March 29, 2024

Newton wins late in thriller at Indianola; Area Prep Football Roundup

Lynnville-Sully, PCM know first-round playoff opponents

Newton wins a wild one to end its season. Lynnville-Sully goes undefeated in regular-season play for the first time since 1999. Baxter rolled up a big win in final game of first year of 8-man football to go 8-1. Colfax-Mingo gave two-time defending champion a tough game before losing at home

Two of five area teams move on while three conclude their 2017 season on the final Friday night of regular-season play.

Prairie City-Monroe won by forfeit. The Mustangs and Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks win district titles and advance to playoffs on Oct. 27. The Hawks play New London out of the same district in Class A playoffs. PCM hosts Williamsburg.

Newton 45, Indianola 44

INDIANOLA — For the third time in four weeks, Newton High’s Cardinals were in a down-to-the-wire thriller in Class 4A District 4 football action. No playoff berth was on the line Friday night but the Cardinals and host Indianola Indians played like there was one.

Down by 16 points with one quarter remaining in their 2017 season, the Cardinals rallied to tie the game at 37-37 with 6:19 left to play in the game. The Indians called on their junior running back Dylan Hlldreth on what seemed to be the winning drive.

Hildreth scored his fifth TD of the game with 1:06 on the block.

“I did something I’ve never done before in my coaching career. I told our guys to let Indianola score at the end. We were running out of time. We had to conserve time to give ourselves an opportunity to mount a drive,” Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright said after a thrilling 45-44 win by the Cardinals.

Led by senior quarterback Garrett Sturtz, who had more than 300 yards of total offense — rushing and passing — for Newton, the Cardinals worked down the field. They had one minute on the clock and 67 yards to go.

It took eight plays, They had to overcome two penalties in the drive. Indianola hadn’t been flagged for many infractions in the game, but a late hit by the Indians gave Newton more yards after a Sturtz pass to senior Jaron Roush.

Sturtz found senior Trevor Ergenbright on a crossing route for a first down at the Indianola 29. Ergenbright got out of bounds to stop the clock with 27 seconds left. Sturtz connected with junior Jacob Murphy for 15 more yards.

Roush ran for four yards then Sturtz capped the drive on a 5-yard TD run with 11 seconds left in the game. Sturtz flipped the two-point conversion pass to Roush for the lead.

“If Garrett Sturtz is not the best quarterback in the state of Iowa, I don’t know who is. He would not let us lose tonight. Indianola had all over our receivers covered but Garrett kept the play alive until Jaron came free, Jaron made a great catch,” Ergenbright said.

When Newton’s junior defensive backAaron Bartels tackled Hildreth short of a first down as the clock ran out, the Cardinal sideline erupted in celebration. Newton had finished 7-2, which is the best regular-season finish for a Cardinal team in a long while. In 2014, the Cardinals were 7-4 with two Class 3A playoff games in the mix.

Roush scored two touchdowns for Newton — one in the first quarter and one in the third. Senior Josh Miravalles had a TD run in the second period. Newton trailed 16-14 at halftime.

The Indians outscored the cardinals 21-7 in the third quarter to lead 37-21 heading into the fourth quarter.

Trevor Ergenbright caught a pass from Sturtz for a 30-yard TD play and Sturtz had the 2-point conversion run. Newton’s defense rose up and made a stop of the Indianola offense.

Sturtz and the Cardinal offense responded. Sturtz found a hole and blazed 56 yards to a touchdown with 6:19 left in the game. Junior Josh Miller tied the game up with a 2-point conversion run.

“We’ve been working hard all season. It was about winning this last one,” senior linebacker Cole Cazett said. “It was tough being on the sideline as our offense was making that last drive, but exciting. It’s great to get the win.”

Newton’s freshmen lost 34-21 to Indianola on Friday.

Class A No. 8 Lynnville-Sully 40, Montezuma 0

MONTEZUMA — No slip-up this season. Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks went to Montezuma Friday night and took care of business with a 40-0 rout of the Braves.

Lynnville-Sully is the Class A District 6 champion and is playoff bound. The Hawks also recorded the school’s first undefeated regular season since 1999.

“I’m so proud of these young men. This was something special, but we still have work to do,” Lynnville-Sully head coach Mike Parkinson said. “It took is while to get rolling tonight. Defensively, we played outstanding all night.”

The Hawks’ defense had four takeaways and held the Braves to 13 yards rushing and 107 yards passing. Senior Kemper Lukehart had six tackles. Senior Carson Dunsbergen had two interceptions, one he returned 19 yards for a TD in the second quarter.

Lynnville-Sully was up 7-0 after one quarter on an 11-yard pass play from Elijah Collins to Tyson Vander Linden. Dunsbergen’s pick-6 and an 8-yard touchdown run by Evan Squires pushed the Hawks to a 21-0 halftime advantage.

