Newton football secures district title after rout of Grinnell

The Newton football team welcomed back members of its 1980 championship team, the school district accepted the prize money from the T-Mobile Friday Night Lights 5G Challenge and dismantled former conference rival Grinnell to lock up the district championship on Friday.

The Cardinals rushed for 308 yards, converted 6-of-8 on third down and blasted the Tigers, 35-7, during Class 4A District 4 action at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

“We’re excited to be able to host a first round playoff game that comes with winning the district,” Newton head football coach Andy Swedenhjelm said. “All season we’ve had a checklist of things to accomplish this season and district title was one of those things we’ve been pushing for.

“I’m glad we can check off that box and move on to the next goal.”

The win improved the Class 4A No. 5 Cardinals to 4-0 in district play. Newton holds the tiebreakers over both Grinnell and 4A No. 8 Pella. Those two teams play this week to decide the district runner-up and the other automatic playoff berth.

The victory snapped Grinnell’s three-game win streak in the series. It was the Cardinals’ first win over the Tigers since 2018.

Newton won the game with relative ease, too. The Cardinals led 7-0 after one quarter but dominated the second and led 35-0 before Grinnell scored its only points midway through the fourth.

“We felt good about our matchups,” Swedenhjelm said. “Our kids stepped up and rose to the occasion. They knew what was on the line and raised their level of play.

“It’s nice when you’re clicking at that level because it gets easier to try to stay balanced. When we get contributions from everyone, it makes us tough to stop.”

Isaiah Hansen started the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter. He added a 3-yard TD run during Newton’s 21-point second.

Hansen ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries and caught two passes for nine yards. He ranks third in 4A with 1,233 all-purpose yards, fifth with 1,033 rushing yards and tied for third with 15 rushing touchdowns.

Caden Klein opened the second with a 52-yard TD run that put the Cardinals in front 14-0. He added a 3-yard scoring run with 4:46 to go until halftime.

Klein finished with 119 rushing yards and two scores on seven carries and threw for 108 yards, one TD and one interception.

The touchdown pass was a 60-yard strike to Finn Martin, who finished with 99 yards on his two catches.

Klein’s 1,777 total yards rank sixth in 4A and his 1,293 passing yards are seventh. Martin’s 791 receiving yards is second in 4A and his nine receiving TDs rank fourth.

The TD pass came early in the third following an extended halftime due to lightning in the area.

“The weather delay is a challenge,” Swedenhjelm said. “We just had our guys relax. There’s nothing to stress about in that situation because it’s out of our control. We talked a little bit about adjustments but honestly with 45 minutes we weren’t sure what Grinnell was going to do.

“They have a ton more time to make adjustments so we just talked to our guys about being able to adapt to anything and make sure we are flexible.”

Grinnell’s Eddie Harseim threw a 15-yard TD pass to Elijah Mahoney to halt the shutout, but the Tigers were out-gained 403-186 in the loss.

Newton (7-1) averaged 11 yards per carry, did not punt and scored 35 points in 41 plays.

Nick Thomason ran for 31 yards on his only carry and Colter Shaw gained 43 yards on his five carries.

Jackson Price booted five touchbacks on his six kickoffs and was 5-of-5 in PATs.

Nick Milburn led the defense with 10 tackles. Klein finished with 8.5 tackles, Malachi Mosley registered four tackles, Asher Rhoads totaled 3.5 tackles and Zach Felten chipped in three tackles and recovered a fumble.

Dawson Maki and Koltt Ahn both registered 2.5 tackles. The Cardinals won the game despite not having running back Qhjuan Coley, linebacker Colton Northcutt and offensive lineman Rylan Modlin due to injuries.

Milburn’s 94 tackles are the most in 4A. Price ranks second in 4A with 30 touchbacks.

Josh Ringler led Grinnell (4-4, 3-1) with 130 rushing yards on 22 carries and led the Tiger defense with 6.5 tackles.

Ringler ranks fourth in 4A with 1,069 rushing yards.

“Ringler is a heck of a running back,” Swedenhjelm said. “He runs with a patient style and runs hard. When you go against a guy like that, it’s important to stay gap sound and run through your tackles. Our guys did a really nice job all night of swarming to the ball so we were rarely one-on-one with him.”

The Tigers rushed for 129 yards and averaged four yards per carry. They ran 12 more plays and had the ball for more than 9 minutes longer than Newton but scored 28 fewer points.

Notes: Newton’s 1980 state championship team was recognized before the game, and T-Mobile presented the school district with its $25,000 prize for being a top-25 finalist in the Friday Night 5G Lights Challenge at halftime. The Cardinals are still in the running for the $1 million grand prize, but voting stops Oct. 24. “Both of those events were awesome to have at our stadium,” Swedenhjelm said. “I believe we truly offer a first class game day experience, and those two events helped push it up. I’m glad we can have such a fun showcase for our community to come out and have a great time. It’s one of the things that makes our school and community special. We’re big enough to give people a big time game day environment but small enough to still have some personal touches to it.”