Prep Football: Newton, Marshalltown renew rivalry seeking first win

When the Iowa High School Athletic Association decided to trim the football schedules down to seven games, Newton tried its best to make sure PCM and Marshalltown were the two non-district games left standing.

"We thought it was extremely important to continue to play Marshalltown," Swedenhjelm said. "The two schools we have on our schedule is who we wanted. They are a good combination of location and rivalry, so we love to play those teams when we get a chance to."

Newton and Marshalltown both head into Week 2 seeking their first win. The Cardinals lost 44-18 to Class 2A No. 1 PCM last week, while the Bobcats were shut out, 28-0, by Mason City.

Both offensive units struggled to find consistency in the opening week losses.

Newton gained just 187 total yards, but Swedenhjelm said it was mostly execution troubles. The two lost fumbles both came on handoff exchanges.

Junior Nate Maki was a bright spot as he rushed for 76 yards on only six carries and his long TD run got Newton on the board in the first quarter last week.

"I thought our line did a pretty good job opening holes initially last week," Swedenhjelm said. "Now, we need to make sure we stay engaged on those blocks and continue to push through. We have worked quite a bit on that and made some tweaks to some techniques and alignments that our backs will use. We hope that will help iron out some of the timing issues that we had last week."

Marshalltown was a little better offensively as it gained 233 yards against Mason City.

Senior Malik Haynes gained 95 yards on 13 carries to lead the rushing attack and senior Brendan Bates was 8-of-24 for 106 yards and an interception through the air.

Swedenhjelm said the Bobcats are a run-first team under head coach Adam Goodvin.

Marshalltown only completed eight of its 24 passes last week but averaged 13.3 yards per completion. Haynes averaged 7.3 yards per carry.

Newton's defense was led by junior Reese Hammons' 11 tackles against PCM. Sophomore Alex Thomason also had an interception.

"They do a really good job of working a bunch of different backfield actions to get the ball moving in different directions," Swedenhjelm said about Marshalltown's offense. "Then they set up their play-action passing game off it.

"They definitely have some great players on their team so we need to be able to compete at the line of scrimmage and keep their TE in check."

The tight ends are seniors Jon Loney and Carson Williams. Loney led the receivers last week with 63 yards on four catches. Williams, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 225 pounds, has committed to play NCAA Division I football at Buffalo.

Newton also may have the advantage of playing inside H.A. Lynn Stadium on Friday night. Kick off is set for 7 p.m.

"There are very few things that match a football Friday night experience in Newton," Swedenhjelm said. "I think a lot of people have been waiting for something positive to look forward to during the pandemic and after the natural disaster that hit town recently.

"I know our kids are going to be amped up and ready to go."

The two teams have not played since 2017. The Cardinals won 49-28 that season and defeated Marshalltown 45-14 in 2016.

North Mahaska (0-1) at Colfax-Mingo (0-1), 7 p.m.

Colfax-Mingo and North Mahaska also are two teams searching for their first win.

The Tigerhawks' season opener was a 64-24 loss to Lynnville-Sully. They allowed 484 rushing yards in the loss.

The offense totaled 321 yards, led by senior Jayden Horrach's 114 rushing yards and 23 receiving yards. He also scored two touchdowns.

Freshman Trey Hockemeier debuted with 68 rushing yards and a TD. Senior Zach Steenhoek led the receivers with 67 yards and a TD and also had a team-high 5.5 tackles.

North Mahaska was shut out, 29-0, by East Marshall. The Warhawks were held to 93 total yards, but junior quarterback Sam Terpstra threw for 38 and rushed for 34 in the loss.

Terpstra only threw it 13 times but when he does drop back to pass he looks for senior Matthew Goemaat, who had five catches for 31 yards. Goemaat also had seven tackles on defense.

The North Mahaska defense, which allowed 202 rushing yards to East Marshall, is led by junior Chase Grandia, who had 8.5 tackles last week.

