Leading up to the third week of the football season, the boys were 0-2 going into their game against the Big Spring Bulldogs at their stadium. The team went scoreless to wrap up with a score of 0-47.
The following Monday, Sept. 11th, JV had their first home game against Big Spring which ended up in a loss, 6-33, with a single touchdown from Zachary Bates
On Sept. 15th, Newport hosted the Juniata Indians. Prior to the game, the school recognized all fall-sport athletes for Senior Night including the football seniors, Zachary Bellis, Logan Burns, Darian Cohick, Devin Fickes, Wilson Hartley, Ethan Stitt, Jordan Vadasz, Zachary Varney, and Christian Walter.
Though they finished with a loss, Dalton Kratzer got a touchdown, bringing his season count to two. Kratzer now leads the varsity team in touchdowns as only a sophomore. “I feel pretty good about it, but I want to give all the credit to the lineman and receivers for the effort in blocking they give,” Kratzer said.
The loss of 6-33 ultimately brought their record to 0-4, placing them to rank #7 out of the PIAA District III 2A schools, ahead of York Catholic (0-4) and behind Delone Catholic (1-3).
At the following Monday-night JV game, Henry Barlup scored on a 10-yard QB sneak to make the score 6-12 against the Indians.
With a power ranking of 0.18 after week four, being half of the power ranking of the leading 2A school, Camp Hill at 0.57, the team is looking to play harder and climb the ranks to make it to a playoff this year.
In week five, Newport played at Upper Dauphin Area against the Trojans for a loss of 6-30. Bates, being the only one to score, made his first varsity touchdown of the season. “[I] thought nothing of it until the last run where I bursted through two guys to reach the end zone. I was ecstatic with joy…” Bates said.
In the following JV game at home on Sept. 25, Barlup, Lane Wright, and Landon Zaring all scored to bring the game score to 19-0 with a promising win for the team.
The varsity team now stands with a 0.25 power ranking, which is place #7 of seven for PIAA D-III 2A schools, behind York Catholic.
