Grizzlies claw Rams 34-14

Newport senior Berg Hughes scoops up a Riverside fumble in the second quarter.

NEWPORT – The home football game Friday night didn’t start that well for the Newport Grizzlies. The Riverside Rams, Newport’s longtime rival, scored on their first drive, benefitting from a pair of Newport face masking penalties.

The Grizzlies then marched down the field on its first drive, capping it with a 17-yard Hank Kirkwood to Brody Driver pass play and run, the first of five touchdowns for Driver. Kirkwood kicked the point after to put Newport in the lead, which it kept for the rest of the game, despite a couple big plays from Riverside.

Newport Coach Mark Duxbury said he was happy with the game.

“For the first game of the season I felt we played well,” Duxbury says. “Once our defense settled down after Riverside’s first offensive drive, the defense played fast and only gave up one more long drive.”

After the first quarter ended with Newport up 7-6, the Grizzlies blew the game open with a 20-point second quarter. Driver scored on a 2-yard rush, followed it up with a 61-yard TD run and caught another pass from Kirkwood for a 79-yard TD.

Duxbury said Driver had a big game.

“He’s very explosive and does not go down at first contact,” Duxbury says. “The offensive line did a good job, but even when we had some blown assignments, Brody made things happen by breaking tackles.”

Riverside answered with a big 55-yard pass and run just before the half ended. The Rams failed to convert the point after attempt and the half ended with Newport up 27-12.

Riverside scored again at the start of the second half on a 23-yard run, the only score of the second quarter, pulling to within a TD and 2-point conversion from tying the game.

Newport answered in the fourth quarter with a 14-yard TD run from Driver, his fifth touchdown.

While Duxbury was happy with the game, he said there is room for improvement.

“We still have a long way to go to get where we want to be as a team,” Duxbury says. “We need to polish up several small issues on both sides of the ball. We need to make sure we are paying attention to the small details.”

Newport’s ground game produced 353 yards, while its defense held Riverside to 84 rushing yards. Driver accounted for 262 of those yards. Kirkwood had 59 rushing yards, Brad Martin gained 24 yards on five carries and Aiden Kramer had a pair of carries for two yards.

The Rams had 152 passing yards, completing eight of 14 passes. Kirkwood completed six of nine pass attempts for 86 yards. He had one touchdown and was picked off once.

Newport is now playing in the Northeast 2B North League, with Lind-Ritzville/ Sprague, Chewelah, Freeman, Northwest Christian and Reardan.

In other action involving league teams, all the teams won their nonleague season openers. Lind-Ritzville/Sprague defeated Liberty 28-22, Chewelah beat Chelan 23-7, Freeman beat East Valley 44-7, Northwest Christian defeated Columbia (Burbank) 47-6 and Reardan bet Brewster 39-14.

Next week Newport hosts Priest River for a non-league game Friday, Sept. 13, that starts at 7 p.m.