When North Newton quarterback Ben Vanderwall steps under center for his senior season next fall, he’s going to be missing a lot of familiar faces.
“Since I started playing Pop Warner football back in third grade, these seniors are all I’ve ever really known,” he said. “I can’t really imagine it. But I wouldn’t trade (this season) for the world.”
Those seniors played their final game at North Newton on Friday night, as the Spartans lost 40-26 to Woodlan in a Class 2A regional.
Woodlan (11-2) took a quick 14-0 lead over North Newton (8-5) and remained in front for the rest of the game.
“We just fell a little bit short against one of the best teams in Class 2A,” North Newton coach Jeff Bean said. “It would’ve been nice to be up 14 instead of down 14. But we got ourselves right back in the game.”
North Newton was making its first regional appearance since 1993, and fumbled on each of its first two possessions to help Woodlan build that early two-score lead.
Then some big plays helped the Spartans cut into that deficit.
Senior Colt Wagner caught a 15-yard TD pass from Vanderwall in the first quarter. Then junior running back Jason Eller got going in the second quarter, scoring on runs of 38 and 20 yards.
“Our powers were working and the jet sweep was working until the second half,” Eller said. “They adjusted to it really well.”
But Woodlan remained ahead of North Newton largely because of senior running back Amarion Hicks, who racked up 239 yards and three TDs on just 14 carries. He had scoring runs of 65 and 47 yards in the first half as Woodlan built a 27-18 halftime lead.
“Their team speed was the biggest challenge,” Bean said of Woodlan. “They hit our outside edge and we had a tough time containing that. (Hicks) was one of the quickest backs we’ve seen this year.”
Hicks scored on a 52-yard run on Woodlan’s opening drive of the second half, just after North Newton started the third quarter by driving to the Warriors’ 43-yard line before turning the ball over on downs. Woodlan extended its lead to 40-18 in the middle of the fourth quarter when quarterback Justin Durkes went 31 yards to the end zone.
Sophomore running back Colin Wagner scored on the Spartans’ next drive to make it a two-score game again, but Woodlan recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran the remaining 4:21 off the clock.
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“It’s tough,” Eller said after finishing with a team-high 98 rushing yards. “But it was a great experience, making it this far. We haven’t done this in 24 years.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.