Newport couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Paul Wiggins era.
After escaping Ludlow with a 32-30 win, the Wildcats are off to their best start since 2019 with a fourth straight victory.
As an alumnus of Newport, it makes their hot start even more meaningful to Wiggins.
“It’s a big deal,” Wiggins said. “It’s cool to be coaching your alma mater and we’re fortunate to start the way we have. It puts a smile on my face.”
It was game full of emotional highs and lows.
With less than 30 seconds left, Newport’s Kyle Lee intercepted a pass and ran it back 70 yards for a touchdown to presumably seal the game, but not in this one. The Wildcats missed the extra point, leaving the score at 32-24 and giving the Panthers one last chance.
The Panthers drove down the field and Miller Reed hit Carson Evans for a touchdown. Sitting at 32-30, the Panthers had no choice but to go for two.
“We just have to remind them of the next play,” Wiggins said. “They would come over when we were on defense, talking about what happened. It’s hard to do when you’re playing both ways, but you have to have the ability to flip the script.”
Ludlow’s rushing attempt was thwarted by Newport’s Jaylan Hartness near the goal line.
On top of Lee’s interception return, the senior quarterback had 115 passing yards and three touchdowns.
“It showed that we fight,” Lee said. “We kept fighting from first quarter to fourth quarter, down to the last second.”
Keegan Farrell, Carvonta Roper, and Kendall Buck-Barber each caught a touchdown from Lee.
Newport led wire-to-wire, a dreaded first half for the home team as they had four turnovers and multiple penalties.
Off the bat, Newport’s Damarco Jackson picked up a goal-line fumble and ran it back for a 98-yard score, deflating the Panther sideline. Newport had an early 12-0 lead, which extended to 20-8 at halftime.
“You have to put two halves together,” Ludlow coach John McMillen said. “We made a lot of mistakes in the first half. We turned it over a couple of times. We had a couple bad penalties and all of those led to scores by Newport. We have to be able to put four quarters together and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Scoreless in the first quarter, the Panthers answered with two Aiden Smith-Baxley scores and a Dameyn Anness 78-yard punt return score. Smith-Baxley’s second touchdown made it a 26-24 game with 6:59 to play.
“We played hard and battled, we just came up a bit short,” McMillen said. “They’ll always bounce back. We’ve got a good group.”
Smith-Baxley (118 yards) and Anness (70 yards) split the rushing duties, while Miller Reed and Jackson Mays both had their opportunities at quarterback.
Mays passed for 45 yards, Reed went for 58 yards and a touchdown.
Ludlow had 305 yards to Newport’s 199, but the defense, as they have all season, made quite the impact.
“I love the tenacity of our defense,” Wiggins said. “Our defense doesn’t get enough credit for what they do, but they really are the foundation of this team.”
At 4-0, Newport will stay on the road as they meet Lloyd Memorial next.
Sitting at 2-2, Ludlow will head to Pendleton County for a shot at a bounce back game.
WILDCATS 32, PANTHERS 30
LUDLOW — 0-8-8-14 — 30
NEWPORT — 12-8-6-6— 32
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
(N) Jackson 98-yard fumble return (5:59) Reynoso kick failed
(N) Lee 10-yard pass to Farrell (2:48) Reynoso kick failed
2nd Quarter
(L) Anness 78-yard punt return (4:25) Smith-Baxley run
(N) Lee 15-yard pass to Buck-Barber (0:12) Sharp pass
3rd Quarter
(L) Smith-Baxley 1-yard run (8:36) Anness run
(N) Lee 29-yard pass to Roper (2:25) Sharp pass failed
4th Quarter
(L) Smith-Baxley 1-yard run (6:59) Anness run
(N) Lee 70-yard interception return (0:27) Reynoso kick failed
(L) Reed 18-yard pass to Evans (0:07) Anness run failed
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Ludlow 103 (Reed 5/9, Mays 3/4), Newport 122 (Lee 9/14, Sharp 1/1)
Rushing Yards: Ludlow 202 (Smith-Baxley 21-118, Anness 20-70, Brandenburg 3-14, Meyer 1-5, Davidson 1-zero, Reed 6-(minus)1, Conley 3-(minus)14), Newport 77 (Roper 7-40, Lee 6-21, Buck-Barber 3-12, Stachel 2-4, Sharp 1-zero)
Receiving: Ludlow (Evans 3-46, Anness 2-39, Brandenburg 2-20, Reed 1-zero, Wood 1-zero, Moore 1-(minus)2), Newport (Farrell 3-68, Roper 1-29, Buck-Barber 3-9, Sharp 1-7, Lowe 1-5, Stachel 1-4)
Turnovers: Ludlow 4, Newport 2
Penalties: Ludlow 6-60, Newport 12-103
Records: Ludlow 2-2, Newport 4-0