REED CITY — The last time Newaygo came to Reed City for Central State Activities Association Gold Division action, the Lions snapped the Coyotes 30-game regular-season winning streak.
That was two seasons ago and since then, Reed City had won 10 straight CSAA games prior to Friday’s Gold Division home test.
This time, the Coyotes, who have won five straight CSAA titles, didn’t allow Newaygo to score until late in the game and earn a 27-7 victory.
“The time of possession was certainly in their favor,” Reed City coach Monty Price said. “They had the ball a lot more than we did. They had 56 plays. They did grind out some yards. But they were tough yards. We made them earn them.”
Phillip Jones and Logan Straub rushed for touchdowns while quarterback Derrick Rasor connected with Trent Sturgell on a scoring pass to lead the Coyotes (1-0, 2-0).
Reed City built a 14-0 halftime lead.
The Coyote’s Zach Wirgau had an apparent 34-yard scoring run late in the first quarter, but the ball went back to the 10-yard line when he was called for facemasking near the goal-line. Straub went 10 yards for the score on the next play and a 6-0 lead.
Newaygo drove to the Reed City 20 on a drive that included two fourth-down conversion plays. But the drive stalled on downs and Jones scored from 72 yards on a leftside sweep. Straub ran for the two points and a 14-0 lead
Newaygo drove from its own 34 to the Reed City 10 with a minute in the half, but fumbled and Straub recovered to keep the 14-point lead.
Brandon Evans and Sturgell both had interceptions to thwart Newaygo drives in the second half. Rasor passed 20 yards to Sturgell midway in the third quarter for a 20-0 lead. Straub, who finished with 112 yards rushing, ran 55 yards in the fourth for a 27-0 bulge.
“It was a good win,” Evans said. “We didn’t execute the way we wanted to, but we still got the ‘W’ which is always good. We need to be more aggressive on (opponents’) sweeps, coming in and blowing up the play.”
Connor Swinehart had a 36-yard touchdown run for Newaygo (0-1, 0-2) late in the game.
“We weren’t real solid defensively on every play and they got us when we weren’t disciplined and responsible,” Price said. “We had them in a lot of third and short and second and short. But we made them earn it and didn’t let them in the end zone until late.”
Jones had 96 yards rushing and Wirgau 43 for Reed City which had 257 rushing yards. Rasor passed for 32 yards.
“We’re playing pretty well,” Reed City linebacker Jeffery Phenix said. “We’d like to be a little more physical,”
Newaygo had 180 total yards, including 148 rushing
“We’d like to keep the rushing yards down,” Phenix said. “We have to wrap up tackles.”
“I was a little disappointed they were able to move the ball,” Price said. “When they’re working it three or four yards a play, that’s all you can ask from your defense. It’s a tough offense to defend.”
Reed City is at Fremont for CSAA action next Friday.
“We used to play Fremont many years ago,” Price said. “I’m not real familiar with them. We’ll have to do a lot of film study and see what kind of problems they’re going to cause for us. They’re a much bigger school than us. We’ll have to execute and play solid football.”
