Newman enjoys solid weather, performance in 42-0 win over Thomas Jefferson

HARVEY – When a potent offense gets a fast track and good weather, good results are likely to be the result.

That was the case with Newman Thursday night.

After playing in a driving rainstorm against McMain in a Week 1 victory, the Greenies got great weather and a stellar offensive performance in a 42-0 victory over Thomas Jefferson in a game seen live at CrescentCitySports.com and heard live at WRBH, 88.3 FM at Hoss Memtsas Stadium.

Making just his second start, junior quarterback Martin Butcher completed 11-of-14 passes for 163 yards and four touchdowns, with two going to senior Storey Charbonnet.

“I think Martin really showed poise,” Newman head coach Nelson Stewart said. “There was no point where he showed any panic. He didn’t force anything. We had bad weather last week. Tonight, it was good and Martin made good progressions. When passes were not there, he handed it off to James Poche’. He was accurate. He threw it well down the field. He extended plays.

“He doesn’t feel like a first year starter. He’s a natural leader who has been in our system since the seventh grade. I think his best is yet to come.”

Poche’ rushed seven times for 66 yards and two touchdowns, giving him seven rushing scores in just two games.

“I liked our overall performance,” Stewart said. “We battled some adversity, some field position, bad snaps and penalties. I thought we actually maintained some poise in those situations. We really got backed up. I really did not like the penalties. I’m going to have to look at the film to see some of those. We have not had that before. I liked the way our defense played throughout. James Poche’ ran it well.”

The Greenies broke on top immediately. Thomas Jefferson tried an onside kick to start the game and it was recovered by Newman. The Greenies drove 44 yards in six plays with Butcher connecting with Charbonnet on a nine-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0 with 10:13 to play in the quarter.

It stayed that way until the end of the quarter when the Greenies drove 84 yards in seven plays with Butcher hitting Charbonnet on a five-yard touchdown pass and it was 14-0 at the end of the quarter.

The Newman special teams came up big as Calder Schmidt blocked a punt and that set up a 16-yard touchdown run by Poche’ to give the Greenies a 21-0 lead with 9:50 to play in the half. Poche’ added to his fine performance with a 15-yard touchdown to make it 28-0 with 6:17 to play in the half. Butcher capped the first half scoring with a 50-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Jarmone Sutherland to make it 35-0 by halftime.

The only score of the second half, which was played in running time, was a 19-yard touchdown pass from Butcher to junior Murray Calhoun in the third quarter.

The Jaguars reached the Newman 27-yard line in the second quarter but a sack killed the drive and reached the Newman 38-yard line in the fourth quarter but a pair of negative plays in succession prevented any chance of scoring. Senior quarterback Arlen Williams, a Dartmouth commit, rushed seven times for 53 yards and completed 4-of-9 passes for 26 yards.

“We had some positive plays, we had a drive or two and drove down the field and made mistake after mistake,” said Thomas Jefferson coach Kevin Kelly. “You cannot make that many mistakes against a good team. It wasn’t indicative of the score. The margin was on us. You have to move on and get better. We cannot keep making mistakes. The option looked pretty good for us. I was very disappointed in the kicking game. We have to get that fixed. We will get our kicker and punter back next week.”

The Jaguars play at Brees Family Field against Lusher next Friday night.

““It will be a battle next week,” Kelly said. “I think it will be two evenly matched teams, two similar schools,” Kelly said. They are a little young like us. It should be back and forth. We have to play better and seize momentum again.”

Newman faces an improved 5A team in East Jefferson next Friday night at Lupin Field.

“Tonight was a good win but we still have a lot of work to do and a lot of improvement to make,” Stewart said. “It’s a big step up in class to face EJ. They are a big, physical team that runs the option. Frank Allelo does an excellent job. It’s going to be a tough football game. This will be our toughest opponent yet. It is a huge, huge football game for us that will tell us where we are.

Final

New  14    21    7    0   — 42

T.J. 0     0     0    0   — 0

Scoring

1^st Qtr.

New—Storey Charbonnet, 9 yard pass from Martin Butcher (Sam Moses kick)

New—Storey Charbonnet, 5 yard pass from Martin Butcher (Sam Moses kick)

2^nd Qtr.

New—James Poche’, 16 yard run (Sam Moses kick)

New—James Poche’, 15 yard run (Sam Moses kick)

New—Jarmone Sutherland, 50 yard pass from Martin Butcher (Sam Moses kick)

3^rd Qtr.

New—Murray Calhoun, 19 yard pass from Martin Butcher (Sam Moses kick)

Statistics

First Downs

Newman 18

Thomas Jefferson 5

Penalties

Newman 11 for 128 yards

Thomas Jefferson 8 for 54 yards

Turnovers

Newman  1

Thomas Jefferson 2

Sacks

Newman 1

Thomas Jefferson 1

Rushing Yards

Newman 113

Thomas Jefferson 85

Passing Yards

Newman 163

Thomas Jefferson 26

Total Yards

Newman  276

Thomas Jefferson  111