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Area high school football teams went 3-2 in action Friday night under a full moon. Newton, Prairie City-Monroe and Baxter claimed wins. Baxter’s came in an eight-man district opener on the road. Colfax-Mingo and Lynnville-Sully each lost at home.
Newton 42, Ottumwa 21
Five different players scored touchdowns for Newton High’s Cardinals in their home-opening 42-21 victory over Ottumwa on Friday night. The Cardinals had two score their first-ever varsity TDs, they had their first defensive touchdown of the season and had four rushing scores and one through the air.
Senior linebacker Canaan Terpstra turned the tide with an 82-yard fumble return to get the Cardinals on the scoreboard. Ottumwa’s Bulldogs were marching toward a second TD when they fumbled it and Terpstra scooped up the ball and raced to the other end of the field.
With Josh Meyer’s extra-point kick, it was 7-7 with 8:13 left in the first quarter. Newton would score two TDs in the final five minutes of the first half to lead 21-7 at halftime.
As the offense spread the load of running the football around, the Cardinal defense had 17 players with one or more solo tackles. The defense had five quarterback sacks, recovered two Ottumwa fumbles and had an interception.
“Once we settled in — we’re this close to putting it all together — it’s a process and we’re going to keep working to improve,” Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright said. “I was proud of the energy our guys brought to the game tonight.”
A game-ending injury to Ottumwa’s 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior tight end Trae Swartz late in the first quarter changed the complexion of the game. Swartz had four big catches including a 13-yard TD reception from quarterback Adam Denniston.
Swartz had a 44-yard reception but was injured on the tackle. He did not return to the field for the Bulldogs.
Newton’s defense held the Bulldogs from getting any closer than the Cardinal 17 and forced fumble by Denniston with 32 seconds left in the first period. The teams exchanged punts as the second quarter began.
The Cardinals had an eight-play drive using four minutes. Senior quarterback Kyle Long capped the march with a 6-yard TD pass to senior receiver Julian Hotchkin. It was three plays and punt for the Bulldogs.
Newton had a short field — 26 yards — to go for its third TD of the night. Senior Dylan Farver had a 9-yd run to the end zone and Meyer kicked his third extra point.
The Cardinals used the opening drive of the second half to go up 28-7. They had to overcome a couple of bumps in the road but got into Ottumwa territory on a run by senior Cody Satterfield.
Senior Jarrett Antle joined Terpstra in scoring for the first time. When an Ottumwa defender dived to try to tackle Antle, he leaped over the defender and finished off a 16-yard run to the end zone.
At the 4:26 mark of the third quarter, the Bulldogs respond with a TD pass from Denniston to Blaze Rominger. It was 28-14.
Hotchkin returned a Bulldog punt to the Ottumwa 18-yard line with 45 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Farver scored his second TD of the game from 13 yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Ottumwa had one more drive to the end zone. It took five plays to go 78 yards with the final 33 covered on a run by Gage Cole.
The final TD scored in the game came with 4:46 remaining to play. Senior William Cheng finished off the 55-yard drive on a 24-yard run. Meyer kicked his sixth extra point of the contest and is 9-fo-9 for the season.
Newton (2-1) concludes its non-district games with a homecoming contest next Friday against Waterloo East.
Highland 39, Lynnville-Sully 12
SULLY — Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks dropped to 0-4 for the season following Friday’s 39-12 loss at home against Highland.
A 1-yard TD run by Ethan Wyma with 3:35 left in the first quarter mark it 8-6 but the Hawks got no closer. The Huskies had two big scoring runs by Owen Donovan and Cole Adamson to lead 24-6.
Kinnick McFarland capped a Hawk drive with a TD from 1-yard out with 2:47 left in the second quarter. It was 24-12 at halftime and the Huskies shut out the Hawks in the second half.
Highland had one TD each in the third and fourth quarters. The Huskies rolled up 357 yards on the ground led by Adamson rushing for 206 yards on 23 carries and three TDs.
McFarland rushed for 52 yards on 11 carries and was 1-of-8 passing for 17 yards. Wyma had 47 yards on 12 carries. Zane Fraker had the reception for the Hawks.
Fraker had nine tackles for the Lynnville-Sully defense and Slater Young had eight tackles and a quarterback sack. Isaac Johnson and Gage Elscott each recovered a fumble.
The Hawks play at Colfax-Mingo next Friday in a non-district Jasper County showdown at Colfax
Wayne 42, Colfax-Mingo 29
COLFAX — Wayne jumped out to an early lead on the feet of Chase Keifer and held off a late comeback attempt by Colfax-Mingo during a 42-29 road win for the Falcons in non-district action Friday night.
Brady Berkey threw for 278 yards and three touchdowns but completed only 18-of-42 passes through the air and tossed an interception in the end zone just before halftime to keep momentum on Wayne’s side.
Colfax-Mingo (1-2) had the ball down 34-29 with 4:16 to go in the game but went three and out. Wayne scored three plays later to close out the victory.
"Our defense was in the right spots. That didn’t happen last week," Lietz said. "Now we just need to finish. We forced some turnovers and got the ball back for us late with a chance to win."
