Newman defense saves day in win over Bureau Valley

STERLING – The Newman Comets beat the Bureau Valley Storm 20-14 in a Three Rivers East game at Roscoe Eades Stadium on Friday night.

Here are the takeaways from the Week 6 game:

[ Purchase photos from Newman vs. Bureau Valley football game ]

Newman shakes off early pick six

Comets sophomore quarterback Evan Bushman had a rough start to the game, throwing a 42-yard pick six to Bureau Valley’s Bryce Helms on an underneath route on the third play from scrimmage. Fortunately for Newman, Bushman bounced back nicely, leading two scoring drives in the first half to build an eight-point lead.

Bushman led an 81-yard scoring drive on the ensuing possession, capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by fullback Daniel Kelly. A 31-yard deep shot from Bushman to wide receiver Isaiah Williams down the right sideline moved the Comets to the Storm 12. Running back Brady Grennan burst forward for a 10-yard gain on the next play, then Kelly plunged up the middle for the touchdown. Kelly’s two-point conversion run gave Newman an 8-6 lead with 5:24 to play in the first quarter.

Newman took a 14-6 lead on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Bushman to Williams with 3:15 remaining in the first half.

“It just shows how close we are,” Newman senior defensive back Carter Rude said about how Newman responded to the early adversity. “We’re not going to get down on each other for going down early. We’ve been there. We know what it’s like, and we’re always going to rally back.”

Bushman finished the first half 8-for-15 passing for 102 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Two of his passes were dropped, including what should have been a 35-yard touchdown late in the first half. Williams had two catches for 47 yards and a touchdown before the break.

Defensive lineman Ryan Partington had two first-half sacks for Newman.

The Comets allowed 29 net yards in the first half and held Bureau Valley running back Elijah Endress to seven yards on four carries.

Newman defense saves the day

Endress burst up the middle for a 14-yard touchdown run and hauled in a two-point conversion pass from Helms to tie the game 14-14 with 1:41 to play in the third quarter. That was when the momentum really began to shift.

“What we did to bring it back, we got together, pumped each other up. At the beginning of the game, we just weren’t being physical enough. But then, we found ourselves, got on each other, and we found a way,” Helms said. “We knew that we were the better team, we were the more physical team, and we showed it on that drive. And that turnover, it’s been a curse for us this year. That one turnover just slipped away from us. You hate to see it happen, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”

With the game still tied 14-14 with just over three minutes left, the Storm threatened to score the winning touchdown. Rude came to the rescue, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Newman at midfield with 3:14 to play. In one play, the complexion of the game was completely changed.

“It was a huge-momentum shifter. Once we got the ball back, we just kind of knew in our heads that we were going to score,” Rude said.

Once Newman took over possession, senior defensive lineman Caleb Donna had complete confidence that the defense would take care of the rest if the offense scored. And it did.

“That play was huge. I thought that was game and then they got the ball back and we had to stop them, and we did a great job stopping them,” Donna said. “I have 100% confidence in my defense. Going through my head, I was just like, ‘We need to stop this.’ And I had 100% trust in all of the people on that side of the ball, and we just flew to the ball and got it done.”

Two plays after Cody McBride made four defenders miss for a 27-yard gain on a jet sweep to move into Bureau Valley territory, Rude got the edge on an outside run and raced down the right sideline for a 25-yard touchdown. Newman took a 20-14 lead with 1:53 to play.

“It set up perfectly, just like we drew it up. The blocking was amazing,” Rude said. “I didn’t even get touched on the way to the end zone. They had the outside guys probably 25 yards down the field.”

Bureau Valley moved the ball into Newman territory on its final drive of the game, set up by an Endress 35-yard catch-and-run with a broken tackle to the Newman 25. But the Comets defense came up huge again. Donna got a huge third-down sack to force fourth-and-long, then got the fourth-down sack with 29.6 seconds left to put the game on ice.

“I’m just so happy with our defense this season as a whole,” Rude said. “Tonight was just another notch in the stone.”

Rude finished with 57 rushing yards on seven carries, including the 25-yard, game-winning touchdown run. Bushman went 9-for-18 passing for 144 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Kelly had a 42-yard reception and a 2-yard touchdown run, Grennan rushed for 47 yards on 10 carries, and Mac Hanrahan added three catches for 33 yards.

Brady Hartz paced the Bureau Valley offense, rushing for 70 yards on nine carries with a long run of 40 yards. Endress rushed for 34 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries and had 42 receiving yards.