March 28, 2024

Cardinals roll over Panthers in finale

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Amassing 507 yards on the ground, Newton High’s Cardinals overpowered visiting Knoxville’s Panthers, 55-12, in Friday’s regular-season finale.

On Senior Night, the Cardinals did what was planned — run the ball and run it well. The Cardinal scoring was bookended by two long scoring runs.

Junior running back William Cheng broke loose on the third play from scrimmage for a 48-yard touchdown run. Senior running back Josh Miller had to break away from two facemask grabs to go 52 yards on the second play of the fourth quarter.

Three Newton running backs rushed for more than 100 yards in the game and each had two touchdowns. Miller finished with 181 on 10 carries while Cheng had 146 on 11 carries. Junior Dylan Farver had 104 yards on 10 carries.

“We wanted to knock them off the ball and run right at them,” Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright said. “For the most part, we executed things exactly the way I wanted to tonight.

“This team has rushed for more than 3,000 yards. Hopefully that will win the 3A rushing title. That would be cool for these guys to accomplish that.”

Ergenbright said the Oskaloosa head football coach told him that Knoxville was bigger and more physical up front defensively than what was seen on film. Ergenbright said he agreed with that assessment of the Panthers.

“They were really active and slammed around in there. It made it tough for us, but our kids picked up those stunts well and we began moving the ball as we wanted to,” Ergenbright said.

Newton finished with 3,105 yards rushing for the season. It sits atop Class 3A in team rushing with Ballard in second place at 2,448 and Charles City in third at 2,409.

The Cardinals are fourth in the state overall in rushing. Three playoff teams — Cedar Rapids Prairie (3,353), 4A; West Hancock (3,322), A; and Central City (3,180), 8-man — are ahead of Newton. Iowa Valley, another 8-man team and playoff qualifier, is fifth at 3,027.

“It feels great to finish with a win and know we’ve rushed for more than 3,000 yards. That means our hard work has paid off,” Newton senior offensive lineman Adam Maharry said. “It was a tough start, but we got in a groove.”

It was the way seniors want to go out. If they can’t win a state championship, senior football players want to win their final game, especially at home.

“It was great to get the win for our seniors. They’ve given a great deal to our program,” Ergenbright said. “It was neat to see our seniors score. We had a great pass play to Jacob Murphy in the first half, which came off our running game and Josh Miller got touchdowns in the second half.”

Senior tight end Jacob Murphy caught his first touchdown pass of the season in his final game for Newton. Josh Miller scored two rushing TDs.

“It’s surreal to think you just played your last game for Newton,” Murphy said. “We came together as a team and worked hard through some adversity this season and got the win in our final game.”

Senior defensive end Mason Lee had seven solo tackles and three assisted tackles. He led the Cardinal defense that gave up 149 yards rushing to the Panthers and 32 yards passing.

Senior defensive back McKenna Davis went up and made his first interception of the season. He returned the ball to the Knoxville 46-yard line to set up the second touchdown of the third quarter for Newton.

“I came back out for football as a senior because I wanted to help my teammates this season. I started out on offense then switched to defense,” Davis said. “To get the pick tonight and help the team win is great. I’m so glad I played this season.”

Earlier in the third period, a fumble recovery by senior Ike Bebout put the Cardinals on the right path to score. Bebout is a starting offensive lineman who also played on the defensive line his final game for Newton.

After Cheng scored and sophomore Josh Meyer kicked the extra point to give Newton a 7-0 lead, the two teams traded punts. The Panthers took advantage of a very short Newton punt to set up shop at the Cardinal 42-yard line midway through the first quarter.

Knoxville sophomore Kieren Nichols had two big runs then connected with sophomore Mike Hudson for a 17-yard TD pass. Newton blocked the extra point and it was 7-6 with 4:37 on the clock.

That was as close as the Panthers got.

Farver had back-to-back 18-yard carries to put the Cardinals in striking distance again. Cheng used the blocking of his teammates and scampered 16 yards to the end zone Meyer’s kick made it 14-6.

Junior Julian Hotchkin intercepted a Panther pass with 1:30 left in the first quarter. On the first play of the second period, junior quarterback Kyle Long found Cheng for an 18-yard pass. Farver scored from 22 yards out and Newton’s lead grew to 21-6.

Knoxville was able to get one more score. It came on the Panther’s first play after the ensuing kickoff. Nichols eluded a couple of Newton defenders in the backfield, found a crease and went down the sideline. His dash covered 75 yards but the Panthers’ 2-point conversion run failed.

Nichols rushed for 131 yards on 16 carries for the Panthers. He was 2-of-7 throwing for 15 yards.

