Newburgh rolls to win over Kingston
Goldbacks crush Tigers, 72-14 in 113th meeting of longtime rivals
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Newburgh Free Academy cashed in on every takeaway it had Friday night, rolling to a sixth consecutive victory over Kingston High’s football team.
The Goldbacks won the 113th meeting with the Tigers, scoring 52 points in the first half en route to a 72-14 triumph.
It’s the second time Kingston has allowed 70 or more points this season. Newburgh, which leads the series that started in 1915 56-52 with five ties, came close to the 76 it tallied in 2003 — the most yielded by the Tigers in school history.
Terry Anderson ran five times for 126 yards and three touchdowns and linebacker Donovan Kenan returned two blocked punts for TDs to lead the Goldbacks.
Newburgh is now 4-1 overall and 3-0 in Section 9, Class AA. Kingston fell to 2-2 in AA and 2-3 overall.
The Tigers managed just 96 yards on offense. The threetime defending AA champion Goldbacks stymied Kingston’s passing game from the start. The Tigers went three-and-out on their first five possessions. Chapman Parker had thirddown passes batted away on the first two drives.
Anderson scored on a 19yard run and Justin Barnhill on a 6-yarder to put NFA up 14-0 early.
Kenan returned a blocked punt 42 yards for a TD, but Jackson Parker countered for Kingston with a 94-yard kickoff return for a score. Three plays later, Anderson responded with a 68-yard
gallop for a 27-7 advantage after one quarter.
The second quarter opened with 6-foot-2 lineman Jeremiah Coleman blocking a Tiger punt and Kenan returning it 15 yards for a TD.
Touchdown runs of 22 yards by Anderson and 6 from Giqni Hill, plus Derek Lane’s 25-yard pass to Kameron King had Newburgh ahead 52-7 at halftime. One score was set up by a third blocked punt and and another
by Barnhill’s interception.
“They are an example of a program that’s running and doing what needs to be done and we’re an example of a program that’s trying to get to that point,” Kingston coach Quintin Johnson said.
“I told them, ‘If we ever want to beat that team, there’s a lot of things that we got to fix and we saw that tonight.’ The mistakes we made tonight. You can’t play anybody and make
those mistakes and expect to come out on top, far less than the defending champs they are,” he noted.
“At the end of the day, the score was what it was. The most disappointing part to me was just the number of mistakes that we made. When we had opportunities, we didn’t capitalize on them.”
The only thing that slowed down the Goldbacks from scoring more in the second half was a running clock. They went 80 yards on four plays to open the half and scored on Syncere Tatum’s 9-yard run. An 81-yard march was capped by senior lineman Christian Gray’s 1-yard
run.
Kingston got most of its offense on Chapman Parker’s 51-yard pass play to Jackson Parker for a TD with 6:51 remaining.
Nashaun Johnson went 67 yards on the ensuing kickoff and Newburgh closed out the scoring with sophomore Joseph Russell’s 10-yard run.
The Goldbacks finished with 318 yards on 33 carries and three quarterbacks completed their combined four pass attempts for 132 yards.
Despite the loss, Kingston is still very much in the Class AA playoff hunt. A win in next Friday’s Homecoming Game against Middletown or the Oct. 19 contest
at Pine Bush could secure the Tigers a sectional berth.
“We are just learning the process of winning and the process of building a culture and a program. Every week it’s another step in that process,” said Johnson, whose team beat Valley Central last Friday.
“Last week, we did some things that were good and we took a step (forward),” Johnson added. “This week, more things went against us than went for us, but that’s a part of the process, too.
“How are we going to respond? Are we going to show up and be ready to go?”