The Newton Tigers continued to struggle with a young offense last week.
The Tigers had less than 100 yards of total offense as they dropped a 20-0 decision to Heidelberg on homecoming.
With the loss, the Tigers fall to 0-4 on the season and will hit the road for the first time this week as they travel to Raymond.
Second-year coach Zach Grady said he saw some good things from his team, despite the lack of offense.
“We are playing good defense, we are just struggling on offense,” Grady said. “We gave up eight points in the first half and gave up a late touchdown. I thought the defense played light out. They are playing hard. They played hard for four quarters and that’s all that you can ask out of a young football team.”
The Tigers got the ball six times in the first half and punted four times and lost one fumble.
Heidelberg didn’t score until 3:37 left in the half after they got the ball at the Newton 25 after a short punt. The Oilers scored five plays later on a 12-yard quarterback keeper. The try for two was good and Heidelberg led 8-0.
“We are thin up front and just can’t get anybody blocked,” Grady said. “Heidelberg had about four kids that were over 300 pounds and we had trouble blocking them all night. We just need some bigger bodies to be able to give our young quarterback some more time. We have some young kids up front that just aren’t ready for what they are seeing. We have a freshman quarterback and a freshman center. They have played well, we just can’t get anything going on offense. We have been right there with opponents, we just can’t get anything going on offense and the defense has done a good job of keeping us in games.”
Newton was able to hold Heidelberg out of the end zone in the third quarter as the offense punted three times, going three and out all three times.
It wasn’t until 10:15 in the fourth when the Oilers finally found the end zone on an 18-yard touchdown pass to Capp off a five-play, 55-yard drive. The try for two failed and Heidelberg led 14-0.
Newton gave the Oilers a cheap touchdown on its next drive as a bad snap to the punter gave Heidelberg the ball at the Newton 5. Three plays later, the Oilers scored on a 3-yard run. The try for two failed and Heidelberg led 20-0.
“We are still making some mental errors but the kids are playing hard and are being a physical football team,” Grady said. “They are being physical at the point of at the point of attack and flying around on defense and I’m proud of that. We had such an offensive mindset when I got here. We are transforming them into a different brand of football. I want to run it more than we have and be a defensive football team.”
Derek Alford led the defense with 10 tackles and three for loss. Anthony Smith had eight tackles, a sack and one forced fumble. Desmond Moore had seven tackles while Kobe Thompson and Brandon Shephard each had six tackles apiece.
