Newport’s football team has a two-game home winning streak – and it didn’t matter the victories were 1,071 days apart.
The Wildcats christened their new stands and press box with Friday’s 24-20 win over Boone County on Kyle Lee’s two touchdown passes and Keegan Farrell’s recovery of a blocked punt.
What was more: Newport’s 3-0 record was its strongest start since the 2019 Wildcats opened at 5-0.
Senior quarterback Kyle Lee perhaps savored Friday’s win the most – he watched Newport beat Lloyd Memorial, 21-14 in overtime, on Oct. 8, 2021. He didn’t think he’d ever have another home game.
“Last year, there was a thought of us coming back, but we ended up not,” Lee said. “I honestly didn’t think we were going to be able to, but I’m really happy that we were able to.”
To be sure, Friday’s win was tougher than graduate school-level trigonometry. Newport gained 171 total yards, with just 15 rushing, while the Rebels (1-2) ran for 173 on the ground and 100 through the air.
The difference: Newport’s defense – and not just because Jaylen Hartness blocked the punt Farrell recovered. The Wildcats’ Kendall Buck-Barber and Farrell each intercepted Boone County’s Peyton Storer, Hartness had two sacks, Sean Hurry had one, and Rodzion Thompson recovered a fumble.
“The blocked punt’s really the play of the game,” Boone County coach Dan Court said. “It’s unfortunate that’s the moment, but it is what it is.”
Hartness saw a Boone County lineman leaning to the inside on the play.
“I knew if he was leaning toward the inside, I had an easier route going outside,” Hartness said. “I went outside, and I had a free lane to block the punt.”
Newport didn’t have an answer for Storer and his favorite target, senior Shawn Turney; they connected for a 61-yarder early in the second quarter and a 29-yarder with 7:10 left before intermission. In between, Lee hit Buck-Barber with a 63-yard score.
“They did some good things that exposed some of our weak points,” Newport coach Paul Wiggins said. “We were shorthanded, and we somehow found a way to get through it.”
Lee’s 7-yard run gave Newport a 16-14 halftime lead.
Jayden Jackson led Boone County with 104 rushing yards, including a 37-yarder less than a minute into the fourth quarter, and Steven Johnson added another 94. But you could also have made a case for defensive tackle Marveen Moise being the Rebels’ most valuable player – he sacked Lee three times for minus-30 yards to end the third quarter.
“(Moise) played an awesome game,” Court said. “He was getting off the ball. At times, they couldn’t even block him.”
Johnson started Boone County’s final drive with a four-yard run. After a holding penalty, Johnson took a screen pass 13 yards to Newport’s 35 – a play in which Storer looked left and hit Johnson on the right.
Hartness’ last sack ended the Rebels’ last hope – he chased Storer down and flung him out of bounds for an eight-yard loss with 22.4 seconds left.
The new stands and press box, which Newport Independent Schools Superintendent Tony Watts said cost around $1.5 million, are the first of a three-phase plan. Watts said concessions and restrooms should be ready by 2025 and cost $2 million, with the locker rooms following in 2026 at a $2.5 million price tag.
Wiggins graduated from Newport in 1986 and played on regional championship teams.
“But I’ll tell you what, for the buildup for the night, the first game back in three years, that Newport community showed out for us,” Wiggins said. “We were glad to give them a W.”
WILDCATS 24, REBELS 20
BOONE CO.— 0-14-0-6 — 20
NEWPORT — 0-16-0-8 — 24
Scoring Plays
Second quarter
BC-Shawn Turney 61 pass from Peyton Storer (Witten Daugherty kick), 11:11
N-Kendall Buck-Barber 63 pass from Kyle Lee (Carvonta Roper run), 10:04
BC-Turney 29 pass from Storer (Daugherty kick), 7:10
N-Lee 7 run (Roper run), 0:52
Fourth quarter
BC-Jayden Jackson 37 run (pass failed), 11:18
N-Keegan Farrell 20 return of blocked punt (Farrell pass from Lee), 6:16
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Boone Co. 100 (Storer 4-9-100-2TD-2 INT); Newport 156 (Lee 7-10-156-1 TD-0 INT).
Rushing Yards: Boone Co. 173 (Jackson 15-104, Johnson 14-94, Hodges 3-(minus-1), Storer 6-(minus-24); Newport 15 (Stachel 5-22, Lee 11-(minus-23), Buck-Barber 4-(minus-7), Roper 5-23)
Receiving: Boone Co. 100 (Coughenour 1-5, Turney 3-80, Johnson 1-15); Newport 156 (Jackson 1-36, Farrell 3-15, Buck-Barber 3-105).
First downs: Boone Co. 17, Newport 8
Turnovers: Boone Co. 3, Newport 1
Penalties: Boone Co. 9-75, Newport 10-50
Records: Boone County 1-2, Newport 3-0.