Newton overcomes mistakes to claim big road win over Waterloo East

WATERLOO — Twice he witnessed Waterloo East players catch passes from Trojan sophomore quarterback Dylan Reyes in the first quarter. Both pass plays went for touchdowns.

Newton High senior cornerback Grayson Graham decided it was his turn to claim a Reyes pass. Graham intercepted a Reyes pass with 5:13 remaining in the second quarter Friday night. It was the turning point for the Cardinals on their way to a 56-26 victory.

The Cardinals spotted the Trojans a 20-6 lead by the conclusion of the first quarter. It was 26-13 at the 7:23 mark of the second period. Newton didn’t give up another point in the non-district game.

“I just wanted to redeem myself after those two drives I gave up the long touchdown plays,” Graham said. “I read it well and made the play. As a defense, we rely on each other. We just kept fighting back after falling behind 20-6.”

Graham returned the ball 24 yards to set up Newton’s go-ahead touchdown. The Cardinals went 44 yards in six plays as Josh Miravalles scored from 1-yard out then tacked on a 2-point conversion run to give the Cardinals a 27-26 lead with 2:34 left in the first half.

Newton’s defense faced a new Trojan quarterback, another sophomore, from that point on in the game. Tanner Cronan came in to direct the East offense with senior running back Tyrell Gordon in the backfield.

According to the Waterloo Courier report on the game, Reyes went down with an apparent head injury. He was one of several Trojan players who were injured in the game.

Three plays and a short punt later, Newton had an opportunity to add to its lead before the break. A long pass play from senior quarterback Garrett Sturtz to senior Trevor Ergenbright was wiped out because of a penalty.

The Cardinals went into the locker room with a 27-26 lead at halftime.

“We learned about our heart tonight. We knew they were going to come out fired up after winning their first game in a long time,” Sturtz said. “They packed the box against us, but we were able to run whatever we wanted. We competed and kept fighting back until we got the momentum.”

Riding the wave of emotion from winning the school’s first football game since 2012, the Trojans were ready for the Cardinals. Behind the play of Reyes, the Trojans struck quick on the third offensive play of the game.

Reyes hooked up with Damon Johnson for a 76-yard TD pass play. Newton answered with a six-play drive capped on a 26-yard touchdown run by senior Jaron Roush, Neither team was successful on extra point attempts leaving it 6-all.

Reyes tossed a 38-yard TD pass to Jacee Clark and tacked on the two-point conversion. A Newton fumble set up a 14-yard run to the end zone by Reyes.

Again the Cardinals responded with a Roush 3-yard TD scamper with Zach Combs kicking the extra point. Josh Miller had covered 53 yards on a run to put the Cardinals at the East 3-yard line.

On a third-and-22 play, Reyes escaped down the sideline on an 80-yard run to the end zone for East. A two-point conversion pass failed. Reyes was flagged for excessive celebration on his TD run which was assessed on the ensuing kickoff.

Newton needed just three plays to go 36 yards with Roush scoring for a third time. It was 26-19 with 6:20 left in the second quarter.

“Everything that could go wrong for us did in that first quarter and a half,” Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright said. “We didn’t contain the quarterback and allowed people to run by us. I’m happy with the fight our kids showed, and the resiliency to not give up.”

Newton came out and drove the ball down the field to open the second half but stalled out.

The Cardinal defense got two points on a safety when it forced the Trojans to punt. The snap went over the punter’s head and out of end zone.

The Cardinals ran the ball right at the Trojans on a short field following the free kick. Miravalles had an 8-yard TD run with Combs kicking the extra point. Roush scored his fourth TD of the game on the final play of the third quarter set up by a fumble recovery by the Cardinals’ senior linebacker Blayden Rhone.

“We ran the same stuff in the second half that we ran in the first half and we were OK,” Ergenbright said. “It was a matter of us making a lot of mistakes in the first half. We kept ourselves in the game in the first half until we go the lead late in the second quarter. Then they lost their quarterback and we dominated the second half.”

Newton carried a 42-26 lead into the final 12 minutes of play. Cardinal quarterback Garrett Sturtz, who had 122 yards rush in on 14 carries, found Trevor Ergenbright for a 43-yard TD pass play after Combs intercepted a Trojan pass.

