March 29, 2024

Cardinals overpower Polar Bears; Area Prep Football Roundup

Blowouts were the norm among the five area football teams in Week 3. It was also the start of district play for three of the area teams on Friday — Lynnville-Sully in Class A District 6, Colfax-Mingo in A District 5 and Prairie City-Monroe in 2A District 6.

Newton, Lynnville-Sully, Baxter and PCM claimed big wins while Colfax-Mingo dropped its road game.

Newton 60, Des Moines North 2

Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time in 2017, Newton High’s Cardinals quickly took command of their non-district game against Des Moines North. The Cardinals handed the visiting Polar Bears a 60-2 loss.

It started on the first play from scimmage. The snap went over the head of the North quarterback, who picked the ball up but Newton's senior nose guard Landon Hansen was right there for a tackle for loss. The Polar Bears could not keep the Cardinal defense out of the back field.

"We found things we could exploit up front on the line of scrimmages against their offensive line," Hansen said after the game.

Newton rolled up 34 points in the first quarter and led 47-0 before giving up a safety to North late in the second quarter. The 45-point halftime lead by the Cardinals triggered the running -clock rule for the entire second half.

The Cardinals had seven different players score touchdowns in the game. The varsity offensive unit went to the bench with 9:39 left in the second quarter after senior Carson Cazett scored on a 14-yard run to stake out a 40-0 lead.

“I love seeing our younger players in there,” Cazett said. “We had the game under control and it allowed those guys some experience in varsity play.”

In the first quarter, senior quarterback Garrett Sturtz had a 7-yard TD run and found junior tight end Jacob Murphy for a 23-yard TD pass play. Junior running back Josh Miller had touchdown runs of four yards and 25 yards.

Sandwiched in between Miller’s two first-quarter scoring runs was a 41-yard interception return for a touchdown by senior defensive back Grayson Graham.

Dylan Farver had a touchdown run in the second quarter and one in the third quarter for the Newton reserves. Logan Cummins had a TD run to cap the opening drive of the second half for Newton.

Newton’s dominance of the game wasn’t just from the starters. The reserve defensive unit played the second half and didn’t give up any points to the Polar Bears (0-3).

Newton improved to 3-0 on the season. The Cardinals host Burlington next Friday for the NHS homecoming game and final non-district contest.

Newton's freshmen lost 28-22 to Des Moines North Friday.

Lynnville-Sully 54, North Mahaska 14

SULLY — Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks opened Class A District 6 play with a resounding 54-12 win over visiting North Mahaska. The Hawks were up 40-6 over the Warhawks at halftime.

Elijah Collins went 3-of-9 passing and all three completions were for touchdowns — a 25-yard toss to Tanner Foster, and two to Brevin Hansen for seven yards and 31 yards. Hansen had an 81-yard kickoff return for a score to answer North Mahaska’s TD in the second quarter.

Gage Vander Leest rushed for a touchdown and found Drake Ehresman for a 40-yard TD pass. Sage Zylstra and Nate Stock each found the end zone in the Hawk ground game, which produced 253 yards.

Stock had 67 yards on six carries and Evan Squires rushed for 49 yards on 10 carries. Zylstra had 58 yards on seven carries.

The Hawks scored 14 points in the third quarter to extend their lead to 54-6. North Mahaska had a score in the fourth period.

Lynnville-Sully’s defense was led by Squires with eight tackles while Grant Wehrle and Kemper Lukehart had seven tackles apiece. Lukehart had a quarterback sack. The Hawks recovered to Warhawk fumbles.

The Hawks are 3-0 for the season and 1-0 in district play. They play at Cardinal next week.

Baxter 64, English Valleys 40

BAXTER -- Braydon Aker threw five touchdown passes and ran in another, and Travis Lindemoen scored five times during the Bolts' win in their home opener.

Playing in front of their home fans for the first time as an 8-man program, Baxter (2-1) led 40-16 at halftime. Lindemoen returned a punt 57 yards for a score in the first quarter and then grabbed four straight TD passes from Aker to give the Bolts a big lead at halftime.

English Valleys (2-2) rallied to keep it close in the third quarter, but connected with Cole Damman for the second time in the game to put Baxter back up 48-24.

Aker's 11-yard TD run later in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach. Devin Carson also scored on a 13-yard TD run later in the game. Damman's first TD covered 11 yards and his second was a 6-yarder.

PCM 61, Albia 6

ALBIA -- The Mustangs returned to the field in a big way, rushing for 311 yards and blowing out the Blue Demons for the second straight season as 2A District 6 play kicked off Friday night.

Junior Wes Cummings rushed for 97 yards on six carries, hauled in 2 catches for 52 yards and scored three total touchdowns for PCM (2-1 overall, 1-0 in district play.

Senior Noah Anderson also rushed for 70 yards and one TD on four carries. Junior quarterback Reed Worth rushed for 72 yards and a touchdown on three carries, and he threw for 144 yards and four TDs on just six completions.

In a backup role, Nigel Sperfslage was 3-for-3 for 15 yards and a TD, and he also rushed for 45 yards.

PCM led 27-6 after one quarter before turning on the continuous clock after leading 54-6 at halftime.

Worth connected with seven different receivers on the night. Only Cummings and junior Brayton Van Dyke had more than one catch. Van Dyke finished with 69 yards and a score on two catches, junior Isaac Telfer had a 40-yard touchdown catch and junior Jarron Trausch's only catch went for a 15-yard touchdown.

The PCM defense, led by Trausch's 8 1/2 tackles and four tackles for loss, held Albia to 189 yards and 70 of that came on the Blue Demons' only TD play of the night. The Mustangs held Albia to 2.5 yards per carry.

Hudson 62, Colfax-Mingo 0

HUDSON -- The Pirates made a strong case for the Class A rankings with a blowout win over Colfax-Mingo on Friday night.

Hudson improved to 3-0 on the season and got the District 5 season off to a strong start with a second consecutive shutout. The Pirates have outscored their opponents 142-6 this season.

Colfax-Mingo fell to 1-3 on the season and 0-1 in district play.