournament was in 1995.

Topping the list of varsity veterans are seniors Josh Ventling and Jordan Norvell, who were named to the Little Hawkeye Conference 2016 first team. Newton went 3-3 for third in the LHC a year ago. Junior Zach Combs earned All-LHC second team honors last year.

Newton led the Little Hawkeye Conference in goals scored with 58 and was fourth in goals allowed with 22. The team was third in the conference with 31 assists.

Ventling, who switched from forward to midfielder last year, was the team leader in assists with 11 and scored six goals, which was third on the team. Ventling was a Class 2A state honorable mention selection and is the leading scorer returning for the Cardinals.

Ventling led the Cardinals in scoring as a freshman and sophomore. He had 15 goals as a sophomore. Ventling is listed as a midfielder in Jensen’s team lineup for 2017. Combs, who scored four goals last year as a midfielder, will work as a midfielder and a defender this season.

Norvell has been an anchor for the Newton defense for three straight seasons. The All-LHC defender is the veteran for the Cardinal defense joined by juniors Tyler Dafflitto, Brad Portner, Dalton Pauley, Logan Wolfe and Gregory Mettler.

Senior Justin Fischer is a forward who scored three goals last year and had one assist. Tyler Stanton, another returning senior forward, had two goals and two assists. Senior Joe Stammeyer played as a defender last year and is moved into a midfielder spot along with senior Logan Heisdorffer.

“My concern going into the season would just be about the team getting used to my system. The formation I run as it will take practice and time,” Jensen said. “To succeed this year we will have to be well disciplined and take care of the ball at all costs.”

In goal this season look for senior Reagan Maple and junior Benny Cheng. Both have junior varsity goal keeping experience for Newton. Maple played in a limited role on varsity last year, making 12 saves and allowing four goals.

Maple and Cheng can also play as defenders.

“Everything starts with defense in my coaching philosophy. I played defense in my career, and I’m huge on working on our team’s defensive shape,” Jensen said. “I’m a possession-minded coach so we’ll look to possess the ball and take care of it as we attack. Also fitness and character are key for my teams. We’ll work on conditioning a great deal. I want our players making the right decisions on and off the field.”

Junior Austin Johansen and sophomore Jacob Murphy saw limited varsity play last year. Johansen scored twice and Murphy had one goal. Joining these two at midfield or forward spots are juniors Preston Sherwood and Gavin Aalbers and sophomores Luke Maharry, Ty Arguello and Taylor Greiner.

The Cardinal boys have a scrimmage against Ottumwa at home on March 27. They open the 2017 season on March 30 at home against Southeast Polk then host their annual tournament on April 1. Newton has eight home games and nine road games this season.

“We’re very excited to open up against a larger school in Southeast Polk from a very tough CIML conference. The high school soccer season is always a grueling season as it’s very common to play multiple games a week which takes a toll on players bodies. We will have a week where we play three games in four days,” Jensen said.

Jensen said he expects the Little Hawkeye Conference to be as strong as ever from top to bottom. Newton opens up conference play very early — April 4 — at conference newcomer Indianola. He said every team is looking at winning the league title with conference powerhouse Norwalk setting the standard the last several years.

“We expect every game will be a battle. We look forward to competing in the tough conference and have the expectation to compete night in and night out for the league title,” Jensen said.

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