By Chris Moore

Leader Correspondent

BRIDGE CITY -Big plays doomed the Bridge City Cardinals (0-3) as they fell 55-14 to the Newton Eagles (3-0) at Larry B. Ward Stadium Friday.

The game started off promising for the Cardinals after forcing Newton to punt on their opening drive, moving the ball deep into the Eagle territory. Bridge City quarterback Caleb Dubois threw an interception in the end zone to Eagle’s Tamauzia Brown, who returned it to Newton 17. Two plays later, Newton’s Josh Foster ran for an 81-yard touchdown. Brown was the player of the game racking up stats on both sides of the ball for the Eagles. The cornerback/ receiver finished the game with two inceptions, five receptions for 114 yards, three rushes for 65 yards and three touchdowns.

Bridge City head coach Dwayne Dubois said that Newton might be the most athletic team his Cardinals face all season.

“That’s an outstanding ball club,” he said. “They have speed. They have size, and they have a great coaching staff. It would be a great game between them and West Orange-Stark. I don’t know who else is in their classification, but if there is anyone better, I want to see them.”

Newton outgained Bridge City 562-231 yards.

The highlight of the night for Bridge City was an 89-yard kick return for Caleb Honeycutt to bring the score to 21-7 in favor of Newton with 4:26 left in the first half.

Newton’s Brown found the end zone one more time before the end of the first half with a 50-yard run with :13 remaining.

Newton head coach WT Johnston said he was has respect for the Cardinals for trying to prepare for the game after dealing with the recent flooding.

“I fell for Bridge City’s kids,” he said. “They have all of this to deal with. Moving, flooding in all the houses and I know what they’re going through. Our kids had to (go through that) to a certain extent, but not as bad as them. I think that was a lot of their circumstances. I think in three or four games, they’re going to be ready to play. They’re just still catching up.”

Dubois said he team showed better effort and he thinks they are ready to move on to the next game.

“We have some things we need to clean up,” Dubois said. “There was a spark there. We’ll clean some things up and get ready for Jasper.”

The Cardinals play the Jasper Bulldogs at Bulldog Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

 

Newton 55,

BC 14

Newton       7 21 27 0 — 55

Bridge City 0 7   7   0 —14

First Quarter

New: 81-yard run by Josh Foster (Caleb Colon kick), 3:00

Second Quarter

New: 11-yard run by Darwin Barlow (Caleb Colon kick), 11:05

New: 35-yard pass from Josh Foster to Tamauzia Brown (Caleb Colon kick), 4:42

BC: 89-yard kick return by Caleb Honeycutt (Zeke Mendez kick) 4:26

New: 50-yard run by Tamauzia Brown (Caleb Colon kick), 00:13

Third Quarter

Newton: 44-yard pass from Josh Foster to Noah Williams (Caleb Colon kick), 9:29

Newton: 57-yard run by Darwin Barlow (Caleb Colon kick), 5:46

Bridge City: 6-yard run Steven Nguyen (Zeke Mendez kick), 4:20

Newton: 58-yard pass from Josh Foster to Tamauzia Brown (Caleb Colon kick blocked), 4:01

Newton: 20-yard run by Darwin Barlow (Caleb Colon kick), 00:48

BC New

First Downs    11-17

Rushes-yards 52-215           32-369

Passing yards            16     193

Fumbles-lost  1-0      3-2

Penalties-yards         6-40    7-55