SPRINGFIELD – When Noah Blair connected with Matt Newell on a 65-yard touchdown pass during Friday night’s season-opening drive, it quickly became apparent that the Thurston teammates are going to be frequently mentioned in the same breath this season.
Blair, a senior, accounted for 429 yards and five touchdowns while Newell, a junior, caught 10 passes for 269 yards and three scores as the host Colts – playing for the first time on their new artificial turf – defeated Caldera, 45-29.
“In my book, Noah Blair is the best quarterback in the state,” Thurston coach Justin Starck said after the game. “He’s phenomenal, but nobody wants to give him any credit. Matt Newell has two older brothers (Jacob, Luke) who were phenomenal and he’s just another Newell and he’s special.”
A couple of Newell’s catches were particularly memorable.
Early in the second quarter, Blair lofted a long pass down the right sideline that was tipped by a Wolfpack defender. But Newell got his hands on the ball, juggled it momentarily, and held on for a 34-yard gain. Blair hit David McDonald three plays later for a touchdown.
Then in the third quarter, Newell went up for a pass between two defenders at the 1-yard line and came down with the ball. Two plays later, Blair rolled out and finished the job, hitting Newell for a 1-yard touchdown at the 8:39 mark, putting the Colts in command, 38-14.
Thurston’s victory was marred by a couple of injuries, especially the knee injury suffered by two-way senior lineman Brando Lopez early in the game.
“We’re worried it may be season-ending. He’s our best linemen, a three-year starter at defensive end,” Starck said. “He’s a special kid, so we feel for him. That sort of overshadows a fun night.”
Starck also wasn’t happy about his team’s opening-week sloppiness, as Caldera scored two of its touchdowns as the result of a blocked punt and an interception return.
“We had about 15 penalties, and that just wasn’t a clean game, and my wife wonders why I’m grumpy,” Starck said. “We were just too sloppy, plus the game took forever.
“But we’re going to get better. I’ve been doing this a long time, and we know what it takes to be playing in November. We have to shore up things up front. We committed a lot of mistakes and we have a lot of work to do.”
Fortunately, the work is all done on the new turf field, which was approved last winter.
“We had to play a lot of our games at Willamette last year because our field was such a mess,” Starck said. “The kids are super ecstatic and proud of their facility. It’s a fun thing. And it’s great to see that a lot of people came out to see the new field.”
The Colts even put on an air show for the fans to celebrate … courtesy of Noah Blair and Matt Newell.
