Newton football edges Carlisle after record-setting night

Seven school records were set in the Newton football team’s 49-42 shootout win over Carlisle on Friday night.

The Cardinals fell behind by a pair of touchdowns on three separate occasions, but a monster second half propelled the hosts to a non-district victory at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

“I remember North Polk was down to Bondurant-Farrar in their first game, and they came back and won that game and never lost the entire season,” Klein said about the Comets’ run to the Class 4A title last fall. “We have to learn how to win tough games, and this one will pay off for us the rest of the season.”

Bondurant-Farrar led North Polk 35-7 at halftime last season, but the Comets outscored the Bluejays 28-0 in the second half and won the game in overtime.

The Cardinals didn’t have as much to come back from, but they did trail the Wildcats 14-0 and 21-7 in the first half and fell behind 28-14 at halftime.

But a record-setting offensive night powered Newton to a come-from-behind win in the season opener.

The Cardinals (1-0) outscored Carlisle 21-7 in the third and 14-7 in the fourth. And Qhjuan Coley’s 15-yard reception from Caden Klein with 13 seconds to go in the game proved to be the game-winner.

“(Klein) puts in a lot of time in the film room and knows what (opponents) are going to do,” Coley said. “He told me to go straight to the end zone because he knows it could be open. We found a lot of gaps and trusted him to connect with us.”

It was a huge night for Klein, Coley and Finn Martin. Klein threw for a school-record 399 yards on only 11 completions and his five touchdown passes also are a new school record.

Martin had the best prep game of his career, finishing with six catches for a school record 213 yards and a school-record three TD catches.

Klein’s 399 passing yards surpassed the previous record of 317 set by Brian Rose in 2011. His five TD passes were one better than the four Tyler Wood threw back in 2013.

Klein also set a new total yards record of 420 as he also gained 21 rushing yards on six carries and scored one TD.

“(Klein) is a heck of a quarterback,” Newton head football coach Andy Swedenhjelm said. “Everyone talks about his legs, but he made a commitment to be a better passer (in the offseason), and it’s paying off for him.

“We’re fortunate we have a bunch of dudes who can do stuff. Now we just have to be diverse and get the ball to as many guys as we can.”

Some of those dudes are Martin and Coley. But Isaiah Hansen also rushed for 140 yards and one TD on 17 carries and Nick Thomason rushed for 31 yards on three carries and hauled in a 43-yard catch.

Coley rushed for 27 yards on six carries and gained 143 yards and scored two TDs on four catches.

The two TD catches for Coley would have tied the previous school record with several other players, but Martin has the record all to himself after grabbing three on Friday.

“I knew we were going to be explosive on offense,” Martin said. “It starts with the offseason work, and we’ve made each other better in practice.

“It was a great team effort. I couldn’t have done any of it without the other guys. (Klein) was throwing dimes, and the offensive line blocked well.”

The first half was controlled mostly by the visitors. Carlisle (0-1) compiled more than 500 total yards in the loss and averaged 75 yards per drive in its six scoring drives that all resulted in touchdowns.

Hayden Schulte, who transferred from Indianola in the offseason, had 163 yards and four TDs on eight catches for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats opened the game with a six-play, 80-yard drive that ended in a 37-yard TD pass from CJ Haug to Schulte, who extended the drive earlier with a 26-yard grab on third and eight.

Newton drove into Carlisle territory on its first possession. Hansen opened the series with 18 rushing yards on the first three plays and Martin’s first catch went for 37 yards down the middle of the field.

But the drive stalled after the Cardinals threw an incompletion on fourth down.

Carlisle marched 87 yards on 14 plays on its next possession. The Wildcats went in front 14-0 following a 3-yard TD run by Carter Berg, who gained 96 yards and scored two TDs on 17 carries in the contest.

Twelve of the 14 plays came on the ground as the Wildcats used three different ball carriers on the possession.

Newton got on the scoreboard on its next possession. A 43-yard pass play from Klein to Martin jump started the drive, and the Cardinals scored six plays later on a 3-yard TD run by Klein.

But Carlisle went back up two scores as it produced a TD with a five-play, 65-yard drive. Schulte got 48 of those on two catches and capped the possession with a 22-yard TD catch.

Not to be outdone, Martin closed the gap again with a 47-yard TD catch from Klein on the Cardinals’ ensuing possession.

Martin grabbed the ball in traffic, broke a tackle and then sprinted to paydirt to melt the margin to 21-14 after Jackson Price’s extra point. Price made all seven of his PATs and booted five touchbacks.

The Wildcats started their next possession at their own 40-yard line and then moved closer after a Newton penalty.

Carlisle scored touchdowns on all four of its offensive possessions in the first half, and the final drive included nine plays. Haug completed passes to four different players, and Schulte’s 23-yard TD catch with 14 seconds left in the half pushed the advantage back to 14 points.

“We had three possessions and scored on two,” Swedenhjelm said. “They had four possessions and scored on all four. We just needed to get some stops and go from there.

“If we truly have championship aspirations, you have to learn how to win tough games. It was time to put our head down, do what we do best and get to work.”

That’s what Newton did in the final two frames, and most of Coley’s production came in those quarters.

Coley hauled in a 52-yard catch on third and 10 during Newton’s first second-half possession, and Martin scored one play later on an 8-yard TD pass from Klein.

