Cardinals hit a Ram-block

PLEASANT HILL — A week after giving up more than 600 yards of total offense and 70 points in a home victory, Newton High’s defense came to play Friday night against one of the top teams in Class 4A.

Despite a 49-14 loss to Southeast Polk’s Rams in District 4 action Friday, the Cardinals held the Rams to 297 yards of total offense. They forced the Ram starters to punt three times in the game, tackled the punter after an errant snap to set up Newton’s first touchdown and had one takeaway.

The problem was the Ram defense was stingy against Newton’s top-ranked rushing offense. The Cardinals had only two sustained drives and only one resulting in points. They had 171 yards rushing and 46 yards passing.

“They were what I expected. Southeast Polk is big and physical up front and controlled things along the line of scrimmage,” Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright said after the game. “The whole game was goofy — with the early start time and the long weather delay. That’s not an excuse, we never found a rhythm tonight.”

The Cardinals go to 6-1 overall and 2-1 in 4A, District 4 play. SEP moves to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in district action.

Lightning and heavy rain delayed the contest for an hour after SEP had a 14-0 lead with 1:15 left in the first quarter. The teams moved the kickoff to 6 p.m. and almost got a full quarter in before the delay.

Newton turned away the Rams on the first drive of the game. Nathaniel Flynn came up just 24 yards of returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown. The Cardinals stopped the Rams’ sophomore running back Gavin Williams for no gain.

Senior quarterback Shane Starcevich launched a pass to the end zone, but Newton senior defensive back Grayson Graham intercepted the ball for a touchback.

Unfortunately, the Cardinal offense gained seven yards on three plays and had to punt the ball back to the Rams. Starcevich orchestrated a 64-yard march by the Rams on runs by Williams and a 21-yard pass play to Williams.

The Rams reached the end zone for the first time with 6:34 left in the first quarter. Flynn snared a 21-yard pass from Starcevich for the touchdown. Luke Williams kicked the extra point.

Newton had a five-play possession then punted again. The Rams’ potent offense pushed down the field with Starcevich scoring a TD on a 1-yard run.

“We had people in position to make the plays on defense. We hit their players in the backfield, but did not make the tackles. We allowed their quarterback scramble and make plays. No. 21 (G. Williams) can make moves on the run and change direction, making people miss,” Ergenbright said.

Southeast Polk was up 14-0 when the game was suspended for lightning. Players, coaches and personnel left the field and fans were directed out of the stands. Heavy rains, wind and more lightning swept through Pleasant Hill. After an hour, the game resumed with some light rain in the third quarter.

The Cardinals moved the ball down the field after play resumed but the drive was halted inside the SEP 20-yard line. Senior placekicker Zach Combs’ 34-yard field goal attempt was wide of the mark.

The Rams took over the football at their own 20, but got no where. Junior defensive end Lazarus Frisch sacked SEP quarterback Shane Starcevich which was followed a short pass competition by the Rams.

On a third down play, the Newton defense stuffed the Rams’ sophomore running back Gavin Williams on a short gain forcing a punt. The snap sailed over Ram punter Peyten Atzen’s head. Newton’s Combs tackled Atzen at the SEP 1-yard line.

That defensive stop came with 3:59 left in the second quarter. It led to Newton’s first touchdown to cut the Rams’ lead in half in just one play — senior running back Jaron Roush scored from 1-yard out and Combs kicked the extra point. It was 14-7.

SEP answered with a drive featuring runs by Starcevich and Williams. Williams capped it with a 10-yard TD run. Williams finished with 97 yards on 17 carries and Starcevich gained 37 yards on nine carries.

It was 21-7 when the football was knocked out of Newton senior quarterback Garrett Sturtz’s hand as he set up to pass the ball on a third-and-eight play. SEP’s Bo Ira recovered the fumble at Newton’s 11 yard line with less than a minute to play in the first half.

The Rams scored on a short pass from Starcevich to Dylan Travis and Luke Williams’ extra-point kick was true. Starcevich was 6-of-7 passing in the game for 83 yards.

Newton trailed SEP, 28-7 at halftime.

“We just didn’t do much offensively tonight,” Ergenbright said. “In hindsight, I should have called a running play just before halftime. We believed Garrett was throwing the ball and it was an incomplete pass not a fumble. The officials saw it as a fumble.”

The Cardinals had the second-half’s first possession but had to punt the ball. SEP marched 58 yards in four plays, helped by a 15-yard penalty on the Cardinals. Flynn caught an 18-yard TD pass from Starcevich at the 8:43 mark to take 35-7 lead.

