Something in the air for Newman

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STERLING – There was something a bit new the way Newman handled St. Bede on Saturday.

The Comets employed their usual punishing ground attack, but spiced it up with some timely passing in a 29-8 victory over the Bruins at Roscoe Eades Stadium.

Junior quarterback Jack Hanlon completed 4 of 8 passes for 116 yards, including TD passes of 21 yards to Stephen Wilson and 46 yards to Zac Gassman. The pass to Gassman gave Newman (2-1, 2-1 Big Rivers) a nearly insurmountable 23-0 lead with 5:03 left in the third quarter.

“We came into this game knowing we had to pass against Bede,” Hanlon said. “They’ve got a great defense and they run that Cover 2. Our linemen blocked great up front and our receivers made some great catches.”

St. Bede (0-3), meanwhile, had a disastrous first half. The Bruins finished with three yards of offense before halftime, fumbled the ball away twice on Newman kickoffs and were whistled on consecutive plays for having too many men on the field on offense – a sign of their frustration.

“You’ve got to credit Newman for that – they just took it at us,” St. Bede coach John Bellino said. “Offensively, they just kicked the crap out of us, is really what they did. We just couldn’t move the ball.”

The Bruins finally broke through late in the third quarter on a 1-yard plunge from Nick Hueneburg, with a 46-yard pass from Ryne Denis to Kevin King setting up the score. St. Bede never seriously threatened other than that.

A long punt return from Gassman set up Newman’s final score, a nine-yard run by reserve running back John LeMay.

The Comets gave an indication of what the game would be like on the opening possession, when they marched 62 yards in 16 plays against a normally stout St. Bede defense. George Canales finished off the drive with a nine-yard TD run.

On the ensuing kickoff, Newman kicker Joe Blessman booted the ball off St. Bede upman Jerad Mekley, and Tucker Brady recovered. The play led to a 31-yard field goal by Blessman.

The Newman defense came to play, allowing just 90 total yards in the game.

“We thought as a coaching staff this was a big, big game for us after how we performed last week and knowing what St. Bede was like,” Papoccia said. “Nobody had scored on them all year and they just play so tough. I thought we played exceptionally well in that regard.”