Underdog Cardinals face biggest challenge yet in undefeated Saints

The Newton football team is one of the biggest underdogs in the state semifinals, according to bcmoorerankings.com.

The Cardinals’ opponent, top-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier, is the only undefeated team left in Class 4A, and the Saints have a quarterback who leads the class in passing yards, passing touchdowns and passer rating.

Not many people outside of Jasper County will pick Newton to win its 4A semifinal matchup against a program which has won three state championships since 2017.

“I really don’t care what they think to be honest,” said Newton senior defensive back Dawson Maki, who has a team-best five interceptions and ranks third in tackles with 45. “I know we’re the underdog, but I don’t feel like we should be. I know how good our team is.

“I don’t think their offense is unstoppable. We go against our own offense every day, and it’s one of the best in the state, too.”

The Cardinals are firing on all cylinders offensively. They lead 4A with 4,437 total yards and 61 touchdowns and rank first in yards per carry at 7.7.

Newton will face a Xavier defense that likes to play a lot of cover 3 and cover 4 with zone looks. And the Saints may leave the Cardinals’ receivers on an island.

That may not be a great strategy against senior wideout Finn Martin, who leads the class with a school-record 1,078 yards and a school-record 14 touchdowns.

Martin hasn’t been slowed down too much this season. That’s evident with his class-leading 25.7 yards per reception average.

While the Xavier defense ranks 20th in 4A in tackles for loss, the Saints lead the class with 15 interceptions. They also have 12 sacks, which ranks 14th in 4A.

“They have good defensive backs, but I don’t think they’ve seen an offense like ours or a quarterback-receiver combo like us so I think it’s going to be different,” Martin said. “We’ve been kind of the underdogs in some other games this year, too, and we know how those went.”

Cedar Rapids Xavier comes into the state semifinals 11-0. The Saints won the championship and finished 13-0 in 2017, 2018 and 2022.

They also lost the title game in 2021 and fell in the semifinals in 2020 but are coming off back-to-back “down” seasons in which North Polk eliminated them before the semifinals.

Xavier’s 11-0 record includes wins over seven playoff teams. The Saints shutout North Scott (31-0), Decorah (34-0) and Waverly-Shell Rock (47-0), edged Western Dubuque, 21-13, and eliminated ADM, 45-7, in the quarterfinals.

They are 3-0 against Newton since 2020 and scored 42 or more points in all three meetings.

“One of the biggest advantages they have is they think they’re going to win every single game they play,” Newton head coach Andy Swedenhjelm said. “That’s big for a high school kid. They play extremely hard and are extremely disciplined and it’s a fun game for us to see where we’re at as a program.”

The Saints have a very balanced offense. Junior quarterback Cash Parks has thrown for a 4A-best 1,921 yards and they’ve totaled 2,195 rushing yards.

Parks is 102-of-133 through the air and leads the class with 26 passing touchdowns and a rating of 261. He also has 354 rushing yards and eight rushing TDs.

“They do a lot of quick passes and use their athletes in space, and they use a whole lot of play action,” Newton Defensive Coordinator Jeff Richardson said. “The biggest thing for us is to stop the run. We’ll cover the guys when they go deep, but we have to stop the run. If we do that, we’ll be in good shape.”

Senior Carter Hoffman leads the Saints’ rushing attack with 1,013 yards and he’s tied for seventh in 4A with 16 rushing touchdowns. The Saints average 5.9 yards per carry.

The most productive receiver is senior Ryan Kelly, who ranks ninth in 4A with 39 catches, eighth with 659 receiving yards and tied for fifth with five receiving TDs.

Junior Dustin Cook also has 18 catches for 446 yards. Senior A.J. Evans, a 6-foot-9 tight end, has totaled 12 catches for 226 yards and three scores and 6-2 wide receiver Sam Leuck, another senior, has 15 catches for 298 yards and four scores.

“We’re going to be physical and when the clock ends it will be whatever it will be,” Richardson said. “Hopefully we did enough to win, but we just want to knock some people around for 48 minutes. Football’s an organized street fight, and the one who wins is the one who doesn’t care how it ends.”

Eight Saints have at least 20 tackles. The defense is led by junior Beau Morio and senior Michael Bean. Morio has a team-best 52.5 tackles and Bean has compiled 34 tackles, two fumble recoveries and four interceptions.

“We have to squeeze our gaps and get off the ball real quick,” Newton senior Zach Felten said. “If we do that and play disciplined on both sides of the ball, we’ll be successful.

“We only had one or two penalties last week. Maybe if we lower that to zero it’d be even better.”

Swedenhjelm said the Saints’ defense swarms to the ball really well. The linebackers play really fast down hill and they leave their defensive backs on an island.

Xavier’s ultimate goal is to force the opposing quarterback to make mistakes and turn the ball over to the Saints’ offense.

“The easiest way to lose a game is to turn the ball over,” Newton senior quarterback Caden Klein said. “Turnover ratio is one of the biggest stats that determines wins and losses. To be able to eliminate those in most of our games has been good for our success.

“I have to make good reads, be confident in those reads and trust my receivers to make plays.”

The Saints have returned one kickoff for a TD and senior kicker Owen Vasquez leads 4A with 11 made field goals. He’s also 56-of-58 in PATs but has only nine touchbacks.

Xavier’s offense ranks second to Newton in 4A with 58 touchdowns. Their 4,174 total yards are third in the class and the Saints 1,979 passing yards rank second.

“They’re really good at their motion game,” said Newton senior Kyler Griffin, who has 28.5 tackles this season. “They try to avert your eyes before the snap. You have to stay locked in.”

Parks has thrown only one interception this season, too. Newton’s 11 picks rank 10th in 4A, but Maki and senior Ali Yahia each have five. That ranks tied for second in the class.

“We need to stay disciplined to our assignment and know what we need to be in coverage wise,” said Newton sophomore Josh Lampe, who has 32 tackles and two sacks this fall. “Turnovers are always important in these kind of games so hopefully we can help the offense out by taking the ball away a few times.”

Kickoff between the fourth-ranked Cardinals and the top-ranked Saints is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday inside the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

The other 4A semifinal features No. 3 Sergeant Bluff-Luton (10-1) and sixth-ranked Pella (10-1). Kickoff for that contest is slated for 4 p.m. on Thursday.

The Dutch were in last year’s 4A title game, and the Warriors lost in the 3A semifinals last fall.

“If we play with no fear and we get our athletes going, I feel really good about where we’re at,” Swedenhjelm said. “(Xavier) will talk a lot of trash and try to intimidate you. It’s ironic that one of the private schools is actually one of the biggest trash talking programs in the state. You can’t let them intimidate you. Once our guys realize they belong on this stage, and they absolutely do, I think we’ll be good.”