March 28, 2024

Cardinals outlast Dodgers in 4A shootout; Area Prep Football Roundup

Week 6 of Iowa high school football held a sweep of Friday night games by the five area teams. Newton, Prairie City-Monroe, Lynnville-Sully and Colfax-Mingo recorded district victories and Baxter nailed down another win in its first year in 8-man play.

Newton 71, Fort Dodge 70

Newton High’s Cardinals and the visiting Fort Dodge Dodgers combined to score 141 points, which was the most points scored in an 11-man football game in Iowa since 2002 when Dowling Catholic beat Southeast Polk 77-66 for 143 points. Fans saw a combined point total which ranked fourth all-time in Iowa 11-man scoring.

Each team finished with more than 600 yards of total offense. It was the most points scored in a Newton game. Newton hadn’t put up that many points since 1984, and hadn’t given up that many points since 1969.

There was no let up from the opening kickoff to the final play of the Class 4A District 4 game. Newton brought the district’s top rushing team into the game and Fort Dodge had the top passing team in the district.

Fort Dodge’s Trey Mosley ran the opening kickoff back 89 yards to begin the scoring fest. Down 7-0, the Cardinals answered with a 59-yard, four-play drive capped by a 15-yard TD run by senior Jaron Roush. Senior Zach Combs kicked the extra point.

It was back-and-forth all night, following a brief delay after the first Newton touchdown when the stadium lights on the visitor’s side went out.

“This was one for the ages. I’ve never been apart of a game like this,” Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright said after an exciting end to the contest.

It was tied 21-21 after one quarter and the Cardinals had a 35-28 halftime lead. Newton had taken a two-TD lead in the third quarter, but Fort Dodge kept coming back. It was 63-56 with 5:14 left in the game. Newton had the lead and the football.

After a good pick-up of yards, Newton senior quarterback Garrett Sturtz fumbled the football. Fort Dodge scored with 2:05 left on Drake Miller’s fourth TD pass of the night then the Dodgers went for two points to get the lead. Trey Mosley went airborne to reach the end zone and put Fort Dodge up 64-63.

“We practice the 2-minute drill every Thursday. We weren’t going to flinch. I did earlier when I fumbled the ball, but not this time,” Sturtz said of Newton winning TD drive.

Sturtz connected with senior split end Trevor Ergenbright, who was back after missing a couple of games because of an injury. The 20-yard pass play came on a fourth-and-12 to give Newton the football at the Fort Dodge 27-yard line

Sturtz, who threw for 105 yards in the game, found Roush for a 27-yard TD pass. He and Ergenbright hooked up one more time for the 2-point conversion lifting Newton to a 71-64 lead with 43.5 seconds left.

The drama was far from over.

Fort Dodge had a strong kickoff return to the Newton 46. Miller drove the Dodgers to the end zone on three pass plays. There were 16 seconds on the game clock. The Dodgers decided to go for the win.

“We got pressure on him on the 2-point conversion pass. He threw it to the end zone and we defended it well,” Ergenbright said. “Giving up 70 points, it’s hard to feel good about your defensive effort, but our guys made some key plays — two fourth-down stops and the play at the end. Wow, what a game.”

Roush scored five touchdowns and rushed for more than 200 yards for Newton. Josh Miravalles and Sturtz each had two rushing touchdowns. Josh Miller found the end zone once.

Sturtz had 130 yards rushing and Miravalles had 115 yards on the ground. Senior kicker Zach Combs kicked nine extra points.

Dayson Clayton, who hauled in the final TD pass from Miller, rushed for three touchdowns and had more than 150 yards rushing in the first half for the Dodgers. Miller had 329 yards pass and five TD passes. Mosley had the kickoff TD and caught two TD passes.

Miller rushed for two touchdowns for Fort Dodge. He threw TD passes to Tyrnan Lara and Tyson Kershaw.

Newton improved to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in 4A District 4 action. Fort Dodge dropped to 3-3 overall and 0-2 in district play.

The Cardinals are on the road next Friday at Southeast Polk, which lost 41-34 to Valley in overtime on Friday.

Class A No. 9 Lynnville-Sully 35, No. 6 Pekin 7

SULLY — The Class A No. 9 Hawks used two long drives to gain momentum it never gave up as Lynnville-Sully rushed for 236 yards and threw for a season-high 187 in a big win over previously undefeated Pekin on homecoming.

The Hawks overcame 167 rushing yards from Pekin's Monico Requena. Lynnville-Sully grabbed the lead for good when senior Elijah Collins capped a 94-yard drive with a 92-yard TD pass to senior Sage Zylstra.

