The Newton Cardinal football team gave up a late touchdown and lost to North Polk in Alleman on Friday night 16-13 in a game heard live on kniakrls.com KRLS3. 

The Cardinals took a 13-9 lead on an Isaiah Hansen seven-yard touchdown run with 10:24 left in the fourth quarter, as a two-point conversion run failed. The Comets then capped a seven-play 30-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown run, with only 29 seconds left in the game. Newton was able to get the football into North Polk territory on a couple of passes before the game clock ran out.  

First half scoring was limited to a 25-yard North Polk field goal with 9:20 left in the  second quarter. The Cardinals took a 7-3 lead with 3:12 left in the third quarter on a Hansen one-yard touchdown run. North Polk responded on their next drive, going 56 yards in six plays. The Comets scored on a one-yard touchdown run  with 21 seconds left in the third quarter. The extra-point was blocked, leaving the score 9-7 in favor of North Polk. 

Newton had 345 yards of offense to the Comet’s 256. The Cardinal passing game was limited to 82 yards on eight completions out of 26 attempts. Finn Martin had five receptions for 57 yards. The Cardinals gained 263 yards on the ground on 39 carries. Isaiah Hansen ran the ball 23 times for 167 yards. Both teams picked off two passes. Newton had 11 penalties while the Comets had four. 

Newton Head Coach Andy Swedenhjelm was pleased with the defensive effort, and thought the offense was pressing. 

“Our defense definitely stepped up today. I think they did a really nice job. We just got too sloppy at times. I think a lot of that came from trying to press in the moment. So we talked a lot about trying to trust yourself. We just have a little bit of work to do to get there.”

The Cardinals are now 1-1, and will play at Bondurant-Farrar next Friday night at 7 p.m. in a game that can be heard live on KRLS3, with pregame coverage at 6:30 p.m.