Cardinals capture 4A district win; Area Prep Football Roundup

Five for five — all area football teams notched victories on Friday night in Week 5 action. Newton, Prairie City-Monroe, Lynnville-Sully and Colfax-Mingo won big in their respective district games and Baxter rolled up a large-margin victory in 8-man play.

Newton 49, Marshalltown 28

MARSHALLTOWN — Big plays were the norm for both teams Friday night as Newton High’s Cardinals kicked off Class 4A District 4 play at Marshalltown. The Cardinals had more big scoring plays in a 49-28 road victory over the Bobcats.

“It was a solid win, but we have to be better on both sides of the ball,” Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright said. “Most important is for this team to get guys healthy. We’re getting thin in our skills players on offense. We had another running back go out with an injury tonight. We have to get healthy.”

It was the Bobcats who struck first. Newton senior quarterback Garrett Sturtz lost the handle on the football after a 10-yard gain. The Bobcats recovered the fumble at the Cardinal 25-yard line. Two plays later Marshalltown quarterback Sam Irwin connected with Dylan Eygabroad on a 19-yard TD pass play.

Newton trailed 7-0, but not for long. On the ensuing kickoff, senior running back Jaron Roush scored the first of three first-half touchdowns. Roush returned the kickoff 96 yards and with senior Zach Combs kicking the extra point, the game was tied 7-7 in a matter of seconds.

“I just saw our guys blocking up front of me and a big hole opened up. I took advantage of it,” Roush said of the return for a touchdown.

The longest scoring drive of the game was delivered by Newton as the Cardinals drove 78 yards in nine plays. The drive was capped off with a 2-yard TD run by senior running back Josh Miravalles. In the drive Roush had a 17-yard run and Sturtz had a 22-yard dash.

Newton was up 14-7 after one quarter and driving again. Sturtz broke loose for a 79-yard run to set up his 5-yard TD dash with 11:57 left in the second period.

A 76-yard TD scramble by Roush came two minutes later to put Newton up 28-7.

Marshalltown was powered by runs from Giorgio Diiorio on its next possession. Irwin finished the march to the end zone by scoring from 4-yards out.

The Cardinals answered back with a final first-half drive. This time Sturtz delivered a pass to Roush as the play went 21 yards to the end zone. Combs nailed his fifth extra point of the open half of play to put Newton up 35-14 at halftime.

It stayed that way through a scoreless third quarter. The final 12 minutes of play saw each team score twice.

Marshalltown got a 76-yard pass play for a TD from Irwin to Josh Melde with 9:07 left to make it 42-21. The Bobcats turned a second Cardinal fumble into an 8-yard TD run by Irwin at the 2:48 mark.

Bookending the Bobcat scores were two Newton touchdown drives. Sturtz capped an eight-play, 67yard march with a 4-yard TD run with 10:36 left in the game. Miravalles pushed over the goal line from four yards out with 1:06 remaining.

Sturtz rushed for 177 yards on eight carries in the first half and Roush had 96 yards on three carries in the opening two quarters. Roush scored on special teams, rushing and receiving while Sturtz and Miravalles each had two rushing TDs. Combs kicked seven extra points.

Newton (5-0) takes its 1-0 district mark into Friday’s home game against Fort Dodge (3-2, 0-1). Fort Dodge lost 59-14 to West Des Moines Valley and Southeast Polk beat Indianola 30-22 in the other 4A District 4 openers.

Lynnville-Sully 48, Winfield-Mt. Union 0

WINFIELD — Tenth-ranked Lynnville-Sully blasted Winfield-Mt. Union, 48-0, on Friday to improve to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in Class A District 6 action.

The victory combined with seventh-ranked Pekin’s 56-6 win over Cardinal Friday night sets up a District 6 showdown next Friday in Sully. Both the Hawks and Pekin are undefeated.

The Hawks dominated Winfield-Mt. Union to lead 48-0 by the 4:49 mark of the second quarter. The rest of the game was played under a running clock.

Lynnville-Sully opened the scoring on a defensive play as Jesse Van Wyk snatched a Winfield-Mt. Union pass out of the air and returned it 69 yards for the TD. Evan Squires punched over the goal line for a two-point conversion.

Squires was back in the end zone 40 seconds later on a 4-yard run. Tyson Vander Linden caught a pass from Elijah Collins that covered 51 yards for the Hawks’ third score of the night. With 28 seconds left in the first quarter, Gage Vander Leest dashed 46 yards for a score.

Collins connected with Drake Ehresman on a 15-yard TD pass play in the second period. Squires had a 14-yard TD run then Vander Leest returned an interception 43 yards for the final TD of the night.

Brevin Hansen kicked six extra points for the Hawks. Hansen led the defensive charge with four tackles. Tanner Foster had three tackles and a quarterback sack.

