March 28, 2024

Cardinals push No. 3 Tigers in close loss; Area Prep Football Roundup

Four of the five area football teams were in action Friday during Week 8 games. The area teams were 2-2 with Baxter winning on a record-setting night in eight-man play and Prairie City-Monroe winning going away in 2A district play. Newton and Colfax-Mingo lost district contests.

Lynnville-Sully was idle.

Class 4A No. 3 West Des Moines Valley 38, Newton 28

This Class 4A District 4 game was in doubt until the final two minutes at Newton’s H.A. Lynn Stadium. Newton High’s Cardinals had completed a 20-play, 76 yard touchdown drive, eating up eight minutes of the fourth quarter to pull within three points,, 31-28.

Senior quarterback Garrett Sturtz directed the drive which was capped by a 1-yard push over the goal line right up the middle by senior Josh Miravalles. Sturtz ran for two scores and had a TD pass against the Tigers in the 38-28 loss.

Valley’s Tigers, ranked No. 3 in Class 4A, started on their own 16-yard line with 3:33 remaining in the game. Two running plays netted only four yards by Jevon Mason and twice Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright called timeouts.

The defense had put the Cardinals in a position to possibly pull off an upset on Senior Night. Newton needed one more play to turn the tide.

The Cardinals got pressure on Valley quarterback Beau Lombardi, but Jalen Long found himself alone behind the Newton defense.Lombardi launched a pass with Cardinal players bearing down on him.

“We had a blown coverage. If we get that defensive stop, we had the opportunity to win this one,” Ergenbright said about the pass play that covered 65 yards. “But, what a game we had tonight. Our guys never backed down and knew they had a game like this in them.”

The long pass play set up the final score of the night. Mason scored his third rushing touchdown of the game on a 10-yard run. The Tigers (7-1) wrapped up their second straight 4A District 4 title, securing a playoff spot with a 4-0 district mark with one game remaining.

Newton fell to 6-2 overall and 2-2 in district action. The Cardinals finish the 2017 season next Friday at Indianola with a 4A District 4 contest. Indianola rallied past Fort Dodge 35-32 on Friday and Southeast Polk beat Marshalltown 52-0.

It took one offensive play to put the Tigers on the scoreboard Friday night. Mason broke loose on a 67-yard TD dash and Tinsley Wright kicked the extra point.

The Cardinals came out and executed their game plan — long, time-consuming sustained drives for scores to keep the Tiger’s potent offense on the sideline. Newton answered with an 11-play drive gong 80 yards in six minutes.

Sturtz went around the end to reach the end zone from three yards out. Senior Zach Combs kicked the tying extra point with 5:38 left in the first period.It was 7-7 at the end of the quarter.

Lombardi finished Valley’s longest scoring march of the game — six plays — with a 1-yard TD run at 9:16 left in the second quarter. Newton struck back to knot the score at 14-all when Sturtz found junior running back Josh Miller down the sideline for a 33-yard TD pass.

With 1:32 left in the first half, Newton’s defense took a stand as Valley threatened to score. The Tigers had first-and-goal at Newton’s 6-yard line but Mason was tackled for a 2-yard loss followed by an incomplete pass.

Time was slipping away so the Tigers opted for a 25-yard field goal by Cole Peterson on the final play of the first half. Valley led Newton 17-14 at the break.

Newton got the second-half kickoff but the Cardinals were hit by a rash of penalties in the final two periods of play. They kept shooting themselves in the foot offensively as their opening drive stalled out.

Valley went 44 yards on two plays — a 22-yard run by Mason and a 22-yard TD pass from Lombardi to Tariq Brown. The Tigers were up 24-14 with 7:13 in the third quarter. Valley had the ball again and was in Newton territory. This time the Tigers fumbled the football and Newton junior defensive end Mason Lee recovered the fumble.