The Hawks then went up 20-7 with a 98-yard drive that was capped by a 1-yard Evan Squires touchdown run. Squires added a 2-yard TD and a 2-point conversion to put the Hawk up 28-7 at halftime.

A 76-yard TD run by junior Nate Stock capped the scoring, and Stock finished with a team-high 101 rushing yards on six carries.

Zylstra had 73 rushing yards on eight carries and he added the 92-yard TD catch. Collins was 7-of-17 through the air for 187 yards and two scores.

Collins' first touchdown opened the scoring as he hooked up with junior Tyson Vander Linden on a 14-yard catch. Vander Linden led the receivers with three catches for 56 yards.

Senior Carson Dunsbergen led the Hawk defense with nine tackles, and junior Gage Vander Leest chipped in seven tackles. Vander Linden and senior Kemper Lukehart each had six tackles and junior Grant Wehrle had the team's lone sack.

The win improved the Hawks to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in district play. Pekin is now 6-1 overall and 3-1 in district games.

Caleb Comstock came into the game with 46 pass attempts, but he was 8-of-22 on Friday night. The Panthers rushed for 250 yards in the loss.

Class 2A No. 8 PCM 42, Chariton 14

CHARITON — The Mustangs won their 12th straight district game and out-gained Chariton 420-68 in leading 35-0 at halftime. The PCM starting offense played only two quarters.

Class 2A No. 8 PCM improved to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in District 6 play. The Mustangs had a 15-2 advantage in first downs in the first half.

Junior Reed Worth threw for 215 yards and three touchdowns, junior Wes Cummings gained 148 yards and scored a TD on seven carries and senior Noah Anderson scored three different ways in the win.

The Mustangs led 14-0 after one quarter. They started the game with two punts but got going when Worth hooked up with junior Isaac Telfer for an 11-yard TD catch. Cummings scored his TD on a 54-yard touchdown run with 38 seconds to play in the quarter.

Worth hit junior Brayton Van Dyke for a 24-yard TD catch to put the Mustangs up 21-0.

That's when Anderson scored three straight TDs. He begin that stretch with a 26-yard TD run and then ended the half with a 58-yard touchdown reception. The Mustangs' lone points in the second half came on a 61-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Chariton (2-4 overall, 1-3 in the district) scored two touchdowns on PCM's backup defense. The Chargers scored late in the third quarter to break the shutout and then added another score in the fourth quarter.

Cummings added 60 receiving yards on two catches to go with his 148 rushing yards. Anderson had 29 rushing yards, 58 receiving yards and a 61-yard punt return for a TD.

Defensively, junior Chance Palm had a team-high six tackles. Brycen Rogers and Jacob Woody each had a fumble recovery.

Colfax-Mingo 39, North Tama 21

TRAER — Reegan Van Dyke threw for four scores and ran for another TD as the Tigerhawks won for the second straight week.

Two of Van Dyke's TD passes went to junior Zarek Hill, and Hill also had two interceptions on the night. The Tigerhawks picked off North Tama five times in the second half. Brady Berkey also had two picks.

Colfax-Mingo led 10-7 after one quarter as a Berkey field goal was the difference. The Tigerhawks led 24-21 at halftime. Colfax-Mingo outscored the Redhawks (1-5, 0-4) 15-0 in the second half.

The other two TD catches went to senior Alex Lewis and Berkey.

The Tigerhawks improved to 3-4 on the season and 2-2 in District 5 action. Colfax-Mingo won just one game in 2016. North Tama lost its fourth straight game.

Baxter 70, 8-man No. 10 Midland 66

WYOMING — The Bolts improved to 5-1 on the season and knocked off their second straight ranked team with an impressive offensive performance Friday night.

Baxter scored every time it had the ball but only went up two scores once in the game, midway through the third quarter.

Senior Braydon Aker threw for 345 yards and six TDs and rushed for 151 yards and three TDs. Senior Travis Lindemoen hauled in 11 receptions for 261 yards and five scores, and senior Devin Carson had a rushing TD and a receiving score. Sophomore Cole Damman had six catches for 45 yards.

The game was tied at 22-all after one quarter. Baxter led 44-36 at halftime and 56-50 after three quarters.

Senior Bryce Bacon had one interception and forced a key fumble and recovered the ball in the second half. Junior Will Clapper also had an interception.

Midland's Austin Smith, 8-man's leading rusher, had 360 yards on the ground to lead the home team's offense.