Staff photo / Brian Yauger Mathews tailback Drew Spagnoletta carries the ball while evading Newton Falls sophomore Zayne Shelton during Friday's game. Spagnoletta had two touchdowns in the win.

VIENNA — Both Newton Falls and Mathews entered its Week 3 contest in search of its first win.

The Tigers had the early edge, but two quick touchdowns from Drew Spagnoletta late in the second quarter gave Mathews a lead it wouldn’t surrender in a 28-17 victory over Newton Falls.

With their first win in the books, the Mustangs can focus more on football now without the added pressure of hunting for their first win.

“You get that monkey off your back, and now we can focus on those mistakes we’re making. We can eliminate that and get better at those kinds of things,” Mathews coach Matt Polta said. “Now we can focus on football. We know where our identity is on offense, we know what we’re doing on defense and now you just hone those skills in and you get better at what we do.”

The Tigers got on the board first, coming in the form of a 27-yard field goal from junior Brady Lampman.

They quickly got the ball back after the following Mustangs drive stalled. Then Newton Falls made its way down the field with the hopes of adding to its lead.

With no one open, Tigers quarterback Chace Clonch trusted his legs, bobbing and weaving through the traffic to find the end zone and add to that lead.

Clonch is a gamebreaker for Newton Falls.

“The kid is special, and for his size, he plays a lot bigger than his size,” Tigers coach Josh Goss said. “He’s tough as nails. He’s the heartbeat of our offense. We base a lot of what we do around him, whether it’s getting him on a misdirection and running backside or just giving him the ball, because, when the game’s on the line or it’s a crucial situation, you want the ball in your playmaker’s hands, but also kids that you trust, and I trust him with everything I’ve got.”

But on the ensuing possession, Mathews’ offense woke up.

The Mustangs worked their way down the field, culminating in a 10-yard touchdown rush by Spagnoletta with 1:32 left in the first half.

On the ensuing possession, Newton Falls fumbled, giving Mathews a chance to tie or take the lead before half’s end.

Once again, the Mustangs tapped Spagnoletta, and once again he delivered. After nearly scoring, but ruled out of bounds at the 6-yard line, they gave Spagnoletta the ball once again, and he made that carry count. Scoring with 17 seconds left in the half, Spagnoletta and Mathews quickly flipped the script on Friday’s game.

“(On the sideline) I’m calming the kids down a little bit,” Polta said. “I talked to them and said, ‘Hey, get it together. We can’t be making these mistakes. No more penalties, no more problems,’ and then things just kind of clicked. We tried to kind of change some things up this week, we went with a little bit more spread (offense), and then we went to our bread-and-butter, and it just worked, so we ran it.”

The Mustangs started the second half with the ball, and they weren’t about to waste the opportunity. Eating four minutes off the clock, Mathews utilized its ground game, marching down the field. Londyn Deak got the ball at the goal line, grinding his way in. The snap on the point-after attempt was wonky, but Caden Brubaker, the holder, rushed into the end zone for two points.

In less than six minutes of game time, Mathews erased a 10-0 deficit and took a 22-10 lead.

Brubaker got a touchdown of his own early on in the fourth quarter, extending the Mustang lead.

But the Tigers had life in them yet. Clonch once again made a difference with his legs, racing into the end zone to cut the deficit with five minutes left. Mathews recovered the onside kick, however, giving it ample opportunity to run out the remaining time.

Newton Falls forced a three-and-out, though, and the Tigers got another possession to try and cut into the lead. On third-and-long, Mustangs sophomore Grayson Polonus intercepted Clonch’s pass and set Mathews (1-2) up to seal its first win of the season.

With a lot to build on from Friday’s game, Newton Falls (0-3) hits the road for Week 4, taking on its first league foe of the year in Ravenna Southeast. The difference against the Pirates comes down to physicality.

“You gotta be physical, and we gotta tackle better,” Goss said. “That’s something we’ve struggled with, since I’ve taken over, was tackling. We do tackling stations, tackle drills, we put our guys in different scenarios that are supposed to mock a Friday night game. I thought we tackled a lot better than we have the last two weeks, but we’ve got to tackle better, and we got to be a little bit tougher and more physical. I think if we can do that, we can compete with a lot of teams on our schedule this year.”

Mathews goes back on the road for its first league game, taking on Pymatuning Valley.