Newton football ends season with loss to No. 1 Bobcats

EPWORTH — Brevin Doll. Titus Cram. Will Hawthorne.

The Newton football team faced some of the best tailbacks in Iowa during the course of the 2023 season.

Grant Glausser added his name to that list on Friday night and it was Glausser’s 297 rushing yards that led top-ranked Western Dubuque to a 41-2 win over the Cardinals during the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs.

The Bobcats scored touchdowns on 60 percent of their drives and the defense limited Newton to fewer than 100 yards and only three first downs on a bitterly cold night at Western Dubuque High School.

“Hats off to them. They’re a really good team,” Newton head football coach Andy Swedenhjelm said. “Glausser is a really good running back. He hits the holes hard and is tough to bring down.”

Glausser’s effort helped extend the Bobcats’ win streak to seven games. They will face No. 6 North Scott in next week’s quarterfinals.

Newton’s offense gained 74 yards on 37 plays. The Cardinals went three-and-out five times and had three four-and-outs.

Two of the Cardinals’ three first downs came on their first possession. Caleb Mattes and Cody Klein started the game with runs of six, five and 10 yards, but the Cardinals punted six times and turned the ball over on downs four times.

“We had a hard time blocking them up front,” Swedenhjelm said. “With the cold and wind being a factor, they were able to stack the box and they did a really good job of getting off blocks.

“They came out in a little different look than we were expecting and executed at a high level.”

The Cardinals, who finished their season at 6-4, had 10 possessions in the game and their six-play drive that ended in a punt on their first drive was their best of the night.

Western Dubuque (9-1) went 61 yards in seven plays on its first possession and Glausser capped it with a 17-yard touchdown run.

Both teams went four-and-out on their next drives and then Newton went three-and-out.

The Bobcats marched 55 yards in six plays on their third possession. All six plays were Glausser runs and he finished it with a 7-yard TD sprint to put the home team in front 14-0.

The wind played a factor in the game. Two short punts by Newton gave the Bobcats good field position a couple of times.

They went in front 21-0 with a three-play, 53-yard drive midway through the second. Tanner Anderson hooked up with Brock Carpenter for 23 yards and Glausser scored on a 25-yard TD run two plays later.

Newton’s opponents used fast starts to defeat the Cardinals in three of their four losses this season.

They fell behind 14-0 after one quarter and 28-0 at halftime to ADM in the season opener and Bondurant-Farrar led 21-0 after one in their mid-season matchup.

“We talked about that as an area of emphasis,” Swedenhjelm said. “I think it’s partly attributed to playing good teams but also being a little tight at the start. We will have to look at what we do and see if we can get better.”

Newton got on the board late in the first half. Western Dubuque’s worst drive of the game came on its fifth possession.

The Bobcats went backward on three plays thanks to a 10-yard penalty, two incomplete passes and a tackle for loss after a fumble was nearly recovered by Newton.

The safety and two points for the Cardinals came after the ball was snapped over the punter’s head and into the back of the end zone.

Western Dubuque’s first second-half possession ended in a 51-yard TD run by Glausser, who took the direct snap in a Wildcat formation. The Bobcats covered 80 yards in six plays to go up 28-2.

Glausser’s night ended early in the fourth when he scored for a fifth time on a 15-yard TD run. That put the Bobcats up 35-2 with 10:54 to play in the game.

Glausser leads 4A in carries (233), rushing yards (2,203) and rushing touchdowns (27) and ranks second with a 9.5 yards per carry average.

“Their line did a really good job of maintaining their blocks and allowing him to find a seam,” Swedenhjelm said. “A lot of times, it’s not necessarily about how big or strong that unit is, but also how well they work together and move as one unit. They did a really good job tonight.”

Klein led the Cardinals with 55 rushing yards on 18 carries and grabbed two passes for 15 yards. He also averaged 37.5 yards on his two kickoff returns.

Mattes was 3-of-6 through the air for 17 yards and gained 14 yards on his 13 carries. Skyler Milheiser gained 2 yards on his only catch.

Nate Lampe ended one of the Bobcats’ four non-scoring drives with his sixth pick of the season. He added three tackles.

Caden Klein led the Newton defense with eight tackles, while Eli Stewart had 7.5 tackles and a forced fumble.

Peyton Rozendaal and Treyton Davidson tallied 6.5 tackles each. Nathan Milburn finished with four tackles and Jackson Nichols collected three tackles.

Anderson finished 8-of-15 through the air for 93 yards and one pick. It was just his fourth interception of the season.

Carpenter gained 58 yards on his four catches, Colin McDermott had three catches for 36 yards and Tate Weidenbacher ran four times for 26 yards in the fourth quarter.

Will Sahm had a rushing TD in the fourth. The Bobcats finished with 336 rushing yards and averaged 7.8 yards per carry.

Notes: Western Dubuque out-gained the Cardinals 429-74 and had a 22-3 advantage in first downs. … Newton was 0-of-10 on third down and 0-of-4 on fourth down. … Hunter Quagliano led the Bobcats with seven tackles and one sack. … Western Dubuque defeated North Scott 31-24 in their first meeting this season.