The Newton Cardinal Football team will be approximately 15 minutes south of the Iowa-Minnesota border tonight when the team takes on the second-ranked Decorah Vikings in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs. This is the third straight playoff appearance for the Cardinals. The past two seasons, they lost road games at Carlisle and Western Dubuque. Newton is 6-3 overall while Decorah is a 9-0 District Champion. The Vikings may be without their starting quarterback Louis Bucksa. The senior has thrown for 1,236 yards and 14 touchdowns and has four rushing touchdowns on 14 carries totaling just over 100 yards. Bucksa was injured in the first half of Decorah’s 10-7 win October 18th over Western Dubuque. He did not play last Friday night in Decorah’s victory over Waterloo East. Newton Coach Andy Swedenhjelm doesn’t know if Bucksa will play tonight

“You would assume he’s out but you never know. Kids try to give it a go, especially if it’s potentially the last game. They are not going to tell us much about that.”

Coach Swedenhjelm says the Cardinals had a good week of practice, and he believes the team is ready to play a good game.

“Our kids are focused and locked in. I am really happy with their effort and intensity this week.”

The last time Newton won a playoff football game was in 2014 against Clear Creek Amana. Tonight’s game can be heard on kniakrls.com KRLS3. The pregame is at 6:30 p.m. with the kickoff at 7:00.