July 12, 2025

Cardinals blank Bombers in 2A substate play

Nineteen seconds is all it took for Newton High’s Cardinals to get on the scoreboard at home Monday night. The Class 2A 14th-ranked Cardinals blitzed the Ballard Bombers on the kickoff and Jordan Becker found the net.

It was the first of eight goals for Newton, which won 8-0 in their Class 2A Substate 7 opener. Four different Newton players scored goals.

“We talked about Friday’s loss and that this was a new season for every team. We needed to come out with fire and get a few goals quickly,” Newton head coach Zach Jensen said. “That’s what we did.”

Becker scored off a pass from Luke Maharry at the 36:15 mark. Ty Arguello netted a goal off an assist by Jacob Murphy with 32:39 on the clock.

The Cardinals’ pressure resulted in Ballard giving Newton a goal 33 seconds later. Darara Dawassa put a pass in the right spot for Murphy to score at the 25:01 mark.

Newton led 5-0 at halftime.

Dawassa had two second-half goals. Murphy and Becker were credited with the assists.

Murphy scored the final goal with 4:03 remaining. Josh Meyer had four saves in goal.

“We got a lot of guys some playing time tonight which is always a good thing,” Jensen said. “We now have to get focused and we’re excited about having a rematch on Wednesday with ADM.”

The Cardinals (10-8) advanced to the Substate 7 semifinals at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. They travel to Adel to play 2A No. 10 ADM (11-5).

On April 25, the two teams played at Adel with ADM winning 1-0 in overtime.

“We played a great game against ADM earlier. We just couldn’t get that one goal in so we’re preparing to be aggressive and play well. We want to get to the substate final,” Jensen said.

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