Newton honors 1988 4A state runner-up team

Records — 18 of them — still stand on the books of Newton High School football 30 years later. Many consider the 1988 Cardinal football team the best-ever in Newton High history.

The Cardinals came up one game short of a Class 4A state championship in 1988. Thirty-four seniors led the Cardinals to a perfect 12-0 regular season which began a three-year run for Newton High not losing a single regular-season football game.

“We were just a group of kids who had played together since we were a young age through high school. We had the mindset we were going to do whatever it took to do something special at Newton,” former Newton all-state, Iowa High School Hall of Fame running back Chad Guthrie said.

Guthrie along with former NHS 1988 teammates Kevin Custer, Ron Wylie and Reagan Maher pointed to four men who were the guiding force of Cardinal football at that time as key to the team’s success. Those were head coach John Jenkins, offensive line coach Dick Stiles and defensive coaches Darren Hurt and Ed Ergenbright.

“They kept us grounded as we went through the 1988 season,” Guthrie said.

Newton High will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1988 team’s run to the Dome on Friday. The 12-1 team, which lost 28-12 to Bettendorf in the 1988 4A state championship game, will be honored between the freshman game and the varsity game at H.A. Lynn Stadium. Newton plays Grinnell on Friday.

“We came about as close to a perfect season as you can come and still no accomplish the feat. It just turned out that we met another great football team in the championship game. This loss, however, can not diminish one bit what our guys accomplished. They won a Central Iowa Conference championship and won 12 games, as many as any other team in the school’s history,” Jenkins said after the 4A title game at UNI Dome on Nov. 18, 1988.

Guthrie was one of three senior running backs for the Cardinals that season. He was joined in the backfield by Blake Jessen, another halfback, and fullback Ron Wylie. The quarterback was senior Kevin Custer.

Along the offensive line starting in the championship game were senior center Rob Warner, senior Brad Hansen and junior Kris Martin as guards and senior Reagan Maher and junior Brian Porter as tackles. The tight ends were senior Jarred Shields and junior Rob McCarville.

The Cardinal offense holds the school records in scoring 530 points, most touchdowns in a season with 78 and most rushing TDs in a season 69 and most extra points kicked in a season 56. The 1988 team had most total yards gained 5,073, most yards rushing a 13-game season — 4,496.

“They were great athletes and also great people. They were fun to work with, just quality young men,” former offensive-line coach Dick Stiles said of the 1988 players. “The kids on the offensive line were intelligent and could figure things out on the field, which was a big factor in their success.”

As explosive as the ground-and-pound offense of the Cardinals, the Newton defense didn’t give up much ground during the 13-game season. The defense allowed 185.2 yards of total offense per game. It had three shutouts and averaged giving up 11 points a game.

The 1988 Cardinal defense set a record in most interceptions in a season, 21. Four of those came against Southeast Polk that year.

Ruling the line of scrimmage defensively were defensive ends senior Derek DeHaai and Guthrie and tackles seniors Cory Kolpin and Brad Simpson. Junior Brett Ringger was the nose guard. Wylie and senior Devin Means were the Cardinal linebackers. At cornerback spots were Jessen and junior Mike Beeman and the safeties were senior Chad Robson and Cory Larsen.

Darren Hurt, who retired from coaching the NHS football team three years ago, was the defensive coordinator of the 1988 team. He and current Cardinal head coach Ed Ergenbright, who was the defensive back coach in 1988, directed the Cardinal defense.

“We had so many talented seniors and juniors that season. We didn’t have any sophomores playing on the varsity,” Hurt said. “Defensively, the guys were great tacklers. It was fun to run about any defensive play during a game because they executed it successfully. Even if I called he wrong play, the guys could make it work.”

Hurt and Ergenbright said Newton was ranked No. 1 from the beginning of the season. Newton and Bettendorf were the top two teams in the polls that season and going into the championship game Bettendorf was No. 1 in the Associated Press Iowa High School football 4A rankings and Newton was No. 2.

“We ran a three-back offense and double tight ends,” Ergenbright said. “It’s not every year your team has two all-state running backs in the backfield but we had Chad Guthrie, who went on to be a high school All-American, and Ron Wylie. Blake Jessen was our other back. That offensive line set the standard for offensive line play — they came off the ball and got into people as we established the running game.”

Leading the 1988 offense was senior quarterback KevinCuster, who bided his time to be the Cardinal starting quarterback. Custer said Coach Jenkins put in the option for him to run in that season.

