Cardinals Pull Away From Rockets
Necedah's Brett Jump eludes a New Lisbon defender enroute to a 62-yard punt return touchdown early in the second half.
By David Paradise
Star-Times Sports Editor
The annual match-up between Scenic Bluffs Conference (SBC) rivals the Necedah Cardinals and New Lisbon Rockets started as a defensive struggle, before a Brett Jump punt return for a touchdown sparked a 34-point second half for Necedah, who ran away with the 37-0 win.
"It was one of those beautiful rivalry games right away, we just wore them down," Necedah coach Erich Mach said of Cardinals' win. Necedah got on the board first on their opening drive on a 33 yard field goal by senior Curt Parker.
New Lisbon's CoBretti Forsythe got the Rockets going, returning the ensuing kickoff to the 38 yard line. New Lisbon moved the ball down the field and into Cardinal territory, with a combination of Mitchell Vinz, Anthony Edgren and Forsythe runs, unfortunately for the Rockets' Vinz reaggrevated a knee injury during the drive and wouldn't return and a halfback pass was intercepted that gave the Cardinals the ball back.
New Lisbon's defense held strong and forced a quick three and out, and Forsythe and the Rockets' went back to work.
Forsythe hooked up with Chad Wyss for a big gain and the Rockets were able to move back into Necedah territory, before the end of the first quarter. New Lisbon started the second quarter with the ball on the Cardinals' 36 yard line. Forsythe found Wyss again for a big play, but the drive stalled and the Rockets' came up short on fourth down and turned the ball back to the Cardinals.
Necedah started to move the ball down the field on runs by Errik Manning and Ethan Quinter, until a pair of penalties and a big Wyss tackle on a reverse to Jump put Necedah in a third and 28 situation.
Necedah's pass fell incomplete and they punted back to the Rockets.
New Lisbon's drive was stopped quickly when Mike Weber was able to sack Forsythe on third down, forcing New Lisbon to punt.
Jump was able to take the punt deep into Rocket territory, but a penalty brought the return back and New Lisbon forced another three and out.
The Rockets started their next drive with great field position after a poor Cardinal punt. Forsythe found Edgren on first down, and a screen to Justin Pollack for 20 yards, gave the Rockets the ball inside the Cardinals' 20 yard line.
Necedah's Travis Dushek forced a fumble inside the Cardinals' 10 yard line, and Necedah was able to recover.
Quinter broke off a 34 yard run on the next play, and Necedah looked to add to their lead before halftime. Necedah quarterback Zach Mach hooked up with Manning for 28 yards as the Cardinals drove into Rocket territory.
The Cardinals couldn't capitalize on the turnover, and took a 3-0 lead into the break.
New Lisbon started the second half with the ball but couldn't get anything going and was forced to punt.
Jump took the punt down the left sideline, and cut back toward the middle of the field on his way to the endzone and the Cardinals took a 9-0 lead.
New Lisbon was able to put together a long drive, behind strong running from Pollack and Forsythe, before Will Van Lannen made a diving interception to give Necedah the ball back.
A long run by Manning set up another Jump score, on a 27 yard reverse. Parker added the extra point and Necedah led 16-0 with 3:17 left in the third quarter.
Necedah forced a quick Rocket punt, and Jump once again came up with a huge return. That gave the Cardinals the ball inside the New Lisbon 10 yard line.
Manning was able to find the endzone from three yards out to give Necedah a 23-0 lead at the end of the third quarter.
New Lisbon was stopped on fourth and one on their next possession and Necedah looked to add to their lead.
Mach found Jump for a big gain, before scoring on a one yard run to put the Cardinals up 30-0.
New Lisbon's next drive ended on another failed fourth down attempt, and Necedah's Danny Lowe was able to cap the next Cardinal drive with a five yard touchdown run, putting Necedah up 37-0.
Following a New Lisbon punt, the Cardinals ran out the clock improving their SBC record to 2-1.
"They're a good football team, Brad always has his teams ready to play. Our strength and power was just too much," Mach said. "That's Necedah football."
Quinter led the Cardinals with 108 yards on 10 carries, and the Cardinals' defense held New Lisbon to just 103 yards.
New Lisbon lost their first home game since 2006 and sits at 2-1 in SBC play.
Pollack led the Rockets on the ground with 37 yards. Forsythe added 59 passing yards for New Lisbon.
"We just ran out of gas," New Lisbon coach Brad Bever said. "We played hard. The kickoff and punt at the beginning of the second half hurt. We need to put together a whole game like the first half next week."
Necedah and New Lisbon will both be hosting Homecoming games on Friday. Necedah will host Wonewoc-Center (2-3 overall, 1-2 SBC) and New Lisbon will host Brookwood (3-2 overall, 1-2 SBC).