Newman playing with more confidence heading into playoffs

The playoffs are often a time for teams to look forward to playing somebody new and preparing for different game plans than the usual schools they see in the regular season.

The Newman Comets are happy to see a familiar foe in the first round.

Newman (5-4) hits the road to take on Rockridge (8-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday in a rematch of their Week 2 Three Rivers crossover contest, won by the Rockets 33-8. But the Comets feel like they’re a different team than that game back on Sept. 2, and they’re ready to show how much they’ve grown throughout the season.

“We’re very happy to face Rockridge,” senior lineman Hayden Witt said. “I feel like that Week 2 game we didn’t accomplish what we wanted, and we’re happy to get the chance for some redemption this week. We definitely feel better about what we’re doing this time around. Our offense has made drastic improvements, and our defense is still playing hard. We’re pretty healthy right now, and I feel like this is going to be a good game Saturday.”

The offense is the biggest difference for the Comets. After Newman alum Mike LeMay took over this past offseason, he retooled the offense to add some new wrinkles to the traditional power running game out of the Wishbone.

While the Comets worked hard to learn the new plays and formations in their offseason and preseason workouts, Week 2 was only the second game where they put it to the test in a competitive situation.

But after nine games, Newman is a lot more comfortable with the system, and that could make a big difference on Saturday afternoon.

“Week 2, we were still trying to figure out the new offense; it was new to us, and we hadn’t run it our whole life. But we’ve been making big strides every week,” senior running back/defensive back Nolan Britt said. “Watching a lot of film is really helping us understand what we need to do better, so the team’s feeling a lot more confident with the offense this week than we were going into the Week 2 game.”

That game saw Newman play close for most of three quarters, before Rockridge pulled away in the fourth. It was the second straight season losing to the Rockets, after the Comets had won six straight in the series from 2014-19.

Britt says those recent losses are the main motivating factor driving Newman’s players ever since the pairings came out last Saturday night.

“These seniors, we’ve still got a bad taste in our mouths from last year and this year, losing to them twice in games we think we could’ve played with them, so we’re pretty hungry and we’re ready to go for Saturday,” Britt said. “We hung around with them for a while [in Week 2], and we’ve got to finish this time. Our key is stopping the big plays; that’s what kind of what killed us in the game. They got a couple big shots, and it kind of demoralized us. That’s what we’re hoping to do to other teams, so stopping the big play is the biggest thing this week.”

Rockridge is also a different team than in Week 2. For one thing, the Rockets starting quarterback Jacob Bayne was injured in their Week 7 win over Sherrard, and won’t be playing this weekend. But they’ve found success moving their receiver Connor Deem to the QB position, and the Comets know it will still be a challenge to slow them down.

Alex Zarlatanes (105 rushes. 590 yards, 5 TDs) and Peyton Locke (66-571, 6 TDs) lead the ground game, and Deem is 21 for 35 passing for 394 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions. Kameron Bohnsack (29 catches, 643 yards, 11 TDs) and Locke (23-432, 7 TDs) are the top targets.

“The good thing is we’ve seen them before, so we know kind of what to expect,” LeMay said. “When we played them in Week 2, we played them tough; we were playing with team speed, and we kind of petered out at the end. We played really well pretty much for three quarters, and that’s something that we’ve been harping on all season long: we’ve got to be a team that goes four quarters, and we haven’t really done that yet.

“So it’s nice to know that we played that well early, and were in it without playing well all the way through. They’re a little different now, given their circumstances, but it is certainly something that we’re way better at understanding and going in with that point.”

Newman’s defense has been the key to the team all season, as the offense got on track. But the development of the offense has been coming along, especially the last few weeks. Even in last Friday’s 10-7 loss to Kewanee, the Comets moved the ball well between the 20-yard lines, but cost themselves several scoring chances with mistakes or penalties in the red zone.

While LeMay and his coaching staff have stressed the need to clean that up, Witt says it’s up to the offensive line to set the tone this weekend.

“As an offensive lineman, I’d say blocking is the big thing. We need to score points offensively, and that starts with our offensive line,” he said. “We’ve got to be the guys leading the way against Rockridge.”

LeMay says the improvement on offense has helped the team gain confidence, and feels like the formula of better offense and desire for redemption is a potent combination.

“We’ve worked on those plays, and to some extent there’s still some of that stuff from Week 2, but we’re trying to have that balance, and we’re finding it,” he said. “It’s kind of tough when you have some confidence going in and you take a step back, like we did last week, but I think it kind of makes us hungrier. It’s something we’ve been working on, building that confidence offensively, and I think our kids are definitely embracing that. I’m excited to see how it goes.”