Sturtz led the Cardinals on another 11-play TD drive, scoring from eight yards out with 23 seconds left in the third quarter. But in a blink of an eye, — three plays and 48 yards — Valley’s Mason scored on a 15-yard TD run on the final play of the period.

Newton didn’t fold, down 31-21. They took the ensuing kickoff to start the fourth quarter and responded to close the gap to three points against the No. 3 team in Class 4A.

“We left it all out on the field tonight. We played for each other, played hard and never gave up,” senior linebacker Grant Garvis said. “We’ve got one more game together as a team. We’re looking to build on our play tonight for that one.”

The Newton freshmen lost 41-0 to Valley on Friday night. They will not be playing at Clarke on Monday.

8-man No. 8 Baxter 87, Springville 71

BAXTER — Travis Lindemoen set all-time 8-man records in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns for a season on a 65-yard TD pass from Braydon Aker early in the fourth quarter.

It was the end of big offensive night for the Bolts, who got six TD passes and five TD runs from Aker.

Baxter won its sixth straight game and improved to 7-1 on the season with a dominating win. The Bolts led 67-36 at halftime and led 87-44 with 9:37 to go in the game before giving way to the backups.

"I didn't expect to break any records this year. We really wanted to go 9-0. We lost in Week 2 but ever since then it's been all about getting wins and making sure this year is a memorable one for us," Lindemoen said.

Springville scored 27 unanswered points in the final 8:46 to hit the 14-point margin.

Lindemoen finished with nine catches for 231 yards and four TD catches. He entered the game needing four TDs and 196 yards to set new all-time single season records.

"It was really important to my family and friends to try to get the records at home," Lindemoen said.

Needing 31 yards and one more score, Lindemoen got behind the secondary on a go route and Aker hit him in stride to complete their nights. The Bolts' starting offense scored on 12 of their 13 possessions in the game.

Aker's four TD passes to Lindemoen covered 25, 24, 20 and 65 yards. Lindemoen kept the record-setting football and had his name announced on the intercom after the game.

"It was special to me. I will always remember them announcing the records over the speaker. That means a lot," Lindemoen said.

He also threw a 6-yard TD pass to senior Marcus Mitchell in the first quarter and completed a 41-yard TD on a screen pass to senior Devin Carson in the third quarter. Carson also had a 44-yard TD run in the second quarter.

Aker's TD runs came on runs of 39, 5, 41, 22 and 1. Aker has now thrown for 40 TD passes and rushed for 15 on the season.

Class 2A No. 6 PCM 68, Davis County 12

BLOOMFIELD — The Class 2A No. 6 Mustangs scored three defensive touchdowns, picked off four passes and recovered four fumbles in a district-clinching road win over Davis County on Friday night.

The Mustangs led 62-6 at halftime and rushed for 169 yards and threw for 160 in the win.

Junior Isaac Telfer returned two interceptions for TDs and junior Nick Dredge also had a pick 6.

Junior Reed Worth rushed for 96 yards and a TD on two carries and threw for 144 yards and two TDs on just four completions.

PCM got the scoring started with a 5-yard TD run by junior Wes Cummings, and then Worth sprinted 89 yards for the TD to make 14-0. Cummings capped his scoring night with a 3-yard TD run.

Worth's TD passes went for 67 yards to senior Noah Anderson and 65 yards to junior Preston Van Wyk. Junior Payton Strovers gained 54 yards and scored one TD on four carries.

PCM won its seventh straight game and is now 7-1 on the season and 6-0 in district play. The victory clinched the second straight district championship for the Mustangs. Davis County dropped to 1-7 on the season.

BGM 48, Colfax-Mingo 13

BROOKLYN — BGM snapped the Tigerhawks' three-game winning streak and stopped its own three-game losing skid during a Class A District 5 home win on Friday.

The Bears improved to 3-5 on the season and 3-3 in district play. The win locked up fourth place in the district with one game to go.

Colfax-Mingo dropped to 4-5 on the season and 3-3 in district play.