By John Addyman
johnaddyman@waynecountylife.com
NEWARK (Sep 17 10) – The Midlakes Screaming Eagles took Newark’s Reds to the classroom tonight, running an option offense that ate up the clock, ground up yardage, and produced a blue-collar 20-0 win in a meeting between two unbeaten teams.
“Early on, they were just more physical than us at the point of attack,” said Newark coach Mike McGavisk. “They’re a big strong team. In the second half, we made some adjustments and came out a little tougher. on defense, but you’ve got to give credit to them. Defensively, we made some stops, but we couldn’t keep them from scoring.”
Newark not only had trouble keeping the Eagles out of the end zone, the Reds’ offense kept getting gobbled up in the rush put on by the Midlakes defense. Newark ended up with 43 total yards of offense, as compared to Midlakes’ 200. Both teams like to run the ball. Midlakes succeeded; Newark didn’t.
Fullback Eli Ebanks, who came into tonight with two 100-yard-plus rushing efforts for Newark in the first two games, managed only 14 yards on 12 carries. Half the time he got the ball from quarterback Anthony Bruni just a split-second before the first Midlakes defender was laying hands on him.
When they had the ball, the Eagles pounded holes in the Newark front wall.
“Their backs are 200-pound kids,” said McGavisk, “and they’re tough kids. They come off the ball well.”
Quarterback John Rau (5-10, 210) carried the ball 19 times for a team-leading 67 yards. But he ran the option well enough that the back he faked the hand-off to was getting tackled by two or three Newark players, while he skipped around the end for yardage. Kam Ausetn (6-0, 200) rushed for 45 yards and Keagan Turner (6-1 170) carried the ball 11 times for 49 yards.
Once the Eagles got the ball, it was tough to get it away from them. The first scoring drive, in the first quarter, lasted 11 plays and covered 59 yards. Turner punched the ball in from 10 yards out for the touchdown.
The second scoring drive started on the Newark 40 and absorbed eight patient, methodical running plays before Rau threw his first pass of the game, a nine-yard zip to a diving Tyler Jansen for the touchdown – with 19 seconds left in the half.
Newark sorted a lot out in the halftime locker room. The defense stiffened measurably, disrupting the Midlakes rhythm – the Eagles didn’t have a first down until there were just five minutes left to play.
But the Reds didn’t make their first first-down until after Midlakes scored on an eight-play, 40-yard drive with Brandon Suave covering the last 11 yards on a run around the right side.
Midlakes ran 32 plays from scrimmage in the first half; Newark had 20. As the Reds denied the Eagles their diet of first downs in the second half, things evened up – Midlakes ran 25 plays; Newark had 24.
“We knew it was going to be a very physical game tonight,” McGavisk said. “Smashmouth football. We were hoping to go into halftime 8-0 and have it be a one-position game. We knew with the style of football we try to play that it would be tough, being behind like that. We weren’t able to do it. We came out tougher in the second half but had trouble moving the ball. Give Midlakes credit for that, their physicality and the way they played the game. The better team won tonight. That’s sports.”
Midlakes 20, Newark 0
Midlakes 8 6 0 6 - 20
Newark 0 0 0 0 - 0
First Quarter
ML – Turner 10 run (Rau dive) 2:14
Second Quarter
ML – Janson 9 pass from Rau (Newcome run fails) 0:19
Fourth Quarter
ML – Suave 11 run (Turner run fails) 4:29
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ML Newark
First downs 13 3
Rushes-Yds 51-189 29-17
Passing Yards 11 26
Return Yards 20 46
Comp-Att 2-2-0 2-11-2
Sacked-yds lost 0-0 2-4
Punts – avg 4-34 4-34
Fumbles-lost 4-2 1-0
Penalties – Yds 9-45 3-25
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RUSHING – Newark – Ebanks 12-14, Shear 2-8, Nelson
8-(-1), Bruni 6-(-2), VanKoevering 1-(-2). Midlakes: Rau
19-67, Turner 11-47 TD, Austen 12-45, Suave 4-19 TD,
Newcome 4-11, Lagana 1-0.
PASSING –Newark: Bruni 2-10-2 26 yds; Nelson 0-1-0.
Midlakes: Rau 2-2-0 11 yds, TD.
RECEIVING –Newark: VanKoevering 1-25, Ebanks
1-1. Midlakes: Jansen 1-9 TD, Turner 1-2.
RETURNS –Newark: VanKovering 1-28, Nelson 2-18,
Ebanks 1-1. Midlakes: Jansen 1-15, Newcome 2-5.
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Anonymous Said,
I Graduated from Newark way back and am soooooooo glad to see them get their a$$ handed to them.
Posted on Sat Sep 18, 03:13:00 PM EDT
Anonymous Said,
To anonymous- What? What a strange comment. What ever your reason- get over it, or time will pass you by.
I graduated from Newark and always applaud for the home team. Newark is my community and I am proud of it!
Posted on Sat Sep 18, 03:22:00 PM EDT