Cardinals notch win in program's 1,000th game; Area Prep Football Roundup

In Week 3 football games, area high school teams went 3-2 and all were on the road. Newton, Prairie City-Monroe and Colfax-Mingo claimed victories while Lynnville-Sully and Baxter took losses.

Class 2A No. 2 PCM and Colfax-Mingo improved to 3-0. Newton and Lynnville-Sully are 1-2 on the season and Baxter is 0-3.

Newton 35, Ottumwa 14

OTTUMWA — Running outside, inside and some times just over Ottumwa High’s Bulldogs, Newton High’s Cardinals got their rushing attack on track Friday night. The Cardinals powered to a 35-14 win at Schafer Stadium.

It was the first win of the 2018 season and it came in the 1,000th game of the Newton High football program.

Newton’s defense also showed up Friday night. The Cardinals allowed four big pass plays, but only two hurt them — two first-half TD passes of 30 and 35 yards. The Bulldogs hit for a 45-yard pass in their opening possession of the second half but the Cardinal defense stood its ground and held at the Newton 17-yard line.

The Newton defense threw a shutout in the second half as the Cardinals led 21-14 at halftime. The Cardinals forced Ottumwa to punt eight times in the game and held the Bulldog rushing attack at bay.

Newton’s defense recorded 12 tackles for loss in the game, five by Mason Lee. Lee had nine solo tackles and five assisted tackles. Thomas Cox had four solo tackles and Aaron Bartels had three solo stops and one assist.

“The last two weeks we’ve been figuring out what we’re about,” Lee said after the game. “We came with a passion tonight and our players played lights out.”

Piling up more than 400 yards on the ground, Newton was powered by the outside running of William Cheng who had 122 yards on six carries and the inside running of Dylan Farver, who had 153 yards on 21 carries.

Newton needed just four plays, highlighted by a 52 dart by Cheng, to score on its opening drive. Josh Miller finished off the drive with a 13-yard run to the end zone with Josh Meyer kicking the extra point.

Newton’s kickoff went out of bounds to set up the Bulldogs at their own 35 then a five-yard penalty on the Cardinals moved Ottumwa closer. The running of quarterback Eli McDanel pushed the Bulldog attack then he found Caleb Barndt for a 30-yard TD pass. It was 7-7.

After trading punts, Newton was driving again when the Cardinals fumbled the ball away to the Bulldogs at the 1:33 mark of the first quarter. Three plays later Barndt made a one-handed grab and raced to paydirt. The pass play covered 35 yards and put the Bulldogs up 14-7.

Ryan Barr picked up a muffed kickoff and ran to the Newton 48 on the ensuing kickoff. Newton began its tying TD march with 28 seconds left in the first quarter. Facing a fourth-and-13 at the Bulldog 39-yard line, Newton quarterback Kyle Long pulled the ball down and scrambled for 14 yards.

Four plays later, Barr broke off a 12-yard TD run. Meyer’s kick tied it at 14-all with 8:45 left. Newton had the ball back quickly forcing the Bulldogs to punt. The Cardinals covered 43 yards on seven plays as Cheng went to the outside to score on an 8-yard scamper.

Newton stopped the Bulldogs on their third-quarter opening drive and marched from its own 17 to score with 4:02 left in the period. Farver went right up the middle from nine yards out.

With 1:52 left in the third quarter, Newton had the ball again and driving. Runs by Barr, Cheng and Farver powered the Cardinals to the end zone. It was capped by a four-yard TD run by Farver. Meyer’s kick made it 35-14 with 29 seconds left in the period.

Newton (1-2) travels to Waterloo East, another Class 4A team, next Friday.

Highland 25, Lynnville-Sully 22

RIVERSIDE — Highland’s Brody Burton kicked a game-winning 33-yard field goals with six second left in the game as the Huskies upended visiting Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks, 25-22, on Friday.

The Hawks got two TD runs by Gage Vander Leest — 1 yard and 52 yards — and two 2-point conversion runs by Nate Stock to take a 16-0 lead in the first quarter. Lynnville-Sully led 16-8 at halftime.

Each team scored a touchdown, but no extra points, in the third quarter. Vander Leest threw a 28-yard TD pass to Kinnick McFarland for the Hawks’ score. Lynnville-Sully carried a 22-14 lead into the final period of play.

The Huskies had a TD and a 2-point conversion to knot the game at 22-all then Burton’s field goal to win.

Vander Leest rushed for 198 yards on 29 carries and was 9-of-10 passing for 111 yards for the Hawks. Tyson Vander Linden caught nine passes for 83 yards.