Keifer rushed for 269 yards and four touchdowns on 30 carries, and Dayton Jacobsen added 87 rushing yards and a TD and also returned a punt 30 yards for a score that put the Falcons (2-2) ahead for good in the second quarter.
"He’s a horse. The kid is dang good," C-M coach Jeff Lietz about Keifer. "We did a decent job at times but didn’t tackle well overall. We gave him too many openings. He keeps coming at you."
Colfax-Mingo answered Wayne’s first-quarter touchdown with a Jayden Horrach 4-yard rushing TD in the first quarter. That was the Tigerhawks’ only points in the first half. Horrach finished with 109 yards on 20 carries in the game.
The Tigerhawks forced a Wayne turnover to begin the second half and then Berkey hit Trystin Ross for a 17-yard TD early in the third to trim the Falcons’ lead to 22-15.
Jacobsen then followed with a 35-yard TD run and Kiefer added a 32-yard TD run following a Colfax-Mingo fumble on the kickoff. Both teams committed three turnovers in the contest.
Colfax-Mingo’s other two touchdowns came on a 27-yard TD pass from Berkey to Zach Steenhoek in the third quarter and a 40-yard TD pass from Berkey to Ross in the fourth quarter.
On the pass to Ross, the ball initially bounced off the hand of Andrew Meinhart as he jumped into the air for an attempted catch. The ball fell into Ross’ hands and he took it the rest of the way for the TD to trim the Falcons’ lead to five.
Keifer’s final TD run was a 22-yarder that came with 2:39 to play in the game.
"To have the ball in our hands late, we need to find a way to finish," Lietz said. "We’ll get there. We’ll go back to work. The season is not over. It’s not how we start, it’s how we finish."
Ross finished with 10 catches for 137 yards and two touchdowns, while Steenhoek hauled in six catches for 125 yards and a TD.
Wayne passed the ball just twice in the game. The only completion was a 29-yard pass from Bret Whitehall to Keifer. The Falcons committed seven penalties, but the defense had four sacks and forced three turnovers.
Baxter 74, Melcher-Dallas 30
MELCHER-DALLAS — Cole Damman tallied 318 total yards and six touchdowns, and Baxter’s football team bounced back after consecutive losses to open district play with a 74-30 road win over Melcher-Dallas on Friday night.
Damman rushed for 173 yards and four touchdowns on 12 carries and was 6-of-11 through the air for 145 yards and two scores for the Bolts, who improved to 2-2 overall and are 1-0 in 8-Man District 5 play.
“We played a clean football game,” Baxter coach Rob Luther said. “We regrouped nicely from back-to-back losses. It was a good mental game for us.”
The game was tied at 16-all after one quarter, but Baxter pulled away for good with a 30-point second quarter. The Bolts outscored Melcher-Dallas (1-2) 16-0 in the second and the reserves added a pair of TDs in the fourth quarter.
Rory Heer rushed for 97 yards and two TDs on seven carries. Heer also had two catches for 62 yards and a touchdown.
Cael Shepley hauled in a 71-yard TD from Damman, and Nick Nelson and Grant Borts both had rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Nelson’s TD was from 30 yards out and Borts scored on a 45-yard TD run.
Nelson rushed for 42 yards on five carries, and Borts gained 51 yards on three carries.
Baxter did not punt in the game and turned it over once in the first half.
The Bolts’ defense forced four turnovers and they also blocked a punt. Damman led the way with 11 tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Cody Damman had nine tackles and one interception, Jake Travis tallied 10 tackles and one tackle for loss and Carter Nelsen added eight tackles, two tackles for loss and two sacks. Micah Kearns finished with five tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack.
PCM 19, Roland-Story 6
STORY CITY — Jacob Van Winkle scored two touchdowns and Prairie City-Monroe's football team scored 19 unanswered points after trailing 6-0 in the first half on Friday night during a non-district win over Roland-Story.
Van Winkle caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from freshman August Stock to tie the game in the second quarter. The scoring play came on the final play of the second quarter and it was the first TD pass of Stock's career.
Van Winkle gave PCM the lead for good in the third quarter when he took a handoff on fourth and two and scored on a 35-yard run.
Sage Burns put the game away with a 5-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
With 2:26 to play in the game. PCM had a fourth and 1 from its own 30-yard line. The Mustangs went for it and Burns' quarterback sneak got the first down. PCM (2-1) then ran out the clock.
Stock finished 8-for-10 for 128 yards and a touchdown through the air in his first career start.
PCM rushed for 160 yards in the game but no one had more than 40 individually. Burns and Colby Tool each rushed for 38 yards and Connor Bennett added 30 rushing yards.
Stock completed eight passes to five different players. Aidan Anderson led the receivers with two catches for 54 yards. Van Winkle had two catches for 42 yards and Brayden Berger collected two catches for 26 yards.
Tool had nine tackles and one sack to lead the defense. Seth Greiner finished with 6.5 tackles and a sack and Gatlin Boell collected six tackles. Greyson Strum and Dylan Warrick both recovered fumbles.
PCM's defense forced two Norsemen turnovers and held Iowa State commitment Zach Twedt to 51 total yards. Roland-Story fell to 1-2.