“We were a running team and I got to carry the ball some. Coach Jenkins also gave me the ability to change the play at the line of scrimmage, which I did quite a bit in the Sioux City Heelan playoff game,” Custer told the Newton Daily News.

“We ran several plays off the same look which kept other teams guessing. We had a great offensive line. When I did pass the ball, I had plenty of time to do it.”

Newton opened the highly-anticipated 1988 football season with a 28-6 road win at Des Moines Roosevelt. Weather was a highlight in the teams had to endure a lightning delay. Guthrie rushed for 142 yards on 11 carries and had two TDs.

Guthrie is Newton’s career scoring leader with 318 points as a two-year starting tailback for the Cardinals. He has the most TDs in a career with 53 and the top mark in season touchdowns with 37, which matched his jersey number, in 1988.

He is the team’s season rushing record holder with 1,965 yards in 1988 when he rushed for the most TDs in a season, 32. He had the most rushing TDs in a career, 47.

“Growing up in Newton, we idolized the Cardinal football players. I remember listening to the 1980 state championship game on the radio,” Guthrie said. “I wanted to be like Treye Jackson (the 1980 state title team’s top rusher),”

“It was a dream to run behind those guys up front. The way we ran the ball with Coach Stiles coaching the offensive line was amazing. Ron Wylie and Blake Jessen and I just had to find the holes those guys made for us.”

For the next six games, Newton completely dominated opponents. It was another road win, 42-0, over Marshalltown in which the defense never allowed the Bobcats to even get started.

In the home opener, the Cardinals faced one of top quarterbacks in the state with Indianola’s Chris Street. Streetwas 18-of-27 for 189 yards with two TDs against Newton, but the Cardinals won 46-13.

Guthrie tied a school record with six TDs in the game. Four were on the ground and he had a kickoff return and caught a 19-yard pass from Custer.

Then came heated rival Urbandale at home, a 41-0 win. Wylie had 155 yards on 27 carries with two touchdowns. Wylie, who played linebacker, had four tackles.

“The biggest game was against Urbandale for me. I was the player of the week. That’s a special, memory for me,” Wylie said.

Ergenbright said the Urbandale game launched the team into success the rest of the season. He said the Cardinals were big and physical up front on the offensive line.

Wylie said the team mixed it up running the ball with a good repertoire of plays that caught Newton’s opponents off guard. He said the depth of players who could run the ball from the backs to the receivers was good.

“Chad did very well. If we needed three or four yards, we’d do our part from the fullback side,” Wylie said. “People would focus on Guthrie and everyone was successful.”

Guthrie, who lives in Grape Vine, Texas, went on to play football at Truman State in Kirksville, Mo., Wylie went to Emporia State in Emporia, Kan., and played fullback in college. Wylie lives in Topeka, Kan.

Newton went to Boone and won 61-0 in Game 5 of the season. Seven different Cardinals scored touchdowns that game. Junior nose guard Brad Ringger rang up eight tackles to lead the Cardinal defense.

Next was homecoming against Southeast Polk. Newton had five touchdowns in the first half on its way to a 48-7 victory. Guthrie had 144 yards on 12 carries and Wylie had 89 yards on 13 carries.

Many of the games, the Newton starters did not play much in the second half. Ergenbright and Hurt said the 1988 team was so talented the backup players would score points in the second half.

Case in point was a 53-7 win over South Tama. Newton was up 40-0 at halftime in Tama.

“Each person on the team — coaching or individual players — wanted to do and execute the best they could each play and work together as a team,” Wylie recalled. “Play execution and Coach Jenkins talking about playing at the next level so we all tried to reach deep to play well all the time.”

Newton nailed down the CIC championship with a tough home win over Ankeny, 28-7. The Cardinals led 7-0 at halftime then scored 21 more points before Ankeny got on the board late.

The victory also locked up an automatic Class 4A playoff berth for Newton. Both Guthrie and Wylie rushed for more than 100 yards in the contest.

The final regular season game was at home. Newton beat Des Moines Lincoln 47-22 after a 41-7 halftime lead.

Derek DeHaai led the Newton defense in that game. Again, Wylie and Guthrie each reached more than 100 yards rushing.

Reagan Maher, who was an all-state offensive lineman, was a two-year starter at tackle for Newton. He said practicing against their own defense every day made the offensive very good.

“Winning the Lincoln game was big because we knew we were in the playoffs,” Maher said. “We found out we were going to play Urbandale in the opening game of the playoffs. We went there and beat them by 41 points again, 62-21.”

