Maize South offense shines in 42-14 victory over Newton

McNew and Askren stole the show for the Mavericks on homecoming for the Railers.

NEWTON — Junior quarterback Tate McNew threw for 320 yards and a touchdown on 22-for-26 passing to lead Maize South (3-1) past Newton, 42-14, on Friday night at Fischer Field Stadium.

The Newton defense tackles Maize South’s Jeron Askren on Friday night at Fischer Field Stadium — Photo by Claudia Ramos

Jeron Askren led the Mavericks in rushing with 101 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. For the Railers (1-3), quarterback Colby Gomez led his squad in rushing with 114 yards on 18 carries. Ryder Mapes added 80 yards on five attempts. James Hulse and William Owens scored the team’s pair of touchdowns on homecoming night.

“We’ve got to finish our drives,” Newton head coach Greg Slade said. “We didn’t do that offensively. We’ve got to get some stops defensively and our special teams are getting better. We competed. I thought we competed the whole game. We’ve got to finish things and we didn’t do that.”

The key play you likely forgot: Maize South got on top early with a Gomez pick-six on the third play of the game. In response, the Railers put together a 9-play, 55-yard drive that ended with a score, but the extra point failed.

The turning point: Leading 7-6, the Mavericks walked down the field with ease to extend their lead by a McNew to Darius Felton pass. Newton trailed 14-6 at the end of 12 minutes after the Railers failed to capitalize on a 67-yard run by Mapes to set up first down in the red zone.

Just 55 seconds into the second quarter, Askren punched it in for Maize South to make it 21-6 and give the Mavericks some breathing room. A pair of scores later, the visitors led 35-6 at halftime. McNew completed 12 straight passes before throwing his first incompletion only a few minutes before the break.

From there, the Mavericks focused on clock management, tacking on another touchdown before Newton finally scored another one for itself when sophomore Owens sprinted down the home sideline on a 28-yard burst.

The Railer offense found itself behind the chains far too often throughout the night and the defense didn’t do much in relief. “Tonight, offensively, we did some good things, but we got to finish,” Slade said. “Defensively, we did some good things. [The Mavericks] have a great offense. That running back, two of their wide receivers, and that quarterback is nice.”

With the result, Newton falls to 1-3. Maize South improves to 3-1. The losing streak against the Mavericks extends to four as the Railers are yet to beat Maize South in the series history.

Full offensive statistics:

Looking ahead: The schedule begins to tilt in Newton’s favor, starting with a trip to Arkansas City — which sits at 1-3 following a 45-13 loss to Goddard on Friday — to square off with the AVCTL-II Bulldogs. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on Sep. 29. The Railers will travel to Salina South and host Haysville-Campus in the next two contests.

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Brett is a Communication Arts major at Bethel College, Editor-in-Chief of The Bethel Collegian, and Newton (KS) High School football beat writer. You can reach him via email and follow him on X.