April 30—JAMESTOWN—Rain wasn’t the Bismarck Century’s worst enemy Tuesday night.
Instead, it was the Jamestown High School football team.
Jamestown improved its home record to 5-0 on Tuesday night, defeating Century 3-0. Next up on the Jays’ three-game week schedule is a 5 p.m. contest at Mandan on Thursday
The rain may have caused some less than ideal playing conditions, but it failed to dampen the Blue Jays’ intensity or spirit.
“Nobody wants to play in rainy weather on grass, but I thought the girls did a phenomenal job tonight for what they were asked to do,” JHS coach Colton Altringer said. “I will achieve victory today.”
In the 18th minute, Amelia Newman took advantage of Layla Becker’s pass to put the home team 1-0 up.
“I was really excited to finally get Layla’s shot,” Newman said. “I couldn’t have scored that goal without my teammates. Layla just had really good balls that way, so it was easy for that goal to happen.”
In the 26th minute of the second half, Newman’s name appeared in the statistics books again.
Newman was credited with an own goal from the Century defense to make the game 2-0.
“I was surprised by the tackle, but without my teammates asking for it, the ball wouldn’t have been played in the first place,” Newman said. “My teammates did a good job of talking about it.”
Newman, a freshman for the Jays, has been playing football since the summer after sixth grade. She joined the Blue Jay program in 2022 as a seventh grader and has been a part of the high school program ever since.
“Newman is a workhorse,” Altringer said. “That kid – I know what I’m going to take away from every game of hers. She’s going to work hard, she’s going to go into every 50-50 challenge with stubbornness and toughness as nails and sometimes, at the end of that day, she’ll just outperform the other player and there’s nothing you can do.”
Altringer has coached Newman — both at the club level and in high school — since she moved to Jamestown from Fargo.
“I’ve watched her grow up over the last few summers,” Altringer said. “She’s now taking her athleticism and combining it with a football intelligence. She can be as quick as any other player on the field, but she’s also mentally engaged on the field. Not only will she outplay you, she’ll outplay you. . “
Facing Century was a little intimidating for Newman, but the freshman said she had confidence the Blue Jay team would maintain its composure and continue to fight for every ball.
“It’s definitely very challenging going up against veterans from older teams because they have more experience and are stronger than us, but it also gives me the opportunity to overcome my mistakes as a younger player,” Newman said. “We stayed strong tonight and fought through it.”
The Blue Jays are now officially in the second half of the season and have just eight more games scheduled before the Class A State Tournament scheduled to take place May 30-June 1. On April 30, the Jays were 7-1. Mandan is also 7-1, while Minot is undefeated at 7-0.
“I think we have a chance to get to state right away,” Newman said. “We have some challenging games ahead of us, but if we just get through them, I think we can be one of the top seeds in the West.”
Jamestown 3rd, 0th Century
AC 0 0 — 0
JHS 1 2 — 3
Punctuation
First half
1. JHS, Amelia Newman (Layla Becker), 18 minutes.
Second time
2. Own goal of the century (Newman) in the 66th minute; 3. JHS, Maggie Godboldt (Briella Martin), 74 minutes.
Shots on goal: 4th century; Jamestown 7
Goalie save: Century, Ashlyn Hagerott 5; Jamestown, Olivia Sorlie 4
