Newton football clinches playoff berth after win over Hoover

DES MOINES — Cody Klein ran for 170 yards and scored three touchdowns, the Cardinal defense forced four turnovers and the Newton football team extended its win streak to four games following a 34-8 road win over Des Moines Hoover at Mediacom Stadium on Friday.

The win locked up a playoff berth for Newton for the second straight season. The Cardinals have won a combined 13 games over a two-year stretch for the first time since the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

Newton heads into the postseason at 6-3 and capped its Class 4A District 4 season with a 4-1 mark.

“Our main focus was coming out of the game healthy, and we accomplished that goal and are ready for a playoff run,” Newton head football coach Andy Swedenhjelm said.

The Cardinals open their 4A playoffs against top-ranked Western Dubuque at 7 p.m. on Oct. 27 in Epworth.

Newton led Hoover 20-0 after one quarter and went into halftime with a 34-0 advantage. The Huskies scored the only points of the second half, but most of Newton’s starters did not play past halftime.

“I think it’s nice to build depth,” Swedenhjelm said. “A lot of the guys who got action in the second half are guys we are going to count on next year so it’s always good to build them up a bit.”

Caleb Mattes started the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run with 8:31 to play in the first quarter.

Klein then took a pass from Mattes and went 17 yards for the score a little more than 4 minutes later. The Cardinals made it 20-0 after Klein scored on a 51-yard TD run with 1:30 to play in the period.

With 10:50 to go in the second, Mattes connected with Skyler Milheiser on a 6-yard touchdown pass. It was the first TD of Milheiser’s varsity career.

Klein’s final touchdown came on an 88-yard run with 3:51 to go in the second. He finished with 170 yards and two scores on eight carries and totaled 32 yards and another TD on three catches.

His season totals are now up to 1,180 rushing yards and 13 rushing TDs, which both rank sixth in 4A.

Hoover (0-9, 0-5 in the district) scored with 2:14 to go in the game on a 24-yard TD pass from Sam Zayzay to Justice Parkey.

Newton out-gained Hoover 325-209. The Cardinals were 1-of-9 on third down, 2-of-5 on fourth down and committed six penalties for 55 yards. They also lost one fumble.

The Newton defense held Hoover to 1-of-12 on third down, forced three fumbles and snagged one interception. The Cardinals are allowing only 8.5 points per game during their four-game win streak.

Playing a winless team like Hoover is not always easy even though BCMoore’s website had the Cardinals as a 61-point favorite.

“It puts weird pressure on kids because they feel like they have to be perfect,” Swedenhjelm said about preparing for the matchup with Hoover. “You don’t really worry a ton about losing the game, but you play more uptight because the other team still plays really hard.”

Mattes finished 4-of-4 through the air for 45 yards and two scores and ran for 25 yards on four carries. Chris Deanda added 32 yards on three carries, Reilly Trease gained 12 yards on two carries and grabbed three passes for 27 yards and Christian Ergenbright had a 16-yard run.

Kyle Griffin gained 16 yards on seven carries and backup quarterback Creighton Andrew was 4-of-9 through the air for 28 yards. Caden Klein also completed his only pass on the night for his first varsity completion.

Caden Klein also led the defense with five tackles and one sack. He leads the Cardinals with 52 tackles, five sacks and 10 tackles for loss this season.

Ezra Bartell made his varsity debut and finished with three tackles, one sack, one interception and one fumble recovery.

Peyton Rozendaal finished with four tackles and one fumble recovery and Eli Stewart, Micah Mattes and Zach Felten all had three tackles. Derek Wermager recovered a fumble, too.

The Cardinals’ special teams also were stellar. Nick Thomason had a 35-yard kickoff return, Nate Lampe returned a punt 21 yards and Felten averaged 42.5 yards on his two punts.

Christian Lawson booted six touchbacks on kickoffs and ranks third in 4A with 28 touchbacks this fall.

Hoover was led by Niyo Francois, who finished with 68 yards on 15 carries and nine tackles on defense.

The Huskies scored just 56 points this season. Their last win came against Sioux City West on Sept. 9, 2022.