They could have pouted, played around, or even packed it in.
But Newport’s bounce-back Wildcats did none of those Thursday night in Alexandria.
They had too much going for them not the least of which was last week’s forgettable opening loss that the Wildcats refused to forget as they lined up against a young Bishop Brossart team that had won 13 of its last 14 games.
“This is a new era for Newport football,” senior safety Quincy Barber said after intercepting a pair of second-half passes in the end zone to preserve a shutout as the Wildcats scored late for a 7-0, possibly season-saving, win.
“It means everything for Coach Ryan (Hahn), a first-year head coach,” Barber said, “and for me and all the seniors.”
Not that there was any secret here. “We just came out and gave more effort than last week – on every play,” said the 5-foot-7, 145-pound Barber, who plays way bigger than that.
“There was a lot more intensity,” Barber said, all week and not like sometimes “when we play around a lot in practice.”
Not last week, however. Not after that 48-6 loss to Mason County. Not after the criticism they got, from this columnist for one, for sleepwalking without contact in Game 1. They deserved it, Newport players, families, and fans agreed after a week of living with the harsh critiques.
“Thank you,” one parent said.
“We took it the right way,” Barber said. “Coach took it hard.”
But they stuck together. And came back knowing that if they were going to win this game with their offense a work in progress, they’d have to do it with defense . . . a defense that gave up nearly a half-a-hundred a week ago.
Were they really shooting for a shutout? “We had to,” Barber said, “the way we’ve been struggling on offense.”
Except for one giant, game-turning play when they most needed it. After using 225-pound running back Mykell Martin the way football was meant for big power backs, the Wildcats were moving in the right direction after stopping Brossart at the 31 with 3:44 left.
A screen to Martin gained 18. Then, with the clock running after a couple of plays on the ground, a 13-yarder to tall freshman tight end Keegan Farrell had the Wildcats moving again.
But it took a 37-yard rainbow from one sophomore basketball guy – quarterback Kyle Lee – to another – Adonaje Lowe – with the 6-2 Lowe winning the jump ball and then refusing to go down until he was tackled at the 2-yard-line.
“When he threw it, I knew this was my time,” Lowe said, thinking “Thank God, he threw me the ball.”
That’s the kind of thing that happens, Lowe said, “when you work hard at practice every day the way we did.”
With Martin taking it in on the next play for the game’s lone TD from the 2, through a pair of tacklers, with 52 seconds left, the Wildcats had their win and proof that hard work — and hard hitting — is the way to go.
Newport senior Justin Temple seemed to be everywhere on defense that Barber wasn’t, setting the tone with his physical tackling.
“A valiant effort,” Newport Coach Ryan Hahn said of his players as he savored his first career win. You can’t say he didn’t go for it, opening with an onside kick the Wildcats recovered to start the game.
For Bishop Brossart Coach Paul Wiggins Jr., this was a tough one. Except for, or maybe especially because of, this one connection.
“I teach at Newport,” Wiggins said, and has for the last six years, as one Wildcat coach and player after another came by after the game to wish him well. “This is conflicting.”
Luckily for Wiggins, this is the last game in the Newport series. It’s just too hard to teach at Newport and coach against them, he said. Or have them play against your kids.
Especially when you’re without your sophomore quarterback, Keegan Culley, who was run into the stadium wall in a 28-18 win at Dayton last week and suffered a serious concussion that will have him out indefinitely. He was still wearing sunglasses on the sidelines Thursday and there’s no timetable for his return.
“We tried to downsize what we do,” Wiggins said. And had at least three different quarterbacks before settling on another sophomore, punter Mason Meyer, listed as a DB/WR in the program, for most of the second half.
But throwing over the top against a secondary with Barber deep, or an active Newport front chasing him, was tough for a new quarterback.
“It’s a shame,” Wiggins said. “Evan Orth can run the ball but he needs a little help,” after his senior managed to pick up an unofficial 45 yards on the ground. “I apologized to him after the game.”
Next week looks bright for both teams as Newport travels to Pendleton County and Brossart hosts Bellevue.
