The night belonged to the Newport Knights offensive line in a dominating victory against the Inglemoor Vikings.
Newport scored all eight of its touchdowns on the ground en route to a 58-30 victory against Ingelmoor on Sept. 25 at Newport High School. Newport ran the ball on close to 85 percent of its plays and controlled the line of scrimmage. Its playmakers did the rest in the open field. Sophomore starting quarterback Brandon Steinberg had four rushing touchdowns (83 yards, 56 yards, 26 yards and 49 yards) in the contest.
Knights’ featured running back Thomas Day scored on a 49-yard touchdown jaunt and an 11-yard touchdown run. O’Shae Richard scored on a 1-yard touchdown run and reserve running back Liam Malley rounded out the scoring parade with a 1-yard touchdown plunge in the fourth quarter.
Knights’ head coach Drew Oliver said his team needed a victory after losing its last two games (Skyline, Bothell).
“The offense played great tonight. Guys were getting into the open field and making guys miss,” Oliver said. “We still had too many penalties and too many guys getting called for holding. We have those things to clean up but overall it feels good to get back in the winning column.”
Day said the entire team did its job in the blocking game, which allowed him and his teammates to rumble for large gains in the Inglemoor secondary. Day said many of the play calls were designed to get Newport ball-carriers the ball in open space on the edge.
“It has been something we didn’t do a ton of last year because our offensive line was so big where we could make plays going up the middle,” Day said. “As the season has progressed we have found that getting me the ball in space helps me get loose. That is something we did a lot tonight. The offensive line and receivers did a great job of blocking down the field.”
Newport bolted to a 24-6 lead after Steinberg’s 83-yard touchdown run with 9:41 left in the second quarter. Inglemoor scored two touchdowns on its ensuing offensive possessions, cutting Newport’s lead to 24-18 with 6:14 left in the second period. The Knights outscored the Vikings 34-12 in the final 30 minutes of play to seal the win.
The Knights will make the short trip to the Sammamish plateau where they will face the Eastlake Wolves at 7 p.m. on Oct. 2 in Sammamish.
“I tell our team this all the time, it’s about us, it’s not about anybody else. We’re going to just keep taking baby steps ourselves,” Oliver said. “Eastlake is a good team. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@bellevuereporter.com
