The West Fork football team will look to take down Highway 65 rival Newman Catholic for the first time since 2020, as the teams meet in a Class A District 2 clash on Friday.
West Fork (4-0, 2-0 A-2) held on for a 7-6 homecoming win over AGWSR in district play last week. The Warhawks rushing attack has been humming with 1,176 yards. Dax Suntken and Blaine Schulz are the top rushing duo with 442 yards and 332 yards respectively. The Warhawks defense enters off their best goalline stands of the season where they allowed only six points, had an interception and halted two field goal attempts. Head Coach Dan Westhoff provides perspective on the team’s focus entering the rivalry matchup.
“There’s a healthy rivalry between the schools. It’ll be their homecoming. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. There’s pros and cons to that. We really need to focus on us. See who we have health-wise here,” says Westhoff. “Last year, we were in it till the end and ended up losing by five. I think we’re at the point now, hopefully where we’ve closed the gap. It should be a great football game. Bottom line, we have to execute at a higher level, or we’re not going to get it done. That’s the challenge, is to clean it up. Newman’s going to be ready to go and we need to be ready to go.”
Newman Catholic (1-3, 1-1 A-2) fell 27-6 at #2 (A) (Radio Iowa) Saint Ansgar in non-district play last week. Thomas McGuire paces a balanced Knights offense with 559 passing yards and five touchdowns. The Knights defense has been tested allowing 20 or more points per game.
The Knights won last year’s meeting 20-15.
Kickoff will be at 7:00 p.m. in Mason City.
