Newton gridders can’t stop Kapaun in regular-season finale

The Newton High School football team laid an egg on defense in the first half of district play against Kapaun-Mt. Carmel, leading to a 52-27 loss Friday at Fischer Field.

Newton, 7-2, still advances to the Class 5A playoffs, but as a district runner-up and will take to the road next Friday. Kapaun improves to 6-3, 3-0 in district play,

“We could not stop them,” Glann said. “That was the major issue. That’s the best running back we’ve faced. We tried a variety of defenses. They just hooked us up and blocked us. We didn’t get the job done. We were able to move the ball pretty well tonight. We left a couple of touchdowns on the field. The problem was we were playing from behind all night. We didn’t do enough on defense to take the pressure off the offense. Things just snowballed.”

Kapaun running back Dyllon Knox rushed for 292 yards on 31 carries with three touchdowns. Quarterback Keaton Lewis passed for 114 yards and two touchdowns, both to Chris Hayes, who had 97 yards receiving.

Newton had several injuries in the game, losing receiver-punter-kicker Kevin Ronen to a helmet-to-helmet hit in the second half. He returned on a punt. Quarterback Evan Thomas was shaken up late, resulting in a turnover in the final minute of play, but Glann expects him to be OK.

“(Thomas) has taken shots all year and has been a warrior all year,” Glann said. “He’ll continue to be a warrior. ... Some of the injuries are going to be day-to-day things.”

Thomas had 212 yards passing with three touchdowns. Thomas also led the Railers in rushing with 79 yards. Miguel Johns had 132 yards receiving with two touchdowns and 53 yards rushing.

The Railers did little to stop Kapaun early, allowing the Crusaders to take a 31-0 lead on the Crusaders’ first five possessions. Kapaun scored on a five-yard Knox run, a 37-yard Jack Cantele field goal, a 38-yard Hayes catch from Lewis, a 54-yard Schuyler Stump run and a five-yard pass from Lewis to Hayes.

Newton finally connected when Thomas hit a 55-yard pass to Cody Opland. The Railer defense finally got a break on a Kapaun fumble, setting up a five-yard pass from Thomas to Johns.

Kapaun came back with a 46-yard Knox kickoff return, setting up a 30-yard Knox touchdown run.

Newton finally forced a punt midway in the third quarter, but the punt went to the Railer 4. Newton got to the Kapaun 17, but a pair of dropped passes ended the drive.

A Kapaun turnover set up an 83-yard Railer drive, ending on a one-yard Thomas run. A Kapaun interception in the drive was nullified on a late hit to the quarterback call.

Knox scored a touchdown on a 16-yard run with 2:43 left in regulation. Nineteen seconds later, Thomas hit Johns for a 68-yard pass. The PAT run by Thomas was just short. Kapaun used a 46-yard Knox run to set up a two-yard Brison Schulte touchdown run with 1:39 to play.

“I was proud of the way we kept fighting to the very end,” Glann said.

Newton will play at 7 p.m. Friday with the site to be determined.

“We’ll see where they put us, we’ll go there and we’ll put this team back together,” Glann said. “This is a good group of guys. They’ll continue to fight.”

Kapaun 10 28 0 14 —52

Newton 0 14 7 6 —27

Scoring

1q. KM Knox 5-yd. run (Cantele kick) 9:48

1q. KM Cantele 37-yd. field goal 1:44

2q. KM Hayes 38-yd. pass from Lewis (Cantele kick) 10:54

2q. KM Stump 55-yd. run (kick failed) 9:46

2q. KM Hayes 5-yd. pass from Lewis (Knox run) 5:19

2q. N Opland 55-yd. pass from Thomas (Ronen kick) 4:26

2q. N Johns 5-yd. pass from Johns (Ronen kick) 1:29

2q. KM Knox 30-yd. run (Cantele kick) 1:06

3q. N Thomas 1-yd. run (Ronen kick) :00

4q. KM Knox 17-yd. run (Cantele kick) 2:43

4q. N Johns 68-yard pass from Thomas (run failed) 2:24

4q. KM Schulte 3-yd. run (Cantele kick) 1:39

Team stats

KMC New.

First downs 25 13

Rushing-yards 50-489 37-169

Passing yards 114 212

Comp-att-int 9-16-0 7-17-0

Punts-avg. 2-28.5 4-33.8

Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-2

Penalties-yards 10-120 6-48

Time of poss. 34:54 13:06

Individual stats

RUSHING — Kapaun-Mt. Carmel: Knox 31-292, Stump 6-86, Lewis 8-86, Krehbiel 2-22, Schulte 1-3, Hayes 2-0. Newton: Thomas 18-79, Johns 6-53, Kelly 12-37, Opland 1-0.

PASSING — Kapaun-Mt. Carmel: Lewis 9-16-0, 114 yards. Newton: Thomas 7-17-0, 212 yards.

RECEIVING — Kapaun-Mt. Carmel: Hayes 6-97, Schulte 1-12, Nulik 1-5, Rasmussen 1-0. Newton: Johns 4-132, Opland 2-67. Kelly 1-13.

Missed field goals — none.