Good Knights: Newport runs past Skyview

The Skyview football team had no answer.

With that, the Storm had no chance Saturday night at Kiggins Bowl.

Newport of Bellevue rushed for 566 yards and gained 640 yards of offense in a stunning, 56-35 victory over the Storm in a Class 4A state preliminary round playoff game.

“Is that all?” Skyview coach Steve Kizer asked. “At least their punter came out of retirement one time.”

Yeah, but long after the game was decided. Newport scored touchdowns on its first seven possessions, not including the end of the first half. The Knights had 403 yards rushing and a 42-7 lead at the half.

“We weren’t ready to go, on either side of the ball in the beginning of the game,” Kizer said. “That’s too bad. But I was proud of the way we kept fighting.”

Skyview’s Jordan Berni threw for 277 yards and four touchdowns and also rushed for another score for the Storm.

That was not nearly enough to offset Newport’s offense. Conner Baumann rushed 22 times for 236 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Isaac Dotson rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns, plus threw for 74 yards and another score.

Dotson made all the right calls in the triple-option offense: keeping the ball for big gains when the Skyview defense allowed, handing it off when he saw an opening for Baumann or any other teammate.

“That’s the key to our whole offense,” Dotson said. “It’s all about the right read. Once we make the right read and our linemen are blocking, our offense is pretty unstoppable.”

No argument from the Storm.

“We didn’t play our best. We didn’t tackle well. But give them credit,” Kizer said. “We knew they were a good team, too. And their quarterback is a really great option quarterback.”

The Knights needed five plays to score on the opening possession of the game, with Dotson finding a hole for a 35-yard run.

Skyview went three-and-out on its first possession, and the Knights methodically went 57 yards on 13 plays, converting two fourth downs, to make it 14-0.

Baumann broke free on Newport’s next drive for a 75-yard touchdown run and a 20-0 lead. After a Skyview turnover, Dotson found the end zone again on a 17-yard run to make it 28-0.

Skyview got on the board on a Berni-to-Jacob Dennis touchdown pass to make it 28-7. But the Knights scored the final two touchdowns of the half for a 42-7 advantage. The Knights also had the ball just before the half but did not use a two-minute offense, settling for the 35-point advantage.

The importance of that was the game never made it to a running-clock format because the Knights never got a 40-point advantage.

Berni scored on a 9-yard run on the first drive of the second half to make it 42-15. It was the first of four second-half touchdowns for the Storm.

“Skyview football is all about pride, a whole bunch of effort, and whole bunch of loving people,” senior Anthony Chamberlain said. “We came up short. But I’m proud (of the second half). You don’t come in our house and skunk us. We wanted to come out with pride and effort. We made sure we scored a lot of points.”

Newport responded to Skyview’s TD with one of its own, but the Storm got the next two to make it a 49-27 contest. Berni found Dennis again and later hit Daniel Thompson for a 67-yard TD strike.

Baumann would score again for Newport, but the Storm got the final points of the night on a sweet grab by Forrest Russell on a 24-yard pass from Berni.

While the Storm played better in the second half, they still left Kiggins Bowl disappointed. This team played in the Class 4A state championship a year ago. This year, they did not make it to the state playoffs.

Instead, Newport is off and running to the round of 16.

NEWPORT 56, SKYVIEW 35

Newport 20 22 7 7–56

Skyview 0 7 14 14–35

First quarter

New — Isaac Dotson 35 run (Cody Joner kick)

New — Brian Setijono 5 run (Joner kick)

New — Conner Baumann 75 run (kick blocked)

Second quarter

New — Dotson 17 run (Eric Rodan run)

Sky — Jacob Dennis 26 pass from Jordan Berni (Carter Johnson kick)

New — Drew Sample 42 pass from Dotson (Joner kick)

New — Rodan 1 run (Joner kick)

Third quarter

Sky — Berni 9 run (Forrest Russell run)

New — Paul Wells 1 run (Joner kick)

Sky — Dennis 15 pass from Berni (run failed)

Fourth quarter

Sky — Daniel Thompson 67 pass from Berni (kick failed)

New — Baumann 10 run (Joner kick)

Sky — Russell 24 pass from Berni (Jabari Marshall run)

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Newport: Dotson 18-142, Rodan 10-84, Baumann 22-236, Setijono 9-60, Paul Wells 6-44. Skyview; Kalvin Johnson 7-62, Xavier Norman 2-18, Antonio Sparrow 2-9, Forrest Russell 1-0, Jabari Marshall 4-28, Berni 13-42.

PASSING — Newport: Dotson 4-5-9-74. Skyview; Berni 19-29-0-277, Russell 0-1-1-0.

RECEIVING — Newport: Setijono 1-18, Sample 2-56, Baumann 1-0. Skyview; Dennis 3-47, Anthony Chamberlain 1-24, Sparrow 1-13, Russell 4-63, Thompson 5-111, Johnson 1-8, Spencer Miles 2-11, Marshall 1-0.