Blake Jessen had a breakout game with 137yards rushing on nine carries, scoring on runs of 52, 18 and 8 yards. Brad Simpson and Brad Lewis had strong defensive games.

The toughest test the Cardinals had headed to the state championship came in the second week of the playoffs. Dowling Catholic came to Newton on Nov. 7.

“Beating Urbandale twice was great. Playing Dowling at home was amazing with the fans — they had to set up bleachers at both ends of the field,” Custer said. “Playing on the field surrounded by the people it was fun.”

Newton led 14-7 at halftime against the Maroons. It was 14-14, Newton went up 21-14 and Dowling answered with a TD.

But the tying extra point was blocked by Jessen, who had a game that day. He scored on a halfback pass from Guthrie. Guthrie’s 10-yard TD run with 2:18 left put the Cardinals up 27-20.

The Maroons were driving but Jessen intercepted a Ty Yohe’s pass at the Newton 22-yard line with 1:13 left. Newton couldn’t move the ball and punted.

Yohe had the Maroons moving again. Jason McCleary, a junior, tackled Jim Lucia at Newton’ 9-yard line as time expired.

Chad Robson had nine tackles for Newton. Ringger had eight tackles and Devin Means had seven tackles.

“Devin was a linebacker and was they guy who got everybody lined up in the right spot for us defensively,” Hurt said. “We were really solid defensively.”

Newton was headed to the Class 4A playoff semifinals. The Cardinals traveled to Sioux City to meet Sioux City Heelan on a cold November afternoon.

“There’s nothing like playing high school football on a Saturday afternoon,” Hurt said. “This was special for our guys. Heelan had a defensive end that was going to the University of Nebraska. Well, Rob McCarville, our tight end, handle that guy all day.”

It was a cold and the field was sloppy but it didn’t bother the Cardinals. They led 21-0 at halftime and won 35-13. It was the first game since getting hurt in the Marshalltown game that three-year starting cornerback Cory Larson played for Newton.

Guthrie rushed for 288 yards on 16 carries and had one touchdown against Heelan. Wylie had 121 yards on 19 carries and three TDs. Custer rushed for a TD. Means had nine tackles and Robson had five tackles.

“In junior high, Kevin Custer wrote in my yearbook, ‘the Dome will be our home,” Maher said. “We just knew we were going to play for a state championship one day. In the state championship game, we believed we would going to pull it out against a very good Bettendorf team.”

The Cardinals and the Bettendorf Bulldogs had meet before for a 4A title. Newton won in 1980.

“The big disappointment is we didn’t play our best game that day in the Dome,” Guthrie said. “I know I cramped up and I got hit knocking my helmet off once which made an impact on the game.

“It was great playing there. I was playing in front of my extend family, with a lot of family in the Quad City area.”

On Nov. 18, the Cardinals lined up against Bettendorf. Each team sported a 12-0 mark.

Guthrie had a 24-yard touchdown run to make it 7-6. Then he gashed the Bulldog defense for an 82-yard scoring run to put Newton up 12-7 with 7:12 left in the first half.

Bettendorf led 14-12 at halftime. The Bulldogs and Cardinals played a scoreless third quarter. Bettendorf had two fourth-quarter scores for a 28-12 win.

Means and Robson each had eight tackles in the game. Ringger and Cory Kolpin had seven tackles each. Larson made an interception.

“We were an unselfish team and an intense team. We’re a band of brothers. We were close then and are still close,” Custer said. “We had a common goal — to win — and did it for each other.”

Custer lives in Moville. Maher lives in Bondurant. They along with Wylie will be at Friday’s reunion.

“I wish I could have made it back for Friday’s reunion,” Guthrie said. “I have a prior commitment this weekend. I’m so appreciative for the chance to play for Newton High School.”

Newton had 21 players from the 1988 team receive CIC honors — 10 were first-team selections. The team sported six players earning Class 4A All-State honors, Guthrie, DeHaai, Brad Hansen, Larsen, Maher and Wylie.

‘This was a once in a lifetime team,” Ergenbright said. “The only regret I have as a coach from that year was not taking the time to stop and look around and enjoy what this team was accomplishing. I tell our teams now to take time to enjoy the seasons. Playing high school football is a cool thing to do”

Hurt, Ergenbright and Stiles along with the four players interviewed pointed to the key to the success — the leadership of head coach John Jenkins.

“We learned so much about being men from his character and listening to him. He had his hand on the pulse of the team,” Hurt said.

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