Burlington edges Newton JV football

Newton High’s junior varsity football team has been close to victory three times this season, but the Cardinals haven’t closed the deal yet.

They led visiting Burlington’s Grayhounds 19-14 late in Thursday’s home game. The Grayhounds scored a touchdown and tacked on a 2-point conversion to move in front 20-19.

Newton moved quickly down the field on back-to-back pass plays. The second pass from Ryan Barr to Ben Leal came up just short of the goal line. Leal was caught and tackled at the Burlington 4-yard line as the clock ran out.

Burlington took a 6-0 lead on its first possession of the game. Newton responded with a scoring drive capped by a 7-yard TD run by Barr, but the Cardinals weren’t able to kick the extra point. The teams were tied 6-6 at halftime

Newton gained the lead in the third quarter on an 8-yard touchdown run by Damir Gumerov. Jacob Murphy kicked the extra point to put Newton up 13-6 at the 9:06 mark.

Brian Bleakney’s interception of a Grayhound pass set up the Cardinals’ next score. Logan Zibert dashed 30 yards for the touchdown, but the PAT kick was blocked.

Burlington answered with a scoring drive to make it 19-12. Newton drove to the Burlington 8-yard line then failed on a field goal attempt.

Newton had 269 yards of total offense. Barr was 8-of-10 passing for 89 yards and rushed for 49 yards on five carries. Leal made two catches for 31 yards and Zibert ran for 80 yards on eight carries.

Lucas Clayton recorded two quarterback sacks for Newton and Mason Lee sacked the Burlington quarterback once. Ty Argello made two interceptions.

Newton’s junior varsity is idle until Sept. 26 at home against Fort Dodge.

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