On the ensuing possession, Newton established a bit of it’s district-leading running game. Sturtz had back-to-back runs for 16 yards. Roush, Sturtz and junior Josh Miller combined for another 13 yards.

Southeast Polk’s defense stopped the Cardinals and forced a punt. After three plays, the Rams punted pinning the Cardinals down at their own 2-yard line with 2:49 left in the third quarter.

Sturtz had to punt out of his own end zone. Flynn returned the Cardinal punt to Newton 2-yard line, It took one play — a 7-yard run by Starcevich — for the Rams to score and increase their lead to 42-7.

Newton began its second-half touchdown drive at it’s 20-yard line with 38 seconds left in the third period. With runs by Miller and Roush, the Cardinals were out to their 38-yard line as the period ended. Roush finished with 63 yards on 11 carries and Miller had 22 yards on nine carries.

Sturtz had five straight carries then the Cardinals faced a fourth-and-three situation. Sturtz completed a pass to senior split end Trevor Ergenbright for a first down at midfield. Roush broke off a 10-yard run followed by two carries by senior Josh Miravalles, who had 26 yards on 10 carries.

Sturtz hooked up with Roush twice to reach the SEP 22-yard line. Roush ran for 12 more yards. On a first-and-goal pass at the 10-yard line, the Rams were whistled for defensive holding moving the ball to the five. Sturtz went up the middle to score from five yards out at the 5:06 mark followed by Combs’ extra-point kick.

Sturtz was 5-of-10 passing for 46 yards. He ran for 60 yards on 19 carries. Roush made three catches for 30 yards and Ergenbright had two catches for 16 yards.

With SEP reserves in the game, Newton got the ball back following defensive stop. Sturtz was intercepted then Nathan Marchand ran 33 yards for the final SEP touchdown.

Combs led the Newton defense with seven solo tackles and one assisted tackle. Defensive end Mason Lee, who returned to the lineup after missing several games with an injury, had four solo stops and two assisted tackles.

“We have two more games together as players and coaches. We have a very good team next Friday at home for Senior Night. We just go back to work and keep improving,” Ergenbright said.

The Cardinals host 4A No. 3 West Des Moines Valley (6-1, 3-0) Friday at H.A. Lynn Stadium for Senior Night. Valley beat Indianola 35-0 Friday, and Fort Dodge defeated Marshalltown 49-12 on Saturday after the teams postponed their game from Friday night because of weather.

Newton 0-7-0-7—14

Southeast Polk 14-14-14-7—49

SEP — Flynn 21 yd run (L. Williams kick)

SEP — Starcevich 1 yd run (L. Williams kick)

Newton — Roush 1 yd run (Combs kick)

SEP — G. Williams 10 yd run (L.Williams kick)

SEP — Travis 3 yd pass from Starcevich (L. Williams kick)

SEP — Flynn 18 yd pass from Starcevich (L. Williams kick)

SEP — Starcevich 7 yd run (L. Williams kick)

Newton — Sturtz 5 yd run (Combs kick)

SEP — Marchand 33 yd run (L. Williams kick)

Newton Southeast Polk

13 First Downs 18

49-171 Rushes-Yds 35-207

46 Passing Yds 90

217 Total Offense 297

5-10-1 Passing 7-8-1

1-1 Fumbles-lost 0-0

5-30 Penalties-Yds 3-15

5-40 Punts-Avg. 3-45

Individual Leaders

Rushing: Newton- Roush 11-63, Sturtz 19-60, Miravalles 10-26, Miller 9-22. Southeast Polk-G. Williams 17-97, Starcevich 9-37, Flynn 2-18, Marchand 4-44, Simon 3-11.

Passing: Newton-Sturtz 5-10-46-1. Southeast Polk-Starcevich 6-7-83-1, Cole 1-1-7-0.

Receiving: Newton-Roush 3-30, Ergenbright 2-16. Southeast Polk-Flynn 4-59, G. Williams 1-21, Travis 1-3, Schneider 1-7.

Punting: Newton-Sturtz-5-198 (39.6-yd avg). Southeast Polk-Atzen 3-134 (44.7-yd avg.)

Newton Defense

Tackles (solos/assisted): Combs 7/1, Lee 4/2, Kuennen 3/2, Garvis 2/4, Frisch 3/1, Graham 3/1, Bartels 3/0, Gulling 1/3, Wolfe 2/0, Linahon 1/0, Romberg 1/0, King 1/0, Ergenbright 1/0, Murphy 1/0, Rhone 0/2.

Quarterback sacks (solo/assisted): Frisch 1/0/

Fumbles (forced/recovered): none

Interceptions: Graham.

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