Cardinals lose to Carlisle

The Newton Cardinals football season came to a heartbreaking end at Carlisle on Friday night with a over time loss losing 34-27. Newton started the game with a pair of field goals from senior Matt Easley who ended up breaking the school record with 4 field goals in one game as he was 4 for 5 on the night officially making them from distances of 40, 38, 30, and 35, and he missed a 47 yard with 1 second on the clock in regulation, but the field goal unit was rushed on to the field with 1 second on the clock and no time outs with the clock stopped after a Cardinal first down. The Newton offense was unable to finish off drives with touchdowns and the defense was unable to come up with a stop in the second half when needed to finish off the Wildcats.

Carlisle started the game with a drive to the Cardinal 35 and they faked a punt which the Newton defense was ready for and the Cardinals took over on downs. The Cardinals drove into Wildcat territory but had to punt which was downed at the Wildcat 1 yard line. Carlisle punted short giving Newton a short field to work with, but the offense was not able to take advantage and Easley kicked a 40 yard field goal and it was 3-0 with 3:12 in the first quarter. Carlisle punted on their next possession and Newton started on their own 7 yard line. After a 20 plus play drive Newton ended up sending Easley out to kick from 38 yards and it was 6-0 with 6:32 in the second quarter. Carlisle then converted a 3rd down for a long pass on their next possession that got them to the Cardinals 10 and punched it into the end zone, but the extra point was blocked and it was 6-6 with 3:26 in the second quarter. Newton was at midfield but one of Brian Rose's passes was tipped high into the air at the line of scrimmage and the ball was intercepted. Carlisle ended up punting the ball inside the Cardinal 5 and Newton ran out the clock and it was 6-6 at the half.

Newton received the kickoff to begin the second half and Andrew Clements was able to return it for a touchdown and the Cardinals were back in front 13-6 with 11:44 to play in the third quarter. Carlisle went three and out and punted. Newton had a fourth and three at the Wildcat 40 and Zack Roskilly was able to grab a pass coming out of the backfield and got enough for the first down, but that drive stalled and Easley was able to put a 30 yarder through the uprights and the Cardinals lead 16-6 with 7:58 in the third. Next possession the Wildcats fumbled and the Cardinals recovered at the Wildcat 24 yard line, but once again the offense couldn't put the ball in the end zone and Easley kicked a 35 yard field goal to make it 19-6 with 6:01 to play in the third.

Four field goals in one game for Matt Easley broke the school record of three in one game by Kyle Swihart on September 5th, 2003 at Sioux City Heelan.

From here the Cardinal defense collapsed and couldn't stop the running attack of Carlisle. Junior Derrick Hurt has been playing the past couple of weeks with a high ankle sprain and was basically playing on the defensive line on one leg and probably should have been pulled from the game. The officials stopped the game once and forced him to leave the field but the Newton coaches put him back in the game a couple of plays later. The Wildcats coaches recognized Hurt hobbling badly and pounced on the open door through the left side of the Newton defense. Althogh Hurt is a tough kid and showed a lot of heart wanting to play he clearly should not have been out there and it was the shame the Newton coaches let him keep playing in a unsafe situation.

Carlisle scored a touchdown to close in to 19-13 with 3:16 to play in the third. The Cardinals punted their next possession and Carlisle started out on their own 37. Luckily the Wildcats fumbled on and the Cardinals recovered on their own 17. Newton punted then the Wildcats running train steam rolled down for a quick touchdown and they took the lead 20-19 with 4:37 left in the fourth quarter. Derrick Hurt was then pulled from the game after he was on the field for a few minutes after the extra point play. The Cardinal offense finally scored their first touchdown of the game as Brian Rose completed a long pass to Colin Reynolds who got to the Wildcats 5 yard line. Rose ran it in on a keeper from 3 yards out on third down and then ran the same type of play to make the two point conversion and the Cardinals were back in front 27-20 with 3:04 to play. Carlisle had a 3rd and long at their own 41 after a holding call, but their quarterback made the play of the game with a scramble and ran the ball deep into Cardinals territory, and a late hit penalty was tacked on and Carlisle had the ball on the 11. The Wildcats punched it in to tie the game at 27-27 with 0:42 on the clock. After a couple of nice pass plays and Zack Roskilly catching a pass and running the ball into Wildcat territory to get a first down, the clock stopped to move the chains and Matt Easley rushed on to the field with 1 second left and got the kick off from 48 yards away, but he wasn't quite set to make the kick in all the commotion and it was short. At the end of regulation it was tied at 27.