Touchdown runs of 3-yard by Sage Zylstra and 48 yards by Gage Vander Leest came in early in the third period. Drake Ehresman caught an 18-yard TD pass from Collins to a 40-0 lead by the end of the quarter.

The Hawks host fellow District 6 team New Londay at 7 p.m. next Friday at Sully in the first-round of the Class A playoffs.

Class A No. 7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck 28, Colfax-Mingo 7

COLFAX — Colfax-Mingo put itself in prime position for a big upset Friday night during a Class A District 5 game against two-time defending champion Gladbrook-Reinbeck.

The Tigerhawks forced two first-half turnovers and held an early lead, but the seventh ranked Rebels rallied for a 28-7 victory on the road.

Colfax-Mingo scored first as senior Reegan Van Dyke completed a 6-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Trystin Ross with 2:20 left in the first quarter.

Unfortunately, the Tigerhawks (4-6 overall, 3-4 in district play) would not score again, and the Rebels scored 28 unanswered points to clinch a playoff berth.

Each team punted on their first offensive possessions and then C-M junior Zarek Hill snatched his Class A-leading eighth interception to give the Tigerhawks prime field position.

The Tigerhawks took advantage, driving 34 yards in nine plays. Van Dyke was sacked on the first play but gained 23 yards on the ground to set up a fourth and short. Hill gained 17 yards on four straight runs and Ross hauled in a difficult catch in the end zone two plays later to give the home team early momentum.

The Rebels fumbled the ball away on their next possession as Hunter Lott lost the ball after a big gain on first down. The Tigerhawks couldn't take advantage though, turning the ball over on downs after 12 plays. They lost seven yards on fourth and one to give the ball back to Gladbrook-Reinbeck.

G-R picked up a pair of first downs on its next possession but then punted after eight plays. Walker Thede's punt rolled all the way to the C-M 1-yard line.

That's when the game turned.

The Tigerhawks picked up a first down after two running plays, but were forced to punt four plays later. The snap nearly went over the head of Van Dyke and that created a poor punt and gave the Rebels a short field.

Gage Murty then scored on a 28-yard touchdown run on the first play of the drive and Lott's two-point conversion made it 8-7 Rebels.

After halftime, the Rebels forced back-to-back punts on defense and put together consecutive 80-yard drives on offense to take control. Both drives ended in short TD runs, and put G-R (8-1, 6-1) 21-7.

The Tigerhawks punted on their next drive, but G-R turned it over on downs on its next possession. Trailing by 14, Colfax-Mingo drove the ball to the G-R 27-yard line but threw a pick to Matt Johannsen on the ninth play of the drive. The ball went off the hands of junior Holister Koenig and Johannsen snatched it and sprinted 75 yards for the score.

Van Dyke finished 13-of-26 for 117 yards, one touchdown and one pick.

Hill had a big first half before most of the second half with an injury. He finished with 52 rushing yards on 13 carries and hauled in three catches for 31 yards.

Junior Damir Gumerov gained 49 yards on 12 carries and junior Alex Lewis caught seven passes for 58 yards.

Lott was 1-for-10 through the air in the first half but rebounded to complete 7-of-9 in the second half. Lott threw for 61 yards and rushed for 52 yards on three carries. Murty gained 79 yards on 11 carries. The Rebels rushed for 199 yards in the win.

Baxter 93, Easton Valley 28

PRESTON — Two more 8-man state records fell on Friday night as Braydon Aker set the all-time single game passing touchdown record and Travis Lindemoen set a new single game all-time mark in receiving TDs.

The Bolts led 42-8 after one quarter and coasted to a seventh straight win after scoring a season-high 93 points. Baxter led 55-8 at halftime and outscored Easton Valley 38-20 in the second half.

Baxter finishes its first 8-man season with an 8-1 record. The Bolts averaged 71 points during the seven-game win streak. Easton Valley ends its season at 2-7.

Aker finished 25-of-30 through the air for 378 yards and the state-record 12 touchdown passes. The old record of 10 was set in 2013 by Rockford's Ryan Turner.

Lindemoen caught 11 passes for 234 yards and the state-record nine TD catches. Lindemoen held the previous record of six with two other players — Essex's Cody McClintock and Whiting's Alec West. McClintock set his mark in 2015, and West did his damage back in 2006.

Junior William Clapper caught two catches for 23 yards and a TD, sophomore Cole Damman hauled in six passes for 55 yards and two scores and Devin Carson gained 43 yards on eight carries and hauled in four catches for 50 yards.

The Bolts' defense forced seven turnovers. Lindemoen, Bryce Bacon and Jusson Roush all had interceptions, Joe Keeling recovered two fumbles, Marcus Mitchell recovered a fumble and Clapper had a strip sack to force the seventh turnover.