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Football: Fulton loses in 3rd straight game against Newman

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By Don Doxsie | Saturday, September 06, 2008 |

FULTON, Ill. — Forgive the Fulton Steamers if they’re looking forward to next week.

They finally will get a chance to play someone other than Sterling Newman.

The Steamers failed to do much to slow down Newman’s relentless ground attack Friday night, going down to a

44-7 season-opening loss in what was their third straight game against the Comets.

The two teams met in the final regular-season game last fall, then clashed again in the first round of the playoffs. Fulton won the regular-season game but got trounced,

51-6, in the postseason and had similar problems Friday against the third-ranked team in Illinois Class 3A.

“It’s going to be exciting to play someone else next week,’’ Fulton coach Patrick Lower said. “We’re looking forward to it. They’re not a real fun team to prepare for. They don’t really surprise you much. You know what they’re going to do. Stopping it is the hard part.”

The Comets rolled up 407 yards rushing Friday although it was a defensive stop that got them started. Fulton took the opening kickoff and drove to the 1-yard line, But the Comets stopped them right there to take possession of the ball.

They then marched 99 yards in 13 plays to take an 8-0 lead, and the rout was on.

“That gave everybody their confidence back,” senior halfback Nate Robbins said.

By halftime, it was 30-0.

Quarterback Dugan Repass called it “the perfect way to start the season.

“All our backs and receivers made all the 7-on-7 drills during the summer and we’ve been working really hard,” he said. “We put it all together tonight.”

Repass ran 50 yards for Newman’s second touchdown and fired a 70-yard pass to Robbins for the third. Robbins collected 126 yards on the ground and Kevin Ybarra rushed for 130 yards, two touchdowns and three two-point conversions.

“It was all good to see,’’ said Mike Papoccia, who is entering his 29th season as Newman’s head coach.

“When we went 99, it changed the tide.’’

Lower, whose team hosts Ottawa Marquette next week, wasn’t completely unhappy with everything he saw. His club managed to roll up 244 yards, split almost equally between running and passing.

“I thought we did some pretty good things,’’ he said. “We just didn’t do them consistently. A lot of that was because Newman is so good.”

Don Doxsie can be contacted at (563) 383-2280 or ddoxsie@qctimes.com.