At this point Newton was out of the playoffs. Although ADM had beaten Perry, Newton needed to win by 2 points or more in regulation as a over time win is only worth 1 point by IHSAA rule.

The Cardinals won the coin flip for over time and went on defense first. The Newton coaches put Hurt back in the game and Carlisle ran it right at him and scored a touchdown in two plays and lead 34-27. Newton's Brian Rose was intercepted in the end zone on their over time possession and that ended the game and the season.

Cardinals lose heartbreaker at Carlisle
By Mike Hockett NDN Sports Writer 10/24/11

CARLISLE — The Newton football team entered Friday’s game at Carlisle with high hopes of making the playoffs, which made its season-ending 34-27 overtime loss all the more painful. The Cardinals needed a win to have a chance at making the post-season, so the loss ends Newton’s season with a 5-4 (4-3) record, with four losses in its last five games after a 4-0 start. Newton senior Matt Easley nearly kicked the Cardinals into the playoffs, but his 47-yard field goal narrowly missed at the end of regulation, sending the game into overtime tied at 27. Carlisle (7-2, 5-2) scored on its first play of the overtime period to take a 34-27 lead, and on Newton’s possession, quarterback Brian Rose was intercepted in the back of the endzone on second-and-goal to end the game. It was a brutal end to the season for 16 Newton seniors. The Cardinals held a 19-6 lead midway through the third quarter before the Wildcats outscored them 28-8 the rest of the way. “We played our hearts out,” said a choked-up Reid McDermott after the game. “I left mine out on the field, and I know all the seniors did.” McDermott caught eight passes for 90 yards.

After surrendering just one touchdown drive in the first half, Newton’s defense tired as the game wore on and was unable to stop Carlisle’s potent option-running game. The Wildcats rolled up 322 rushing yards, with three different players reaching the century mark. “My worst fears came to fruition, because we have a lot of key guys that play every down,” Cardinals’ head coach Ed Ergenbright said. “We’ve had to put a few of them on special teams the past few weeks to shore things up. We just seem to get tired on defense, and then we lose our angles and don’t tackle well. I’m not putting that on the kids. It’s just the reality of it.” Meanwhile, Newton’s offense went through the right arm of Rose, who continued to put up big numbers. He dinked-and-dunked his way to 294 passing yards on 32-of-56 attempts, setting school records for completions and attempts. He led a 9-play, 64-yard scoring drive, capping it with a 2-yard touchdown run and 2-point conversion run with just over 3 minutes left to put the Cardinals up 27-20. Newton fans hoped it was the game-winner, but Carlisle rallied with a 74-yard drive of their own and tied the game on a 1-yard run with 42 seconds left in regulation before going on to win in overtime.

Newton led 6-0 on two Easley field goals (40, 38 yards) before Carlisle (7-2, 5-2) answered with a 1-yard touchdown run, and the game was tied at 6 at halftime after the extra point was blocked. Cardinals’ junior Andrew Clements started the second half with a bang. Carlisle’s kicker squibbed the ball and Clements fielded it at the Newton 22-yard line, juked right, made a move on the kicker and raced the rest of the way for a 78-yard TD and a 13-7 Newton lead. The Cardinals’ next two drives started at their own 35 after a 3-and-out and the Carlisle 24 after a defensive fumble recovery by senior tackle Logan Bird, but Newton was only able to get two more field goals out of it, with Easley connecting from 30 and 35 yards. With the second field goal, and his fourth for the game, Easley became the first player in school history to make four field goals in a single game. It also had the Cardinals in good shape up 19-6 with 6:01 left in the third quarter. But Newton’s inability to get touchdowns on those two possessions would come back to haunt it.

The Wildcats began their comeback on their ensuing offensive possession, going 55 yards on six plays, finishing it with an eight yard run to cut the lead to 1-13 late in the third quarter. Newton put together a promising drive early in the fourth quarter that covered 55 yards down to the Carlisle 26, but it unraveled with a questionable penalty. On third-and-5, Rose rolled out and threw the ball out of bounds under pressure, and was flagged for intentional grounding even it appeared that he was well outside of the pocket and threw the ball beyond the line of scrimmage. The penalty was key, as instead of being able to attempt a 43-yard field goal — well within Easley’s range — it created a 4th-and-15 on the 37 and Newton was forced to punt with 8 minutes left.

