Newport 35, Priest River 8

PRIEST RIVER — In what was the Spartans' homecoming, military appreciation night, and annual rivalry game, sophomore Layton Goins accounted for a touchdown and 62 yards of total offense, but the Grizzlies' defense proved to be too much in a non-league loss Friday night at Spartan Stadium.

A scoreless, back-and-forth first quarter left fans on the edge of their seats, but on the first play of the second frame Newport High senior Jacob Reimers converted a rushing touchdown on a 3rd-and-goal on the 10-yard line to give the Grizzlies an early 7-0 lead.

The Spartans responded on their ensuing 72-yard drive with Goins, who scored a 2-yard rushing touchdown and the following two-point conversion to give Priest River an 8-7 lead.

Senior quarterback Brad Martin, who was 5-for-5 passing for 86 yards and a touchdown, capped off a 70-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown with 1:12 remaining in the second quarter and intercepted the Spartans' final play of the half to help Newport maintain a 14-8 lead heading into intermission.

Coming out of the locker room, Newport High junior Kutter Driver returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and intercepted a pass on Priest River's opening third quarter drive as the Grizzlies went ahead 21-8. Newport then capitalized on that interception when junior Dylan Aubrey caught a "hot potato" pass from Driver that tipped off multiple players' hands for an 11-yard score and a 28-8 lead.

With Priest River High junior Colton Kuprienko, who rushed five times for 34 yards, out with an injury after the first drive of the game, the Newport defense locked things down for the second-half shutout, eventually scoring their fifth and final touchdown early in the fourth off a 5-yard rush by Reimers.

"It's a real curve ball, but it's on me," Priest River High head coach Alex Zepeda said of altering the gameplan to adjust for injuries on the night. "It's hard because you have a play script for this defense, for this game, and it was going good at first ... we just weren't prepared for it and had to put players in positions they haven't been in on both offense and defense. It happens and it's part of the game."

Zepeda said despite the loss, it's something to learn and move on from, especially with a lot of season ahead.

"I really wanted this game for my seniors, my coaches, my community, but sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way — that's how football goes sometimes," Zepeda said.

On defense for the Spartans, sophomore Madden Reddinger racked up a career-high nine tackles, seven of which were solo, while Goins contributed eight tackles of his own. Senior Brady Hatten had five tackles, two for losses on the evening.

Junior Nate Fegert had 43 rushing yards across 14 carries and junior Kane Berns chipped in three catches and 29 receiving yards for Priest River (2-2), which travels to Kettle Falls on Friday for a non-league game against the Bulldogs.

Newport 0 14 14 7 — 35

Priest River 0 8 0 0 — 8

2nd quarter

NPT — Jacob Reimers 10 run (Hamberg kick), 11:53

PR — Layton Goins 2 run (Goins run), 6:12

NPT — Brad Martin 2 run (Hamberg kick), 1:12

3rd quarter

NPT — Kutter Driver 90-yard kickoff return (Hamberg kick), 11:44

NPT —  Dylan Aubrey 11 pass from Kutter Driver (Hamberg kick), 4:54

4th quarter

NPT — Jacob Reimers 5 pass from Brad Martin (Hamberg kick), 9:16

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

PR — Fegert 14-43, Kuprienko 5-34, Goins 9-21, Mathews 6-17. H. Leach 1-0. NPT — K. Driver 12-48, Reimers 5-24, Estrada 3-23, Martin 7-19, Wacenske 2-3.

PASSING

PR — Mathews 10-20-0-88. NPT — Martin 5-5-1-86, K. Driver 1-1-1-11.

RECEIVING

PR — Goins 4-41, Berns 3-29, Fegert 2-14, B. Leach 1-4. NPT — Reimers 4-56, Aubrey 2-41.