Evan Squires recorded nine tackles for the Hawk defense while Vander Leest and Grant Wehrle each had seven tackles. Rylan James punted three times for 106 yards for a 35-yard average.

Lynnville-Sully (1-2) hosts Colfax-Mingo (3-0) next Friday in Sully.

PCM 54, Roland-Story 14

PELLA — The Class 2A No. 2 Prairie City-Monroe football team made another early-season statement on Friday night against Roland-Story.

The Mustangs led 20-0 midway through the first quarter, held a 54-0 advantage at halftime and blew out the Norse 54-14 at Pella High School.

The game was moved from PCM to Pella because of poor field conditions at the Mustangs’ home field.

PCM’s defense was the story of the night. The Mustang starters forced three turnovers, recorded three sacks and held the Norse’s first-team offense to one first down in the first half.

The Mustangs outgained Roland-Story 370-54 in the first two quarters. Roland-Story scored twice against PCM’s second-team defense with a running clock in the second half.

PCM was 10-for-10 through the air for 197 passing yards in the first half. Senior Reed Worth was 9-for-9 for 158 yards and two scores, and senior Jarron Trausch was 1-for-1 for 39 yards.

Trausch’s completion came on the first play from scrimmage. He took a pitch from Worth and then hit senior Brayton Van Dyke for a 39-yard gain. Van Dyke finished the night with three catches for 111 yards and a 60-yard TD catch.

Senior Wes Cummings gained 82 yards on 16 carries and scored three touchdowns in the first two quarters. Trausch also scored on his only carry of the game as he went 45 yards to paydirt to make it 47-0 in the second quarter.

Senior Preston Van Wyk had the other receiving TD as he hauled in a 30-yard TD strike from Worth. He finished with two catches for 58 yards. Worth had the other offensive TD as he dove in from 1-yard out to make it 28-0 in the first quarter.

The final TD of the half came from the defense. Senior Payton Strovers caught a deflected pass by senior Brycen Rogers and took it to the house on a 63-yard interception return for a touchdown.

PCM coach Greg Bonnett did not play any offensive starters in the second half, and his starting defensive line only played one series.

Sophomore Connor Bennett gained 38 yards on seven carries for the offense, while sophomore backup quarterback Sage Burns was 3-for-5 for 21 yards. His best play completion went to junior Dane Owens for a 21-yard gain.

Defensively, sophomore backup linebacker Colby Tool finished with a team-high eight tackles. Van Dyke finished with four tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. Senior Cole Dustin also had 4 1/2 tackles.

Senior Andrew Van Ryswyk recovered a fumble and had a sack, while junior Jace Smith also had a sack. Strovers and Van Wyk each had an interception.

Ben Chelsvig came into the game with 261 rushing yards for Roland-Story. He finished with 111 yards and two scores on 21 carries, but only gained 30 yards on nine carries against PCM’s first-team defense.

The Mustangs take their 3-0 record back to Pella next week when they face 1A No. 10 Pella Christian.

Colfax-Mingo 27, Wayne 22

CORYDON — The Colfax-Mingo defense stopped Wayne inside the red zone on the final play of the game and improved 3-0 on the season after a 27-22 road win over Wayne on a wet and muddy night.

Wayne had the ball inside the Tigerhawks’ 10-yard line but couldn’t score as time expired. The Tigerhawks are 3-0 for the first time since 2014.

Colfax-Mingo junior quarterback Brady Berkey threw three touchdown passes to senior Zarek Hill. For Hill, that’s a Class 1A-high eight TDs on the season. Berkey has thrown 11 TD passes and no interceptions in his first three varsity starts.

The Tigerhawks also got a TD from senior fullback Damir Gumerov.

Colfax-Mingo was without junior wide receiver Trinity Schroeder, who missed the game with an upper respiratory infection.

The win for Colfax-Mingo sets up a date with South Iowa Cedar League and Jasper County rival Lynnville-Sully next week.

Melcher-Dallas 52, Baxter 0

BAXTER — The Baxter football team fell to 0-3 on the season with a 52-0 loss to Melcher-Dallas on Friday night.

The game was moved to from Melcher-Dallas to Baxter late in the week because of field conditions at Melcher-Dallas. The change in venue didn’t help the Bolts, who have been outscored 225-34 in their first three games.

Junior quarterback Cole Damman left the game early and was taken to the emergency room after suffering an arm injury. Damman’s status for the rest of the season was unknown at press time.

The Bolts try to break the losing streak when they host Collins-Maxwell for their Homecoming game next Friday.