The Wildcats took advantage, going on a nine-play, 90-yard drive that ended with an 8-yard TD run by quarterback Jeremy Flaws. It gave Carlisle it’s first lead of the game at 20-19 with 4:37 left.
Rose and the offense answered with one of its most clutch drives of the season to retake the lead. It included a 45-yard pass from Rose to junior Collin Reynolds along the Wildcat sideline, and Rose went on to score on 3rd-and-goal from the 2. Reynolds had a huge game, gaining 153 receiving yards and tied the week-old school single-game receptions mark of 16 set by McDermott.
But Carlisle rallied again. A Flaws broke loose for a 38-yard run, and a 15-yard late hit out of bounds put the Wildcats at the Cardinals’ 11. Three plays later they scored on a 1-yard dive to knot the score at 27 with 42 seconds left.

Entering the game, Newton needed to beat Carlisle in regulation to advance to the playoffs since an overtime win would only gain the Cardinals 1-point in the district standings, which would have still left them .98 points behind Perry for the final playoff spot. Unable to settle for playing for overtime, Newton started its final drive of regulation at its own 36 with 39 seconds left and no timeouts. McDermott caught a short pass along Cardinal sideline, and a 15-yard facemask penalty gave Newton a first down at the Carlisle 41 with 24 seconds left. Four plays later, a screen pass to senior running back Zach Roskilly gave it a first down at the 30 with 1.5 seconds, with the clock to resume as soon as the chains were moved. Easley and the field goal unit sprinted onto the field, got the snap off just in time, and Easley’s 47-yard attempt narrowly missed as time expired. Given the situation, the kick was a tall order even by NFL standards. "It was tough with the cold and having to run out there like that,” Easley said. “But we execute that in practice all the time. It just didn’t work out that time.”

“I thought if we could have just turned some of those earlier field goals into touchdowns, it wouldn’t have came down to that at the end,” Ergenbright said. “Matt did a great job knocking in those ones that we needed. That one at the end — he can make that — but it’s cold out, the ball’s hard, and that’d be a great kick for a college kicker. We had to try it.”

The Cardinals’ playoff hopes were gone at that point, but they were still determined to finish the season with a win. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. Flaws scored on an QB keeper on the first play of overtime from a first-and-goal on the 7, and then Rose was picked off on a throw intended for Reynolds on the second play of Newton’s possession. After the game, Ergenbright and the Newton seniors reflected on the season. “I’ve loved coaching these guys,” Ergenbright said. “They’ve given me everything they got since last December when we started our weight training. They really deserve to be a playoff team. Our seniors have been tremendous leaders around the school and for our program. They’re all champions in my book.”
“We all worked our butts off. I don’t think we could have worked any harder in the offseason,” Bird said. “I think we have one of the best groups of seniors to come through this school. In all the sports, we’ve always played very well together. I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to play with.”

Carlisle 34, Newton 27 (OT)
Points by quarter
Newton 3 3 13 8 0 — 27
Carlisle 0 6 7 14 7 — 34
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
N — Easley 40 field goal, 3:12
Second Quarter
N — Easley 38 field goal, 6:32
C — Hupke 1 run (kick blocked), 3:26
Third Quarter
N — Clements 78 kick return (Easley kick), 11:44
N — Easley 30 field goal, 7:58
N — Easley 35 field goal, 6:01
C — Hupke 8 run (Utey kick), 3:16
Fourth Quarter
C — Stephens 8 run (Utey kick), 3:16
N — Rose 2 run (Rose run), 3:04
C — Hupke 1 run (Utey kick), 0:42
Overtime
C — Flaws 7 run (Utey kick)
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TEAM STATISTICS
Newton Carlisle
First downs 21 19
Rushes-yards 17-63 55-322
Pass comp-att-int 32-56-2 4-10-0
Passing yards 294 98
Punts-avg. 3-33.0 4-36.0
Turnovers 2 2
Penalties-yards 5-25 4-48
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING (att-yards) — Newton: Zach Roskilly 7-29; Brian Rose 6-19. Carlisle: Jeremy Flaws 18-119; Carter Stephens 19-104; Daniel Hupke 16-100.
PASSING (come-att-int-yds) — Newton: Rose 32-56-2-294. Carlisle: Flaws 4-10-0-98.
RECEIVING (rec-yds) — Newton: Collin Reynolds 16-153; Reid McDermott 8-90; Roskilly 5-41. Carlisle: Corbin Clark 3-58; Stephens 1-40.
TACKLE LEADERS (solo-assist) — Newton: Nick VanDerWilt 11-8; Dakota Hills 6-6; Shane Hedrick 6-4.