The Northeastern High School senior took two steps to the right, ran to the left for a few yards, cut against the grain - with Mefford leading the way - and sprinted up the right sideline 88 yards for a touchdown to give his team the lead for good.
“I hit the corner and I was gone,” Newman said. “It feels amazing. I couldn’t do it (without my teammates).”
The Jets (6-1) beat West Liberty-Salem 27-24 in a back-and-forth Ohio Heritage Conference North Division thriller on Friday night at Conover Stadium. Trailing 24-14 at the half, Taylor scored on a 19-yard run in the third quarter to cut the lead to three points before Newman’s game-winning punt return.
“It’s the OHC North at its finest,” said Jets coach Jake Buchholtz.
Newman scored two touchdowns, senior Diezel Taylor ran for a touchdown and threw a 77-yard touchdown pass to senior Jackson Jones as the Jets beat the Tigers for the first time since the 2021 season. Last week, the Jets fell to West Jefferson 42-36 in overtime.
“It’s good to bounce back,” Newman said. “It’s just a hard fought, tough, gritty win. That’s what we want to do. We should have played better in the first half, but our second half made up for it.”
Northeastern improved to 6-1 and 1-1 in the OHC North. They travel to Fairbanks next week.
”We knew that this was going to be a battle," Buchholtz said. “I told our guys at the end of the game that last week we were in a similar position and we came up on the short end. And that’s what makes this the greatest sport. Every Friday is a new challenge and sometimes you’re going to win, sometimes you’re going to come up short. But talk about character building. I was so proud of our guys for just not getting down in that second half and really just grinding and chipping away.”
Tigers sophomore quarterback Bennett Sullivan threw three touchdowns - two to senior Reese Oder and another to senior Isaac Sertell - and senior Jake Lauck kicked a 38-yard field goal to give West Liberty-Salem a 24-14 halftime lead.
“I told the guys I take all that blame,” said Tigers first-year coach Brad Jarzab, a Shawnee High grad. “We were foot on the gas for a whole half, and I let them down and took my foot off the gas and we kind of just cruised out of the second half. That is one great football team and we knew that coming into here. We knew it was going to be a grind, knew it was going to be a battle and like you said, someone had to win. Sadly, it wasn’t us. And you know, it’s crazy how this game of football is based on one play.”
The Tigers fell to 4-3 and 1-1 in the division. They host Triad next week.
“I’m proud of my guys. They’ve grown so much over the last seven weeks and this one hurts.”
About the Author
