By Martin Cleary
As an offensive lineman, you wouldn’t expect to see Ewan Newton’s name beside the word ‘touchdown’ in a football game box score.
The Carleton Place resident is certainly familiar with the term as his hulking presence and speed has allowed him to open holes for his running backs to reach the end zone or provide pass protection for his quarterback to toss a six-point score.
But Newton recently accomplished something so big that it could be considered ‘a touchdown with a twist,’ when he committed to attend Harvard University in the fall of 2025 and play football for the Crimson.
Earlier this spring, Newton, a first-year student-athlete at the Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, and a few of his football teammates made the 90-minute trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to visit Harvard.
They took a full tour of the campus and football facilities. Newton met with Andrew Aurich, who was named Harvard’s football head coach in February.
At the end of their conversation, Aurich offered Newton an opportunity to play football for the Crimson in the NCAA Division 1 Football Championship Subdivision, which is the second highest level of American college football.
Newton announced his decision on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to commit to Harvard earlier this month.
“It will be cool to go to one of the best academic universities in the world,” Newton, 18, said in a telephone interview this week. “If the opportunity calls to play pro football, I’ll jump at it, but a Harvard degree will outlast football.”
Newton will complete his high school education with his senior-year classes at Phillips Exeter in 2024-25. When he enrols at Harvard, he plans to follow the lead of his grandfather and study economics.
The road to Harvard has had many necessary and positive detours for Newton, who spent three years at Carleton Place High School before transferring to Phillips Exeter, a 243-year-old institution “founded on the mission of united goodness and knowledge in the minds of our students – to empower them to do great things.”
Newton started his football career with two years in the Beckwith Irish Minor Football League, which provided developmental, full-contact football for youth in the Lanark County and surrounding areas.
Between 2019 and 2023, he played three seasons with the Kanata Knights AA team in the National Capital Amateur Football Association, winning the league midget title and interprovincial championship in 2022. He also patrolled the offensive line for the Cumberland Panthers AAA U18 junior varsity team in the 2022 Ontario Summer Football League.
Besides playing community team football, he also improved his game by attending eight specialty camps in the United States between February, 2022, and June, 2024. Newton was named the offensive lineman MVP at the 2023 Supermax 100 National Invitational.
Newton also studied the game under Victor Tedondo at Ottawa’s Gridiron Academy, which prepares young football players to make the transition to university football in Canada and the United States.
For this past academic year, Newton was accepted into Phillips Exeter to heighten his academic skills in the classroom and his athletic abilities with the Big Red under football head coach Panos Voulgaris and assistant coach (offensive line) Max Lane.
Phillips Exeter is considered one of the most selective boarding schools in the United States with a 10-per-cent acceptance rate.
“My mom (Krista) is a teacher and she pushed the academics, while my dad (John) encouraged me for football,” Newton said.
His first term at Phillips Exeter was an eyeopener as he was introduced to a new football system and a unique way of learning in the classroom. But he persisted and excelled for the remaining terms and was an honours student with a grade-point score of eight out of 11.
Academic classes at Phillips Exeter are conducted under the Harkness Table, which is a discussion-based learning method. Each of his classes had about 12 students, who sat around a large, oval table talking about ideas in “an encouraging, open-minded environment with only occasional or minimal teacher intervention.”
“Phillips Exeter has helped me tremendously,” enthused Newton, an imposing figure at six feet, four inches and 295 pounds. “I was happy with my last two terms. In my first term, I struggled, definitely. You needed to talk in class. You can’t hide or sit at the back (of the classroom).
“It was definitely an adjustment, but the other kids in the dorm helped me develop those skills.”
Playing for the Big Red, which had a 7-2 win-loss record in 2023, also benefited his game as an offensive tackle. He also can play guard.
“The league has so much talent. Past players have gone to Michigan and Notre Dame and on my team one player went to Virginia,” explained Newton, who also had offers from the University of Miami (Ohio), the University of Buffalo, the University of Maine and the University of New Hampshire.
“Going into the school (Phillips Exeter), I was a nervous wreck. But I found out all the kids were down-to-earth. It was super helpful going into a new culture.”
Phillips Exeter won the Northeast Prep Football Conference with a 7-1 record to qualify for the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Leon Modeste Bowl game against Choate Rosemary Hall, which won the Founders League at 8-0. Rosemary defeated Phillips 17-14 in their New England Championship game.
Coach Lane, who previously played seven years in the NFL with the New England Patriots, taught Newton that “an athletic lineman is a good offensive lineman.”
“Offensive linemen didn’t have to be massive humans who couldn’t move. They should be athletes who can run 20 miles an hour for 20 to 30 yards on a play,” Newton said.
“I’ve definitely improved. I didn’t realize athleticism played such a big role to run down the field for that extra yard. His (Lane’s) expertise has been top notch.”
When Newton returns to Phillips Exeter in August for his graduating year, he’s aiming to become a high-honours student (nine out of 11 grade-point average or higher) and continue to polish his football skills under coaches Voulgaris and Lane before joining the Harvard Crimson.
Read More in our 2024 High School Best Series, presented by Louis-Riel Sports-Études, as we tip our caps to top local student-athletes at: OttawaSportsPages.ca/Ottawa-High-School-Best-2024
~~~ Advertisement ~~~
~~~ Advertisement~~~
Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 53 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” column for the Citizen/Sun.
When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Martin can be reached by e-mail at martincleary51@gmail.com and on Twitter @martincleary.
~ SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM ~
We need your help to keep producing the local sports news you can’t find anywhere else!