The last time these two South Iowa Cedar League schools faced off was 2017, which was a 50-22 win for Colfax-Mingo. North Mahaska defeated the Tigerhawks 40-0 in 2016.

The matchup with North Mahaska will be Colfax-Mingo's Homecoming game.

PCM (1-0) at Pella Christian (0-1), 7:30 p.m.

The Mustangs begin the season ranked No. 1 in 2A in the Associated Press poll.

PCM is coming off an impressive 44-18 win over 3A Newton where it held the Cardinals to less than 200 total yards.

The Mustangs will make their first road trip of the season to face a Pella Christian squad which lost 29-24 to Des Moines Christian in Week 1.

Pella Christian gained 286 total yards in its loss. Sophomore Isaac Kacmarynski led the way with 152 passing yards, but he also threw two picks. Defensively, Kacmarynski had six tackles and a pick six.

Senior Cody Boender had 45 rushing yards on offense and seven tackles on defense, junior Eric Mulder tallied 86 receiving yards and senior Luke Mulder finished with 37 receiving yards and 61 passing yards on offense and two sacks on defense.

PCM gained 341 yards on the ground against Newton, led by junior Aidan Anderson's 164 yards and three scores. Sophomore August Stock threw for 122 and rushed for 65 yards and senior Landon Fenton led the receivers with 59 yards on two catches.

Defensively, the Mustangs forced two fumbles and senior Andrew Mitchell scored a defensive TD. Junior Durant Van Dyke had 5.5 tackles, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery to lead the way.

PCM has won two straight in the rivalry, winning 20-19 last season.

Pleasantville (1-0) at Lynnville-Sully (1-0), 7 p.m.

Both teams are coming off fairly easy wins in Week 1. Pleasantville cruised past Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 34-12 and did it with a balanced offense.

Senior Caylor Clark was 12-for-13 with 133 yards and three TDs and rushed for 52 yards and another TD in the win. Senior Isaac Mann also ran for 135 yards.

The Trojans gained 396 total yards. Lynnville-Sully rushed for 484 yards in the win over Colfax-Mingo and passed it only five times.

Pleasantville's defense is led by junior Michael McGriff, who had 6.5 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.

Three L-S Hawks gained more than 100 yards on the ground, led by sophomore Kyle Squires with 135. Freshman Corder Noun Harder also had 109 yards and three scores and sophomore Matthias Torres gained 113 yards.

Squires had 5.5 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss on defense and quarterback Conner Maston picked off a pass on defense.

The two programs split their previous two meetings. Pleasantville won 45-14 last year, while L-S shut out the Trojans, 24-0, in 2018.

Baxter (0-1, 0-1) at Collins-Maxwell (1-0, 1-0), 7 p.m.

The Bolts and Spartans rivalry continues this week in Maxwell. The two teams split the previous two meetings since dropping to 8-man.

Collins-Maxwell won 54-52 last year, while Baxter won 42-22 in 2018. The 2020 game will be an 8-man, District 5 contest.

Both programs faced a team in Week 1 that was in 11-man last year. Baxter lost to BGM 48-8 and Collins-Maxwell defeated GMG 27-26. BGM was 8-2 the year before, while GMG went 1-8.

The Bolts will have to slow down the Spartans' passing game if they want to claim their first win of the season.

Senior Mason Markley threw for 240 yards and three scores in Week 1. The top targets were junior Weston Kahler (10 catches, 120 yards) and sophomore Jace Huntrods (seven catches, 64 yards).

Huntrods also gained 69 yards on the ground. Sophomore Luke Huntrods had nine tackles on defense, while senior Rylee Scott had 8.5 tackles and one sack.

Baxter was led by junior Rory Heer and sophomores Cody Damman and Jake Travis on offense and by Damman, Travis and junior Nate McMinamen on offense.

Heer had 76 rushing yards and 74 receiving yards. Damman, the starting quarterback, threw for 98 yards and rushed for 50 yards and a TD and Travis had 71 receiving yards.

Defensively, Damman had nine tackles, McMinamen tallied 8.5 tackles and Travis collected eight tackles.