By ARCHIE MOUNTAIN
NEWPORT — A year ago, Newport trailed Hillsboro-Deering/Hopkinton at halftime, 42-0. On Saturday the Tigers trailed 6-0 at halftime.
Newport Coach John Proper mentioned that to his players following Saturday’s 25-13 loss to the 4-0 Redhawks. Newport finished the afternoon at 1-3.
Proper wanted his players realize just what that halftime score on Saturday really meant. “A lot of positive things came out of this game today,” he said. And in addition, the Tiger players performed at a much higher level than they displayed a week earlier in a shutout loss at undefeated Campbell, another 4-0 ream.
Lebanon is the third 4-0 team and Newport played the Raiders in the opening game of the season.
One thing that really stood out Saturday was Newport’s ability to keep coming back as Hillsboro increased its lead in the second half. The Tigers kept pushing the ball downfield and scored two touchdowns before the final scoreboard horn blew, signaling the end of the contest.
There was gang tackling on defense. “In the second half our backs started hitting the line at full speed,” Proper said. He also spoke highly of the defensive effort of Reuben Relente. “We can play with these guys,” Proper said.
Josh Sharron, a junior, piled up some yardage when he scored on a pass-run play covering 66 yards. Junior quarterback Marius Edwards lofted a short pass to Sharron who did the rest on his own down the right sideline.
In the end, however, Hillsboro-Deering’s speedy running back Colby Quiet, a 170-pounder, was too much for the Tigers. He scored three touchdowns in the contest.
Newport, 1-3, has now played four of the Top 5 teams in Division 3, including Lebanon, Campbell and Hillsboro-Deering, all 4-0, and Stevens, 3-1, in fifth position.
Monadnock, 2-2, comes to town Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff on Homecoming Weekend.
Hillsboro-Deering scored the only touchdown of the first half when Quiet scored from five yards out with 19.2 seconds remaining in the half.
Quiet made it12-0 with 5:30 left on the clock in the third period, this time from the 7-yard line.
It didn’t take Newport long to respond, cutting the Redhawks lead to 12-7 with 2:08 left in the third period on a nifty run through a crowd from the 23-yard line by sophomore Darshawn Chesser. Marius Edwards booted the extra point.
On this play, Chesser was surrounded by a group of players from both teams. He almost went down on one knee but maintained his balance to break out of the crowd and go untouched the rest of the way for a Newport score.
Hillsboro-Deering hit paydirt with 9:49 left in the game on a 1-yard plunge by junior quarterback Mike Obereim. The point-after boot was blocked by Newport.
Hillsboro put the game out of Newport’s reach with 3:09 remaining in the final period when Quiet scored his third touchdown, outrunning the Newport defense down the sideline for a 44-yard score. This time the point after kick by Charles Veitch split the uprights and the score was 25-7.
The Tigers didn’t give up, however, as junior Josh Sharron broke a tackle after catching a pass from Edwards and went 66 yards for a touchdown. A pass for the extra points failed.
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