“We were in a dog fight,” Martin said. “Coach Swede knows what’s in us, and we knew we could fight back. We just had to execute, and I knew we’d pull through.”

Newton’s defense made its first stop of the game when it forced the Wildcats into a three and out on their first second-half drive.

The Cardinals were in a positive position to tie the game, but the drive ended on a lost fumble by Klein at the goal line. He lost the ball after trying to leap over the Carlisle defense from the shotgun on first down.

Thomason set up the opportunity with his 43-yard catch.

“I should have just tucked behind the guys and ran it in,” Klein said. “I tried to make a play, and we talk in practice about going over the top when it gets all jammed up. He came from the side unblocked. It was a good play by him.”

Fortunately for Newton, its defense responded with a takeaway of its own. After Berg gained 17 yards and picked up a first down on second and six, the Wildcats lost a fumble two plays later.

“We got a little riled up (in the locker room at halftime), but it mostly just came down to making some adjustments, loosening up and playing our style of football, which is tough, fast and physical,” said two-way starter Koltt Ahn, who recovered the fumble and made 3.5 tackles in the win.

Two of Newton’s scoring drives in the second half came on just one play. The first was a 48-yard TD pass from Klein to Martin immediately after the turnover.

Klein dropped the ball in a bucket and hit his No. 1 target in stride to tie the game with 5:04 to play in the third.

“(Martin) and I have put in hours and hours of work,” Klein said. “We work on all sorts of stuff and talk all day about football. Our relationship is full of football. We throw passes to each other and just hang out on the field. That’s how the connection is built, and I trust him to make plays in the big moments no matter what.”

Carlisle took back the lead with its most explosive drive of the game on its next possession. The Wildcats went 78 yards in just seven plays and Berg capped it with a 29-yard TD run. The possession also featured chunk plays of 17, 14 and 14 yards.

The second 1-play drive for Newton came on its next possession and Hansen’s house call was a 68-yard TD run that evened the score at 35-all.

The Cardinals’ defense forced another three and out. That Carlisle possession included a tackle for loss by Josh Lampe, who was making his first career varsity start at safety.

Newton started its ensuing possession from its own 46. After two incompletions and a 10-yard holding penalty, Klein connected with Coley for a 64-yard TD on third and 20.

“We talk all the time about how we have a state champion backfield,” Ahn said. “We have a state champion quarterback and state champion backs. It’s a huge asset for us, and if we can do our job up front, the sky’s the limit”

That gave the home team its first lead of the game, but it was short-lived after Carlisle drove 80 yards in 14 plays and tied the game after Schulte’s 5-yard TD catch from Haug with 3:39 to play in the game.

The Wildcats’ drive also included passing plays of 11, 22 and 19 yards.

Hansen started Newton’s final drive, which began on its own 30, with a 6-yard run and then picked up a first down on a 10-yard gain.

Martin’s 17-yard catch put him past the 200-yard mark before Coley’s game-winning TD from 15 yards out pushed Newton back in front for good.

Coley was wide open on the home side of the end zone after Carlisle’s defense provided extra attention to Martin in the middle of the field.

“It was a really good play call,” Klein said. “Normally (Martin) is open on the dig on that play, but they kind of shifted over to double him and that leaves someone open. It was a great call, and (Coley) was wide open.

“I have great connections with my receivers, and I trust every single one of them to make plays and that allows me to just let it fly.”

The final possession of the game for Carlisle ended on its third play from scrimmage after Haug’s deep pass down the field was picked off by Dawson Maki, who also finished with eight tackles in the game.

Newton, which did not punt in the game, is 4-2 against Carlisle since 2010 after winning its third straight in the series.

Nick Milburn led the Cardinal defense with 18.5 tackles, while Ali Yahia registered six tackles, Lampe collected 4.5 tackles, Alameen Shanto had four tackles and Colton Northcutt chipped in three tackles. Zach Felten, another two-way starter, posted 2.5 tackles.

“(Carlisle) does a fantastic job. They’re good, and the scheme they run is tough to defend,” Swedenhjelm said. “We scrapped things at halftime and went back to our base formation. It tended to be more successful. Sometimes the best answer is the simple answer. We just made adjustments off what we do best and went from there.

“I’m really proud of our defense for stepping up in the big moments when we needed them to.”

Notes: Carlisle had a 22-19 advantage in first downs and held a 28:17 to 19:43 surplus in time of possession. … The Cardinals were 9-of-11 on third down, while the Wildcats were 5-of-12 but finished 3-of-3 on fourth down. … Newton’s 620 total yards is not a school record, but the Cardinals rushed for 221 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per carry. … The Cardinals averaged 4.71 plays per possession on their seven scoring drives. Those drives averaged 63.43 yards per possession. … Martin’s 213 receiving yards bests the previous record of 177 set by Collin Reynolds in 2012. … Klein’s 420 total yards eclipses the previous school record of 373 set by Ryan Maki in 1996. … The other two school records were passing yards in a game and passing TDs in a game by a Newton squad. … Haug finished 18-of-28 through the air for 293 yards and four touchdowns. … Newton ran 52 plays in 11 possessions, while Carlisle took 65 snaps in its 10 offensive possessions.