Miravalles pushed into the end zone for the third time with 4:32 left in the game. Jacob Murphy kicked the final two PATs for Newton.

Newton rolled up 431 yards on the ground. Miravalles had three TDs and rushed for 77 yards on 14 carries. Roush finished with 93 yards on 10 carries. Miller ended up with 79 yards on six carries and Carson Cazett had 35 yards on seven rushes.

“We learned how much grit we have and how much passion we have to go out to win every game not just to play but to win,” Sturtz said.

Combs paced the Cardinal defense with four solo tackles and two assisted tackles and an interception. Mason Lee racked up three solo tackles and three assisted tackles. Grant Garvis and Rhone each had three solo tackles and two assisted tackles. Graham had three solos and one assisted tackle and the interception.

Thomas Cox, Jaise Gulling, Aaron Bartels and Jaden King each recorded two solo tackles. The Cardinals had five quarterback sacks — one each by Combs, Gulling, Landon Hansen, Lee and Rhone.

Reyes had 94 yards rushing and 162 yards passing before being injured. Newton’s defense bottled up Gordon, who finished with just 19 yards on nine carries. Waterloo East (1-1) had 325 yards total offense.

“We didn’t change our game plan of attack when he (Reyes) went out. We didn’t take their backup quarterback lightly,” Graham said. “A game like this will help us in the long run.”

Graham’s head coach agreed with that assessment.

“This was a good game for us. We found out the things we’re good at and things we’re not plus those things we need to fix,” Ergenbright said. “Except for one or two drives, offensively we answered the bell tonight. These guys will keep working hard to get better.”

The Cardinals improved to 2-0 on the season. They have their home opener next Friday when Des Moines North comes to H.A. Lynn Stadium.

Newton 6-21-15-14—56

Waterloo East 20-6-0-0—26

East —Johnson 76 pass from Reyes (pass failed)

Newton — Roush 26 yd run (kick failed)

East — Clark 38 yd pass from Reyes (Reyes run)

East — Reyes 14 yd run (run failed)

Newton — Roush 9 yd run (Combs kick)

East — Reyes 80 yd run (pass failed)

Newton — Roush 24 yd run (kick failed)

Newton — Miravalles 1 yd run (Miravalles run

Newton — Safety, ball snapped out of end zone on punt

Newton — Miravalles 8 yd run (Combs kick)

Newton — Roush 2 yd run (kick failed)

Newton — Ergenbright 43 yd pass from Sturtz (Murphy kick)

Newton — Miravalles 1 yd run (Murphy kick)

Newton Waterloo East

22 First Downs 7

57-431 Rushes-Yds 26-122

71 Passing Yds 203

502 Total Offense 325

3–10-0 Passing 7-25-2

2-1 Fumbles/lost 2-1

10-70 Penalties/yds 10-80

1-26 Punts/Avg 1-24

Individual Leaders

Rushing: Newton-Sturtz 14-122, Roush 10-93, Miller 6-79 Miravalles 14-77, Cazett 7-35, Cheng 3-8, Cummins 1-9, Farver 1-8. East-Reyes 8-94, Gordon 9-19, Clark 2-38, Robinson 2-(1-12), Cronan 5-(-17), Bickel 1-3

Passing: Newton-Sturtz 3-10-71-0. East-Reyes 4-11-162-1, Cronan 3-14-41-1.

Receiving: Newton-Ergenbright 2-64, Cazett 1-7. East-Jonson 1-76, Clark 2-48, Gordon 1-(-8), Ernst 1-31, Bender 1-38, Plum 1-18.

Punting: Newton-Sturtz 1-26 (26-yd avg.). East: Ernst 1-24 (24-yd avg.)

Newton Defense

Tackles (solos/assisted): Combs 4/2, Lee 3/3, Garvis 3/2, Rhone 3/2, Graham 3/1, Cox 2/3, Gulling 2/2, Bartels 2/1, King 2/0, Hansen 1/0, Hoen 1/0, Kuennen 1/0, Peterson 1/0, Roush 1/0.

Quarterback sacks (solo/assisted): Combs 1/0, Gulling 1/0, Hansen 1/0, Lee 1/0, Rhone 1/0.

Fumbles (forced/recovered): Rhone 0/1.

Interceptions: Graham 1, Combs 1.

Blocked punts: Hansen 1.

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