Colfax-Mingo 42, Grand View Christian 7

COLFAX — The Tigerhawks ended a two-game losing streak with a rout of Grand View Christian on homecoming.

Senior Reegan Van Dyke threw for 272 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 82 yards and another score one night after being named Colfax-Mingo Homecoming King.

Van Dyke hooked up with junior Zarek Hill five times for 156 yards. Three of those passes went for touchdowns of 20, 34 and 27 yards.

Colfax-Mingo, which surpassed last year's win total with the victory Friday, led 27-0 at halftime. The Tigerhawks forced six turnovers. Hill had two interceptions and the Thunder (0-5, 0-3) lost four fumbles.

Colfax-Mingo (2-4, 1-2) got off to a quick start when it drove 53 yards in five plays to go up 6-0. Van Dyke hit junior Holister Koenig for 15 yards and then hooked up with junior Damir Gumerov on a 9-yard screen pass. The 20-yard TD pass to Hill gave the Tigerhawks the lead for good.

Grand View Christian fumbled on the kickoff. Colfax-Mingo then went 60 yards in two plays. Van Dyke hit Hill for 59 yards and then Gumerov finished off the drive with a 1-yard TD run.

The two teams traded turnovers before Colfax-Mingo extended its lead to 20-0.

Van Dyke finished the drive with a 9-yard TD run. He hit sophomore Trystin Ross for 34 yards and senior Alex Lewis for 18 yards on the drive.

Another fumble on the Thunder's first play from scrimmage on their next drive gave the Tigerhawks another opportunity.

Colfax-Mingo needed only two plays to go 73 yards. Van Dyke rushed 39 yards before hitting Hill for the 34-yard touchdown.

The Tigerhawks scored twice in the second half. Ross blocked a punt that Gumerov scooped up and ran back 28 yards for the score. Hill's final TD covered 27 yards from Van Dyke with 3:01 left in the game.

Grand View Christian rushed for 240 yards in the loss. Peyton Leever gained 108 of that on three big runs. The Thunder had only three runs of more than 10 yards.

Baxter 62, No. 5 Lone Tree 36

LONE TREE — The Bolts made a gigantic statement Friday night with a dominant road win over fifth-ranked Lone Tree.

Lone Tree came into the game averaging 47 points per game, but Baxter led 46-6 at halftime. The Bolts, who have won three straight, scored at least 62 points for the third time this season against a Lone Tree (5-1) defense was was allowing a little more than 12 points per game in its five wins.

Senior Braydon Aker threw for 333 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 66 yards and two scores in the win. His favorite target was again senior Travis Lindemoen, who hauled in nine passes for 207 yards and three scores.

Aker's other TD pass went senior Devin Carson, who also rushed for 104 yards on nine carries. He scored twice on the ground, too.

Junior all-state linemen Will Clapper returned from a knee injury and senior linemen Bryce Bacon played in his first game since suffering a preseason injury. That allowed the Bolts to be more balanced offensively.

The Bolts (4-1) forced three Lone Tree turnovers and only punted once on offense.

No. 8 PCM 55, Central Lee 6

MONROE — The Mustangs won their 11th straight district game with another rout in Class 2A District 6 play on Senior Night.

Junior Reed Worth threw for 190 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 99 yards and a score as PCM improved to 3-0 in district play. The 2A No. 8 Mustangs led 49-0 at halftime.

Junior Preston Van Wyk hauled in three catches from Worth, and all three went for TDs. He started the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. Van Wyk hauled in a 28-yard TD to start the second-quarter scoring. His final TD covered 62 yards with 1:14 to go until halftime.

Worth made it 14-0 in the first quarter when he scampered 81 yards for the TD. Senior Noah Anderson scored a 3-yard touchdown to make it 21-0 after one quarter.

After Van Wyk's TD catch opened the second quarter, Worth hit junior Brayton Van Dyke from 14 yards out. Junior Jarron Trausch put the Mustangs (4-1, 3-0) up 42-0.

Neither team scored in the third quarter. Central Lee's lone TD came early in the fourth, but PCM added one final score with 5:52 to play in the game when junior Olin Meinders got loose for a 32-yard touchdown run.

Van Dyke finished with 77 yards on three catches and Meinders tallied 54 rushing yards on three carries.

The Mustangs, who have won four straight games, threw for 203 yards and rushed for 237 yards.

PCM's defense held Central Lee to 14 passing yards. The visitors did throw for 162 yards in the loss.

Senior Jacob Ponder and junior Nick Buswell both had four tackles to lead the defense. Junior Nick Dredge had 3 1/2 tackles and two interceptions, and Trausch and sophomore Seth Greiner each had 3 1/2 tackles.