Football: Newman Catholic falls to Algoma in season-opener.

The Newman Catholic High School football team kicked off the 2026 season on Friday night with a 44-6 loss to Algoma at Balliet Field in Wausau. It was a game that was broadcast live on Wausau Area Sports.

It was a tough start for the inexperienced Cardinals, who lost players that combined for 8 slots on the all-conference team a season ago and had only 15 players in uniform. Algoma, who finished 6-2 a season ago, jumped out to a 24-0 lead in the first quarter behind the big play. The Wolves had touchdown strikes of 68, 60 and 50 yards in the first quarter.

Algoma got on the board first when, on 3rd and 16, Jack Schwader took a handoff and went 68 yards down the right sideline for the touchdown with 9:23 to go in the first quarter. The two-point conversion was good and it was 8-0. With 3:54 to go in the quarter, quarterback Ethan Mellotte hit Cooper Fay on a 60 yard strike to make it 16-0. The Mellotte to Fay connection struck again from 50 yards with :56 to go in the first quarter to extend the advantage to 24-0.

Algoma added two more scores in the second quarter as Mellotte punched it in on a 1 yard run with 7:58 to go in the half and Jack Meverden had a 17 yard TD run with 2:52 remaining to make it 36-0 at halftime. Meverden would add a 51 yard touchdown run early in the 3rd quarter.

Newman Catholic drove the ball 90 yards for their touchdown in the 4th quarter. Eli Feit started the drive with a 26 yard run and then left the game with a cramp. Jacob Fox then came in at quarterback and would run 6 times for 64 yards on the drive and finished it with a 6 yard run for the touchdown that finished the scoring.

The Cardinals will be back in action next Friday at home vs. Owen-Withee. That game, and all Newman Catholic football games, will be broadcast live on Wausau Area Sports with the pregame at 6:40 pm and kickoff at 7.