Cardinals end playoff losing streak with drubbing of Dodgers

The monkey is off their backs. The weight is no longer on their shoulders.

After the Newton football team emphatically ended a more than a decade long drought in the postseason, the Cardinals want more.

And after a 51-7 drubbing of Class 4A No. 9 Fort Dodge, not many can argue that this Cardinal squad is built for a long postseason run.

“Hearing the kids talk about how being on this side of things is way better than the other side is awesome,” Newton head football coach Andy Swedenhjelm said. “I’m really happy for them, but we’re ready for the next one. We’ll enjoy this one tonight, but we start breaking down Gilbert tape like crazy tomorrow.”

The Class 4A No. 4 Cardinals scored on their first seven possessions, rushed for 250 yards and Caden Klein registered a seven-touchdown night at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

It’s the first playoff victory for the Cardinals since 2014. They were hosting a postseason game for the first time in 18 years, and the home fans got rewarded with a 27-point first quarter and a 41-0 halftime lead.

“It was a heartbreaking loss last year so to get out to a fast start was great for us,” Klein said. “We put in a lot of time and effort and watching that pay off was a great feeling, but we have more to do.”

The win sends the Cardinals to the quarterfinal round of the 4A playoffs. They’ll face second-ranked Gilbert (10-0) at 7 p.m. on Friday in Gilbert.

The Tigers escaped Council Bluffs Lewis Central, 27-24, at home after scoring the game-winning touchdown in the final 30 seconds. It was Lewis Central’s fifth three-point loss this season.

“I feel good about our team against anybody,” Swedenhjelm said. “I think sometimes you can feel lucky to be in a playoff game and be giddy about it. But our guys were all business tonight. It’s nice to have a few guys who have been there before and were hungry for more.”

Newton (9-1) opened the game with a three-play, 65-yard touchdown drive. Isaiah Hansen and Nick Thomason had back-to-back runs of 8 and 6 yards, respectively, before Klein connected with Finn Martin on a 51-yard touchdown pass.

Klein left the pass short to his favorite target but knew Martin would come down with the ball. The senior wideout who is committed to Notre Dame for swimming did the rest, and the Cardinals were on the board in 76 seconds.

“That just comes from spending a lot of nights together on this field. Just reps on reps on reps,” Martin said about the pass from Klein. “We have that chemistry and trust in each other to make plays.”

Klein said he left the ball short because he saw a second defender coming to make a play on the ball. He stepped up in the pocket and delivered his 16th touchdown pass of the season.

“I have so much trust in that kid. We have a great connection,” Klein said. “I saw him open, but I had to move around in the pocket a little bit and I saw another guy coming over so I left it short and he came back and got it. At that point, it’s go make a play, and he did.”

Fort Dodge’s top rusher, William McElroy, did not play due to an injury. That forced Dreshaun Ross into more of an offensive role.

The Dodgers picked up one first down on their opening possession, but the Cardinals forced a punt after six plays.

Klein wasted little time on Newton’s next drive. The Cardinals scored in two plays and Klein capped the possession with a 42-yard TD run.

Fort Dodge went backwards after a holding penalty on its first play from scrimmage on its next possession.

That forced them into a third and long and Dawson Maki picked off a deep pass near the home sidelines. It was Maki’s fifth interception of the season, which moves him even with teammate Ali Yahia for the team lead and ranks tied for second in 4A.

“(Defensive Coordinator) Coach (Jeff) Richardson drew up a really good scheme, and we executed it well,” Maki said. “Once we got that momentum, there was no slowing us down. Once we have that confidence, there’s no team that can stop us.”

Fort Dodge certainly did not stop the Cardinals on Friday. Newton marched 70 yards in eight plays on its next drive.

Klein moved the chains on third and two after a 23-yard run and then Hansen went for 12 and 18 yards on back-to-back run plays. Three plays later, Klein went in from 1 yard out and Jackson Price’s PAT made it 20-0.

The Dodgers picked up a pair of first downs through the air on their next possession, but the drive ended after Klein forced a fumble on Fort Dodge quarterback Tru McBride.

Coleby Revell jumped on the football and the recovery was his third of the season, which ranks tied for first in 4A.

Newton started in Fort Dodge territory and needed only five plays to go 49 yards. A 22-yard pass from Klein to Martin came before a 15-yard run by Hansen and then Klein capped the possession with an 11-yard TD run.

Klein finished with 128 rushing yards and five touchdown on nine carries. His 35 total touchdowns lead 4A and his 18 rushing TDs are tied for first in the class.

Klein’s ability to use his legs picked up late in the season after battling through an injury during the early portion of the year. He’s fully unlocked now and the Cardinals’ offense is better because of it.

“I told you before the season that I think he’s one of the best skill guys in our class,” Swedenhjelm said. “He’s an extremely dynamic player and some of those moves he made out there were unreal.

“I’m proud of him because early in the season he wasn’t able to do certain things and had to distribute the ball to others more often. That can be hard when you’re used to being the alpha. We’re really happy he’s on our team.”

Fort Dodge (8-2) put together its best drive of the game on its next possession. The Dodgers started from their own 5-yard line, but Ross converted a fourth and 1 with a 2-yard run and then ran for two more first downs on gains of 8 and 10 yards.

But, a sack by Zach Felten on fourth and seven turned the ball over on downs.

The lead grew to 34-0 after Newton scored again on a seven-play, 45-yard drive. Klein opened the possession with a 17-yard pass to Hansen.