The Panthers recovered an onsides kick but couldn’t move it. They were forced to punt.

Newton moved down the field but Long, who was 4-of-5 passing on the night, was intercepted by Knoxville senior Cristian Magana. Magana returned the ball more than 40 yards then fumbled it.

Newton junior Clay Meyer made the recovery at the Newton 48. That set up a seven-play march to the end zone by the Cardinals. Long found a wide open Murphy for a 30-yard TD pass and Meyer’s kick made it 28-12.

“My final ball I caught was for a touchdown,” Murphy said of the score. “You don’t realize how important playing with your teammates is until its over. We just kept striving for success this season and played as a team.”

The Cardinals weren’t done in the first half. Miller led a TD drive which began at the Cardinals’ 12-yard line. He had a run where he tip-toed down the sideline. Cheng picked up a chunk of yards then Farver went the final nine yards with 1:26 left.

Newton led 34-12 at halftime. Miller had a TD run of 36 yards on a fourth-and-three play at the 6:47 mark of the third quarter. Long scored from five yards out three minutes later.

Miller broke away from several Panthers to go 52 yards for the final score of the night at the 11:07 mark of the fourth quarter. Newton rushed for 507 yards on 50 carries to push it’s season total to more than 3,000 yards for the second year in a row.

On defense, Lee had 4.5 tackles for loss in the game for Newton. Junior Dalton Altimeter had two solo tackles and four assisted tackles and sophomore Owen Sanger had one solo and three assisted tackles. Juniors Zane Kohlmeyer and Julian Hotchkin each had two solo tackles.

“Overall, we played well in the final game. It gives us something to build on during the offseason and for next year,” Ergenbright said. “We have a good group of juniors returning led by Kyle Long at quarterback, Cody Satterfield and Julian Hotchkin as receivers. Dylan Farver, Logan Cummins and William Cheng are juniors and we have Gavin Trostel, who will be a junior, to step in at tight end.

“We have other guys who played for our junior varsity team who will surprise some people and a really good freshmen group. Adam Mattes stepped in and played well at quarterback for the freshmen. Getting to work with this group in the offseason and we’re excited about next year.”

The Cardinals finished 5-4 and went 3-2 in Class 3A District 7 play.

Knoxville 6-6-0-0—12

Newton 14-20-14-7—55

Newton — Cheng 48 yd run (Meyer kick)

Knoxville — Hudson 17 yd pass from Nichols (kick blocked)

Newton — Cheng 16 yd run (Meyer kick)

Newton — Farver 22 yd run (Meyer kick)

Knoxville — Nichols 75 yd run (run failed)

Newton — Murphy 30 yd pass from Long (Meyer kick)

Newton — Farver 9 yd run (pass failed)

Newton — Miller 36 yd run (Meyer kick)

Newton — Long 5 yd run (Meyer kick)

Newton — Miller 52 yd run (Meyer kick)

Newton Knoxville

25 First Downs 9

50-507 Rushes-Yds 27-153

62 Passing Yds 32

569 Total Offense 185

4-5-1 Passing 3-8-2

1-0 Fumbles/lost 3-2

10-61 Penalties/yds 5-50

1-3 Punts/Avg 5-36

Individual Leaders

Rushing: Newton-Miller 20-181, Cheng 11-146, Farver 10-104, Cummins 3-29, Long 4-21, Adams 4-19, Whitten 4-11. Knoxville-Nichols 16-131, Wells 5-19, Cox 3-15, Bailey 1-9, Magana 1-(-3), Hudson 1-(-18).

Passing: Newton-Long 4-5-62-1. Knoxville-Nichols 2-7-15-2, Magana 1-1-17-0.

Receiving: Newton-Murphy 2-43, Cheng 1-18, Miller 1-1. Knoxville-Hudson 1-7, Bailey 1-17, Wells 1-(-2).

Punting: Newton-Leal 1-3 (3 yd avg.). Knoxville-Magana 5-178 (35.6 yd avg.).

Newton Defense

Tackles (solos/assisted): Lee 7/3, Altemeier 2/4, Sanger 1/3, Kohlmeyer 2/0, Hotchkin 2/0, Romberg 1/2, Gulling 1/2, Caves 1/2, Cox 1/2, Bebout 1/1, Iske 1/1, Arrowood 1/1, Farver 1/0, Dydell 1/0, Davis 1/0, Greiner 1/0, Antle 1/0, Arguello 1/0, Terpstra 0/1.

Quarterback sacks (solo/assist): Arrowood 1/0.

Fumbles (recovery/forced): Farver 0/1, Bebout 1/0, Meyer 1/0.

Interceptions: Hotchkin 1, Davis 1.

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