Cards claw ‘Cats

Senior Zay Arguello threw for a career-high in yards, Newton’s defense stayed stout and the Cardinal football team scored 35 unanswered points during a 42-7 rout of Class 5A Marshalltown on Friday night at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

The Cardinals led 13-7 at halftime but outscored the Bobcats 29-0 in the second half to stay unbeaten.

Newton is 3-0 for the first time since 2017 and only the sixth time since 2006. And the Cardinals used a balanced offense to dominate the Bobcats.

“We wanted to try and get our passing game going a bit this week,” Newton football coach Andy Swedenhjelm said. “I thought we could do some good things in our quick game. We also liked some of the looks they were giving us against trips and thought we could take some shots downfield on them.”

Arguello threw for a career-best 216 yards on 9-of-14 through the air.

His 24-yard touchdown pass to Tayvin Galanakis in the first quarter put the Cardinals in front 7-0. His second TD pass went for 5 yards to Curtis Payne in the fourth.

Arguello added 48 rushing yards and three TDs on 10 carries. All three scoring runs came in the second half. His 3-yard TD run in the third was set up by an 81-yard completion to Keith Moko.

After Marshalltown tied the score in the second, Cody Klein put Newton (3-0) in front for good with a 1-yard TD run.

The Cardinals out-gained Marshalltown (1-2) 392-236. Newton’s defense has only allowed 15 points in three games.

“At halftime, we talked a lot about how we do things, and the effort needed to be a successful program,” Swedenhjelm said. “We made an emphasis on getting off the ball on both sides and were able to perform well. I’m proud of how our guys responded.”

Klein finished with 71 rushing yards on 12 carries. Clayton Wickliffe also gained 35 yards on 11 carries.

Moko led the receivers with a career-high 134 yards on five catches. Brody Bauer also hauled in a 39-yard catch.

The Newton defense was led by Braydon Chance’s eight tackles and Brendon West added seven tackles. Alex Thomason returned from injury and finished with six tackles.

Reese Hammons, Blake Schilling, Nate Lampe, Ashton Hartgers and Jaden Shannon all collected four tackles and Evan Grimm chipped in three tackles and a fumble recovery.

Marshalltown won the turnover battle 2-1 and had the ball for about six minutes more than Newton but still lost. The Cardinals punted just once.

Dominick Garth led the Bobcats with 62 rushing yards and the team’s lone TD on 13 carries. He also finished with two catches for 38 yards.