Newton takes on challenge of playing 4A football again

Meeting challenges and working to overcome adversity are aspects stressed by Newton High head football coach Ed Ergenbright. Ergenbright’s 2014 Cardinal team did just that through an 1-8 season — never giving up.

Ergenbright, his NHS coaching staff and Cardinal football players found out they have a new challenge ahead of them. The Iowa High School Athletic Association released the preliminary football classifications for 2016-17 Thursday, landing Newton in the top 48 schools in the state which puts the Cardinals back into playing Class 4A football.

“We are the smallest 4A school. We’re looking at it as a challenge to play new teams. We’ll make the most of it,” Ergenbright said of the new classification. “We’re not going to fold our tent. Our kids don’t do that, so we begin to work getting ready for the fall season.”

Newton has an enrollment figure of 631 with North Scott-Eldridge at 713 and Western Dubque at 724. The largest school in the state is West Des Moines Valley at 2,170.

There were no changes for the other four area teams. Prairie City-Monore (243) and Collins-Maxwell/Baxter (216) remaining in Class 2A. Colfax-Mingo (135) and Lynnville-Sully (114) are still in Class A.

Newton has played Class 3A football since 2009. There was concern heading into the 2014 two-year football district assignments that Newton would be bumped back up to Class 4A. It didn’t happen then, but the IHSAA has changed how it determines classification.

Scott Garvis, Newton athletic director, said the state went from the 700-student cutoff determine which schools play Class 4A back to the top 48 schools play 4A football. The IHSAA policy had been schools over 700 in enrollment in grades 9, 10 and 11 play 4A football.

At the end of the 2013 football season, three private schools — Davenport Assumption, Cedar Rapids Xavier and Dubuque Wahlert — announced they wanted to play football within their actual enrollment class. All three had opted to play up into Class 4A, but were Class 3A size.

“It’s about balance for the state. Our biggest concern is the disparity between the largest 4A school and the smallest 4A school. It’s a 3.5-times ratio in 4A right now while in evey other class it might be a 2.0-times ratio,” Garvis said. “That is a huge disparity in football. The state wants 48 teams in Class 4A and balance between the eastern part of the state and western part of the state.”

Ergenbright pointed out there has been a swing of enrollment numbers throughout the state since the last year Newton played at the 4A level. He said Western Dubuque is another school in Newton’s situation — being bumped back up into 4A.

He said it is not known yet if the state will re-district teams into eight 6-team districts or six 8-team districts. Garvis said the IHSAA will decide that issue at its Jan. 20 board meeting, and then release district assignments and schedules to follow in February.

“The frustrating thing for me is the state talks about fairness and equity until it is not easy for them — scheduling-wise,” Ergenbright said. “They really need to re-classify the entire state to include a Class 5A on down.”

Both Ergenbright and Garvis said some school districts such as Ankeny, Waukee and West Des Moines have seen a lot of growth while others are not. Garvis said Boone had been a 4A school. He said the bottom half of the 4A schools have shrunk and the metro-schools have grown.

“The bottom line for us — is it is what it is. We’re going to go out and continue to develop our kids in the weight room. Our kids are going to compete no matter what. They leave it all out on the field,” Garvis said. “It is important for our kids and coaches to step up to the challenge. Working in the weight room is a huge factor to our success.”

Garvis said a lot of the top 3A teams Newton has had to play in the past few years are on the level of many of the 4A teams, except for the very elite programs.

“We’ll be fine as our kids buy into taking on the challenge and working hard, which is something they all do well here,” Ergenbright said.

IHSAA Class 4A Football Classifications 2016-17

Newton 631

North Scott-Eldridge 713

Western Dubuque 724

Waterloo East 804

Des Moines Hoover 815

Mason City 815

Burlington 816

Fort Dodge 835

Indianola 842

Clinton 846

Sioux City West 901

Davenport North 906

Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson 907

Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln 909

Ottumwa 929

Des Moines North 933

Davenport Central 950

Urbandale 953

Ames 969

Ankeny 998

Pleasant Valley 1,023

Cedar Rapids Washington 1,049

Marshalltown 1,053

Sioux City East 1,061

Ankeny Centennial 1,139

Sioux City North 1,139

Dowling Catholic 1,147

Muscatine 1,151

Cedar Rapids Jefferson 1,165

Cedar Falls 1,172

Cedar Rapids Prairie 1,187

Dubuque Senior 1,211

Bettendorf 1,220

Dubuque Hempsted 1,234

Iowa City High 1,254

Waterloo West 1,322

Cedar Rapids Kennedy 1,370

Des Moines Roosevelt 1,390

Davenport West 1,453

Iowa City West 1,512

Southeast Polk 1,518

Linn-Mar 1,566

Johnston 1,572

Des Moines Lincoln 1,721

Lewis Central 1,728

Des Moines East 1,767

Waukee 1,768

West Des Moines Valley 2,170

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com