March 28, 2024

Newton football edges PCM, Cards now 2-0

Defense leads Cardinals to first win over Mustangs

Newton’s football program hosted Jasper County foe PCM on Friday night. The stadium was packed and points were hard to come.

In the end, the Cardinal defense denied a two-point conversion attempt from the Mustangs in the fourth quarter and forced PCM into a deep field goal in the final 2 minutes.

The kick was off target and Newton escaped H.A. Lynn Stadium with a 10-8 victory. The Cardinals are 2-0 for the first time since starting the 2017 season with six consecutive victories.

“This is crazy. The crowd was going crazy. The environment was nuts. It feels so good to win this game and be 2-0,” Newton senior Evan Grimm said.

Grimm is one of about 15 seniors on the varsity roster who had never beaten PCM prior to Friday.

He’s also part of a Newton defense that has allowed eight points in two games and held PCM’s offense to 183 yards. They also forced two turnovers, one of which they turned into seven points late in the third quarter.

“They have been playing great all fall. It’s a senior-led unit. They do a fantastic job working hard every day in practice and bring a lot of energy to the table,” Newton football coach Andy Swedenhjelm said about the Cardinal defense. “They take a lot of pride in playing defense, and I think that’s awesome. That’s how you build that winning culture.”

PCM has built a winning culture under head coach Greg Bonnett. The Mustangs have been a Class 2A semifinalist in two of the past three seasons, won the 2A title in 2018 and registered at least seven wins in six straight seasons.

Things just didn’t go their way on Friday though, and Bonnett said that was mostly because of Newton.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Newton,” Bonnett said. “I think they’ve got something going on here.”

Both defenses were stout. PCM’s unit held Newton to 199 yards. All 10 Cardinal points came in the third and all eight PCM points were scored in the fourth.

Newton survived a late comeback attempt by the Mustangs when they denied quarterback Carson VandeLune on a two-point conversion attempt with 5:37 to play in the game.

“They looked like they wanted to run it up the middle, but our defense read their keys, did everything they could and destroyed it,” Grimm said. “It’s been a team effort. We just flew to the ball and we all made great plays. Everyone did their job tonight.”

PCM (1-1) started with the ball in the second half but the offense was backed up after the return man let the ball bounce inside the 5-yard line. It stayed in play though and the Mustangs started the drive on their own 7-yard line.

Newton’s defense forced a three-and-out and the offense started on the PCM 41-yard line.

Cody Klein picked up a first down with runs of 3 and 8 yards. Zay Arguello went 12 yards on 2nd and 10 to move the chains again.

A holding call two plays later backed the offense up and PCM forced a field goal attempt.

That’s when Caleb Lawson stepped up and booted a 43-yard kick to put the Cardinals in front for good.

Lawson was the team’s starting punter and kickoff specialist last week against Knoxville. The field-goal attempt Friday was the first of his varsity career.

“I just knew I had to step up and do my job. Every point was going to matter tonight,” Lawson said. “I have never beaten this team before so it feels great.”

PCM’s next possession lasted just two plays after Braydon Chance recovered a fumble at the PCM 41-yard line.

The Cardinals had another short field. The drive started with a negative run and false start penalty, but a 12-yard run by Arguello, a 9-yard burst by Keith Moko and an 11-yard scamper by Klein put Newton (2-0) in scoring position.

Arguello went 11 yards after two consecutive negative plays and PCM jumped offsides on 4th and 5 to extend the drive. Four plays later, Arguello found running room to the left and scored on 4th and goal from the 5-yard line.

“That’s how you beat good teams. Good teams don’t make a lot of mistakes but when they do you have to jump on them,” Swedenhjelm said. “They are a good defensive team and they kept us in check, but when we get those opportunities you have to take advantage of them if you are going to win games.”

PCM had one of its best drives of the game on its next possession. The drive lasted 10 plays and VandeLune hit Kaden Hale, Durant Van Dyke and Adrian Robbins for first downs through the air. The 16-yard pass play to Robbins came on 4th and 7.

A blitz off the edge by Newton linebacker Reese Hammons forced PCM into a negative play. One play later, Nate Lampe picked off and under-thrown pass by VandeLune at the goal line.

It didn’t turn out too bad for PCM as Newton started at its own 1-yard line. With Caleb Mattes entering the game at quarterback for an injured Arguello, a snap went over Mattes’ head. Mattes recovered the ball but slipped in the back of the end zone for a PCM safety.

That gave the Mustangs a little momentum and they took advantage on their next drive.

The drive started on the PCM 30-yard line and ended with a 59-yard touchdown pass from VandeLune to Matt Rosonke.

Newton started its next drive at its own 11-yard line. The Cardinals picked up one first down but punted it back the Mustangs. And a short punt gave the ball to PCM on the Newton 30-yard line.

The Cardinals did enough to force the Mustangs into a long field goal attempt. After three runs netted five yards, Tyler Kuecker missed a potential game-winning 42-yard field goal try with less than 2 minutes to play.

The Mustangs lost their long snapper Trey Brodersen to an injury in the third quarter.

“I don’t think we played bad. But we didn’t make very many big plays. And when we did, it was too little, too late,” Bonnett said. “Our long snapper went out earlier in the game so we didn’t have him for the field goal attempt. We had a chance to win though. We just didn’t make the kick.

“We are not sad about this. I have a lot of respect for Newton. This is a good win for them. I’m happy for them. I won’t sit and pout about it. We knew we had to get better coming into this game and I felt like we did get better. We just played a really good team.”

Newton’s defense forced PCM into three three-and-outs in the first half. The Mustangs picked up one first down after Newton committed its lone turnover of the game early in the first half but that drive ended with a sack by Grimm on fourth down.

“They love to fight. PCM is a great program, but if we want to do good things, we have to learn how to be a bunch of scrappers and fighters,” Swedenhjelm said. “I love the way our team played tonight.”

Newton held a 10-7 advantage in first downs. The Cardinals rushed for 125 yards and PCM threw for 129. Both teams had 11 possessions, but Newton had a 6-minute advantage in time of possession.

Arguello ran for 61 yards and one TD on 19 carries and Klein gained 52 yards on 13 carries. Arguello also threw for 55 yards and had one catch for 19 yards. Moko’s lone catch went for 38 yards.

VandeLune was 9-of-14 through the air for 129 yards, including the 59-yard TD pass to Rosonke.

Newton’s defense was led by Brendon West’s 7 1/2 tackles. Hammons and Chance had four tackles, Chance added a fumble recovery and Grimm, Mattes, Cole Conner, Blake Schilling and Garrett Beerends all had three tackles.

Van Dyke tallied nine tackles for PCM. Cade Lindsay and Gavin Fenton each had five tackles, Brodersen finished with four tackles and VandeLune and Joel Greiner had three tackles each.

Notes: Both teams were missing key players for the game. Newton’s Adam Mattes, Jaden Shannon and Alex Thomason all were out with injuries and the Cardinals lost Arguello during the game with an injury. “He had head-to-head contact on the TD and there was a play before that probably started it,” Swedenhjelm said about the Arguello injury. “The health of our players is the most important thing so we pulled him. The thing I love about this team so far is that we have sophomores step in and we don’t miss a beat. They are doing a fantastic job.” … PCM did not have starting quarterback August Stock or all-state tailback Aidan Anderson for the game. Lineman Donovan Nickelson and Brodersen, a starting linebacker, both were injured during the game. Bonnett said he believes Stock and Anderson will return next week. “That will no doubt help us,” Bonnett said. … The Cardinals defeated PCM for the first time since the two teams started playing in 2018.