Klein ran for 10 yards on the next play, gained 7 yards later and Hansen gained 5 yards on back-to-back plays before Klein capped the possession with a 5-yard TD run.

Fort Dodge went for it on fourth down inside its own 30-yard line on its next drive but turned it over on downs again.

A pair of passes from Klein to Martin highlighted a three-play, 29-yard drive and the Cardinals scored with 36 seconds to go until halftime to extend the lead to 41-0.

The final play of the drive was a 19-yard TD strike from Klein to a wide open Martin down the middle of the field.

“When you come out fast and score right away it kind of knocks their spirits out of their body,” Martin said. “Then we just kept it going and kept it going.”

Klein was 5-of-7 through the air for 117 yards and two scores. Martin caught five passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns.

Klein’s 2,171 total yards rank third in 4A. His 184.3 passer rating is fourth and he ranks seventh with 1,522 passing yards and fifth with 17 passing TDs.

Martin ranks seventh in 4A with 39 catches but is second with 933 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns.

“We have a lot of dudes who are hard to defend,” Swedenhjelm said. “We just looked at what they do schematically and thought we had a few things we liked. We went after them a little bit and our offensive line played really well.

“If they block like that moving forward, we’ll be really, really good. I can’t say enough about the kids’ preparation this week in practice. They were locked in.”

Newton got another short field when Fort Dodge turned it over on downs again on its first possession of the second half.

A 28-yard, three-play drive by Newton started with an 11-yard run from Thomason and ended with a 15-yard TD run by Klein.

The Cardinals’ defense held up again. The Dodgers turned it over on downs, setting up Newton at the 28-yard line.

The offense went nowhere, but Newton made it 51-0 after Price booted a career-long 42-yard field goal with 1:47 to play in the period.

Price set a new school record for most touchbacks in a season with 39 earlier in the game.

He needed one more though to preserve the shutout after Ross returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for Fort Dodge’s only touchdown 20 seconds later.

Hansen finished with 73 rushing yards on 13 carries and 17 receiving yards on one catch. Thomason ran for 21 yards on three carries.

Hansen ranks fifth in 4A with 1,180 rushing yards. His 16 rushing TDs are tied for fifth and his 1,407 all-purpose yards rank fourth.

“Everything was working really well,” Newton junior offensive lineman Jake Mace-Maynard said. “We stopped their pass rush. They have a lot of sacks this year, but we shut that down.

“It feels really good. We know what we can do. We executed, didn’t play scared and we took care of business.”

Newton had an 18-9 advantage in first downs, out-gained the Dodgers 367-161 and scored 51 points in 10 possessions.

The Cardinals ran for 250 yards and averaged 8.9 yards per carry. They held Fort Dodge to 82 rushing yards, and the Dodgers were 4-of-13 on third down and 1-of-5 on fourth down.

“It’s a testament to our kids,” Swedenhjelm said. “They played really well tonight. I’m really proud of them.

“The defense was real good. Our defensive line played lights out. Coleby Revell played really well. Zach Felten was really good. The turnovers were big. (Maki) did a great job back there. He’s an analytical kid and put himself in good position to get that early pick.”

Nick Milburn led the Cardinal defense with 6.5 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one sack. He leads 4A with 103.5 tackles and ranks fourth with 17.5 tackles for loss.

Felten finished with five tackles, Maki had four tackles and the interception, Kyler Griffin totaled four tackles and Alameen Shanto chipped in three tackles.

Koltt Ahn, a two-way starter on the lines, posted 2.5 tackles and one sack and Asher Rhoads tallied two tackles for loss and one sack.

“This win feels great,” Maki said. “These last few years seeing those seniors cry after the losses was tough. We finally got past that point. Let’s get to the Dome next.”

Ross, an Oklahoma State wrestling recruit, came into the game with a 4A-best 33 tackles for loss and 13 sacks but was limited to four tackles in the game.

Fort Dodge ranks second in the class with 22.5 sacks but was held to zero by Newton’s offensive line.

“When the offensive line blocks as well as they did, it allows the skill players to do great things,” Klein said. “Coach Swede does a great job building up plays and preparing us for what we can do best against the other team.”

McBride threw for 102 yards and one interception and Ross ran for 41 yards on 14 carries to lead the Fort Dodge offense. Tytrell Mosley caught six passes for 51 yards and Jayon Preston-Grady led the defense with eight tackles.

Notes: Klein said last week he plans to visit Army on Nov. 22. The standout quarterback has an offer from the service academy. … Newton and Fort Dodge played for the first time since 2017. The Cardinals won that game 71-70. … Newton is now 10-0 at home the past two seasons. The Cardinals’ 9-1 record matches the 2006 team which also went 9-1. The 2007 squad finished 9-2. … Newton did not punt until the fourth quarter. … The Cardinals snapped the Dodgers’ four-game win streak. Fort Dodge’s only other loss was a 38-0 setback to No. 3 Sergeant Bluff-Luton. … Newton and Gilbert will play for a spot in the state semifinals. The Tigers are 10-0 for the first time in school history. The other quarterfinal matchups are No. 1 Cedar Rapids Xavier (10-0) and No. 5 ADM (9-1), No. 3 Sergeant Bluff-Luton (9-1) and No. 8 North Polk (8-2) and No. 6 Pella (9-1) and unranked Decorah (8-2). The Vikings upset No. 7 Western Dubuque on Friday. “It means a lot to Swede and this coaching staff,” Martin said. “They’ve been grinding year round to make us better. They go out of state to learn from college coaches. They’ve learned a lot, and it obviously paid off tonight.”