Newton football opens playoffs against second-ranked Decorah

Opening the playoffs against one of the top ranked teams in Class 4A is becoming a habit for the Newton football team.

The Cardinals were eliminated by Carlisle and Western Dubuque in each of the past two seasons and both opponents went on to play in the Dome later in the postseason.

This year’s opponent, No. 2 Decorah, presents a different challenge than the Wildcats and Bobcats, but the Cardinals hope to flip the script and become the eliminator this season.

“We feel good about our plans and our schemes,” Newton head football coach Andy Swedenhjelm said. “We just need to make sure we are up to the task of playing physical and disciplined.”

Newton qualified for the playoffs for a third straight season. The Cardinals’ last postseason victory came against Clear Creek-Amana in 2014.

Decorah is one of two remaining undefeated teams in the class. Swedenhjelm said his Cardinals are going to have to match the Vikings’ physicality. They may have to also play a quarterback who has attempted only 16 passes this fall.

Starting senior quarterback Louis Bucksa was injured in Decorah’s Week 8 win over Western Dubuque. Junior Tanner Caddell replaced Bucksa in that victory and made his first start of the season in Week 9 against Waterloo East.

Swedenhjelm is unsure if Bucksa will play or not, but the Cardinals are preparing to face him when they take the field at 7 p.m. on Friday in Decorah.

If Caddell makes another start, Decorah will be more run-oriented.

“A lot of their offense ran through (Bucksa) and he had a nice season throwing the ball,” Swedenhjelm said. “If he’s not in they tend to be a little more run oriented. Craddall tends to do a little more quarterback run game than they had been doing before.”

Caddell is 8-of-16 through the air for 98 yards in his limited time at quarterback. He’s also rushed for 213 yards but 66 came in the win over Waterloo East and 61 were against Marion. Both of those teams have a combined four wins.

The top priority for the Newton defense will be junior Trevor Kuennen, who has rushed for 771 yards and six touchdowns this fall. Noah Milburn has 22 catches for 358 yards and six scores and senior Gavin Groux finished the regular season with 18 catches for 258 yards.

Senior lineman William Hahn also is a returning all-stater who plays both sides of the ball.

“Kuennen is a good player. He plays linebacker and running back for them,” Swedenhjelm saids. “One of Decorah’s traits is they play really hard and physical, and he is a good representation of that. Hahn does a nice job playing tackle on both sides of the ball.”

The Decorah defense has four pick 6s this fall. Kuennen is one of the best players on that side of the ball, too. He has 47.5 tackles, four interceptions and two pick 6s and senior Gatlin Dahlberg leads the team with 52 tackles and has three fumble recoveries and one interception.

Junior Tommy Sexton has turned his three interceptions into 97 return yards and one touchdown. Decorah has 12 total picks this season.

“Their linebackers do a really nice job of dropping into coverage,” Swedenhjelm said. “Three of their pick 6s have come from linebackers dropping under routes, which is pretty rare at the high school level. You can tell they are well coached in that regard. We just need to make sure we’re reading the defense correctly and muddy up their reads a little bit to slow them down.”

The Vikings (9-0) will also present a challenge in the return game. They are averaging 26.4 yards per kickoff return and nearly 20 yards per punt return.

Groux leads the way with one punt return touchdown. He’s averaging 31 yards per kickoff return and 23 yards per punt return. Groux’s gained 454 yards on his 16 total returns.

“They do a really nice job on defense and special teams,” Swedenhjelm said. “They’ve had quite a few scores from those units, and we need to make sure we’re locked in during all phases of the game. We have felt pretty good about our preparation in those areas but obviously you make sure you try to emphasize the little details that matter most — staying in your lane, keeping leverage on returners, placing the ball where you want, etc.”

The Vikings were really good against teams with three or fewer wins this fall. They defeated 4A Mason City (3-6) 41-7, downed 4A Marion (2-7) 56-14 and the win over 4A Waterloo East (2-7) was 35-10.

Decorah also played 2A Waukon (3-6) in the non-district slate and won that game 33-0.

Decorah’s most impressive win was its 28-7 victory over 4A No. 9 Waverly-Shell Rock, which is a 6-3 playoff team in 4A.

The other four games on their schedule all were close. In non-district play, the Vikings defeated 3A West Delaware (5-4) 31-23 and handed 2A Crestwood (4-5) a 28-21 loss.

Decorah also defeated 3A No. 7 Independence, 21-14. The Mustangs (7-2) are a playoff team in their class.

The final victory was a 10-7 win over 4A Western Dubuque (6-3). That was the contest Bucksa went down in.

“They have played a variety of good teams,” Swedenhjelm said about Decorah’s schedule. “Northeast Iowa football is a little different style than Central Iowa. There are a lot of teams who want to play really physical and disciplined football and not let big mistakes beat them.”

Bucksa has thrown for 1,236 yards, 14 touchdowns and three interceptions and gained a little more than 100 yards on the ground with four more TDs.

Newton (6-3) and Decorah are part of Pod B in the 4A playoffs. The winner faces either Western Dubuque or 4A No. 6 North Scott (7-2) in the quarterfinals.

Western Dubuque plays North Scott at 7 p.m. on Friday in Eldridge.

The Cardinals’ schedule also is a little lopsided with three teams currently in the 4A rankings — No. 4 Pella, No. 5 Gilbert and No. 7 ADM. Norwalk also is receiving votes in the latest Associated Press poll.

On the other end of the spectrum, Newton’s other five opponents have a combined eight wins.

“We feel pretty battle tested with our schedule,” Swedenhjelm said. “I think playing a variety of different teams who have a variety of schemes is a huge plus for the playoff run. It helps give you an idea of things that you can do to either defend or attack the other team.

“If you play a bunch of teams who either don’t challenge you, or play similar schemes, you don’t have any ideas on how to make adjustments when it counts, and you don’t get any idea on how teams really want to defend you. We feel good about how teams have approached us this season and feel like we have a variety of answers built in on both sides of the ball.”