Newton football controls DCG for first win

Dallas Center-Grimes used a 10-play, 73-yard touchdown drive out of halftime to grab a little bit of momentum in its road game against the Newton football team on Friday night.

But Christian Ergenbright erased that momentum with a 98-yard return on the ensuing kickoff, and that was more than enough for the Cardinals during a 28-7 non-district victory on RVTV day in Newton.

Ergenbright lured DCG to the visitor’s side of the field with a fake reverse and then sprinted down the home sideline for the touchdown. He only had to break a tackle from the Mustang kicker to reach paydirt.

“We put it in earlier this week. And in practice, I put the ball behind my back and everyone went that same way,” Ergenbright said. “I scored on it in practice, too. I was telling kids in school all day today that if we ran it again, I was scoring again. The exact same thing happened, everyone went the other way, and we got the touchdown.

“I kind of realized how big it was after I scored. They were getting a little bit of momentum before that. The kickoff return just shut it all down.”

It was a big swing in the game. Newton led 15-0 at halftime following two scoring drives in the final 5 minutes of the second quarter. The Cardinals also scored on their first drive of the second half to put the game away at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

Newton’s defense held DCG to 63 rushing yards on 22 carries, snagged two second-half interceptions and forced the Mustangs into five three and outs.

“It’s been phenomenal. I think it’s even better than last year,” senior defensive back Peyton Rozendaal said about the defense. “I have no doubt when I go out that we can stop them with a three and out.”

Both teams started slow offensively. Newton’s first five drives featured 17 plays and only 34 yards.

But DCG managed only three first downs and 57 total yards in the first half. All four of the Mustangs punts came in the first two quarters and DCG’s second drive of the game resulted in a missed field goal.

The Mustangs drove 34 yards in 10 plays on their final drive of the first half but the possession ended in a turnover on downs.

That drive followed Newton’s first scoring drive of the game. The Cardinals (1-1) marched 73 yards in five plays. Caden Klein connected with Finn Martin for 20 yards on third and six and then Klein sprinted 47 yards to the DCG 2-yard line one play later.

Isaiah Hansen capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run and Klein powered his way in for the two-point conversion.

Newton responded to DCG’s turnover on downs with a late TD drive to go up two scores at the break.

That scoring drive covered 75 yards in six plays. Klein had runs of 38 and 24 yards on the possession and he also found Martin for 16 more before Skyler Milheiser barreled into the end zone from 2 yards out to make it 15-0.

“Those drives were huge for us. That’s a big swing,” Newton head football coach Andy Swedenhjelm said. “We got good practice in the two minute drive at the end of the game last week. Our guys were able to execute this time and that’s something good football teams have to be able to do. I’m proud of how they executed that two-minute drill. That’s not an easy thing to do. And airing it out hasn’t always been our style, but we did a nice job.”

The Mustangs (0-2) opened the second half with their best drive of the game. Starting at their own 27-yard line, DCG used a heavy dose of Landon Morton on the ground to pick up a pair of first downs.

The biggest play of the drive was a 33-yard pass from Tate Perrin to Hudson Heidgerken. Then on third and eight, Perrin connected with Wyatt Valenta for a 10-yard touchdown pass.

Ergenbright, who was part of Newton’s state championship winning sprint medley relay team in the spring, showed off his speed on the ensuing kickoff.

The 98-yard return shifted momentum back to the home team and DCG never recovered.

“That was huge. That’s something we worked on. That’s Coach (Trent) Powers’ specialty,” Swedenhjelm said. “He was pretty hyped after that. Good teams know how to shut down momentum swings. They may have felt like they had some momentum at that point, but great teams know how to answer that, and it was a great answer for us.”

The Newton defense went back to work after the long kickoff return. DCG ran three plays on its next drive and the possession ended with a Kaiden Rogers interception.

The Cardinals capitalized on the turnover with another scoring drive. This time, Newton marched 67 yards in 13 plays. Klein hit Martin for 14 yards on third and eight and the Cardinals were given 15 more yards on a DCG personal foul penalty.

The home team converted three more third downs on the drive. Klein ran 7 yards on third and two, hit Qhjuan Coley for 12 yards on third and 12 and then gained 2 yards on third and one to set up first and goal from the 2-yard line.

That’s when Coley shoved his way in for the touchdown and Jackson Price added the point after for a 28-7 lead.

“The defense has been amazing,” Klein said. “We have great coaches over there who give us great assignments and we just have to go execute them. We’ve been doing that well so far this year.”

The Mustangs went 41 yards in six plays on the ensuing drive but 35 came in the first two plays. After that, Newton forced back-to-back incompletions, DCG moved back five yards after a delay of game penalty and another incompletion on fourth down gave the ball back to Newton.

The Cardinals went backwards on their next drive and punted after three plays.

DCG grabbed three first downs on its next drive, but the defense forced another turnover when Rozendaal picked off Chase Engel on the 10th play of the possession.

Rozendaal dropped an interception earlier in the game that he thought he had a chance to score on, but took advantage of his second opportunity and returned the pick 33 yards.

“I play defense for a reason,” Rozendaal said with a smile. “It was frustrating, but the ball came back to me and I got that one. Then I just tried to take advantage of the open field. I had an even better angle to maybe score with the first one, but that’s all right.”

Klein finished with 137 rushing yards on 15 carries and completed 9-of-15 through the air for 91 yards.

He was at his best on the final two drives of the first half. The two possessions that gave Newton a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

“Those drives were huge. I have to shout out the offensive line,” Klein said. “They didn’t come out how they wanted to but stepped up their game on those two drives. That’s how we were able to score before the half.”

Coley rushed for 28 yards and one TD and added a 12-yard catch. Milheiser and Hansen chipped in rushing touchdowns and Martin grabbed six passes for 68 yards.

Nick Milburn led the Cardinal defense with seven tackles, while Rozendaal and Damien Smith finished with 4.5 tackles.

Derek Wermager totaled four tackles, Colton Northcutt chipped in 3.5 tackles and two tackles for loss and Rozendaal and Rogers snagged interceptions.

The Cardinal defense allowed 234 yards against DCG and is surrendering only 10 points per contest through two games.

“The defense has been fantastic,” Swedenhjelm said. “They fly around, they hit and I’m really proud of those guys.”

Perrin threw for 56 yards and one TD for DCG, while Engel was 10-of-24 for 115 yards and two picks.

Valenta hauled in six passes for 62 yards and one score and Heidgerken grabbed four passes for 76 yards.

Connor Stolpe made seven tackles to lead the Mustang defense, while Karsten Freund had 6.5 tackles and Sampson Johannsen and Cole Hemmingsen contributed six tackles.

Notes: The Mustangs had an 11-9 advantage in first downs but also committed six penalties for 40 yards. … Five of Newton’s seven punts came in the first half. … Newton did not register a sack on Friday but the front seven created a ton of pressure on the quarterbacks. The Cardinals finished with five tackles for loss. “We focused a lot on their deep balls,” Rozendaal said. “We saw they got a lot of their points against Gilbert off deep throws so we tried to limit those. Our front seven has been really good so that made it even harder for them.”