Newton County football coach Bobby Bass believes to win playoff football games, the most physical team normally wins.
That was certainly the case on Friday night as the Cougars ran roughshod over Raymond and took a 31-7 win.
Newton County improves to 5-5 on the season and will travel to Poplarville on Friday night.
Bass said his team played their most physical game of the season.
“Coming in, it was hard to tell how good they were because all of the teams in their region were very similar,” Bass said. “They had some athletes, but our kids rose to the challenge. They weren’t really complicated on offense, and I thought our kids played very physical. It’s probably the most physical game we have played this year. We will have to have the same approach this week with Poplarville.”
The Rangers got the ball to start the game, but the Cougars got an interception by Tylan McNichols to end the threat.
The Cougars then went 80 yards in five plays as Grey Hale scored on a 20-yard touchdown run. Cade Mangum hit the PAT and County led 7-0 early in the first quarter.
After a Raymond punt, the Cougars went 70 yards in nine plays as Hale hit another big play, scoring on a 44-yard run with 8:58 left in the second quarter. Mangum’s PAT was good, and County led 14-0.
The Cougars added a 27-yard field goal with 18 seconds left in the half to take a 17-0 lead at the half.
“I thought we had a good game plan on offense and defense,” Bass said. “There were some things we wanted to exploit and some things we thought would work. I thought we did a great job of preparing for those and our kids did a good job of executing the game plan. I think that was the difference it the game and our kids played really hard.”
The Cougars got the ball to start the second half but fumbled on the Raymond 24. The Rangers then went 76 yards in 15 plays and scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass. The PAT was good, and County led 17-7.
The Cougars lined up to punt on its next possession but pulled off a fake punt as Hale hit McNichols on a 45-yard touchdown pass. Mangum’s PAT was good, and County led 24-7 late in the third quarter.
County missed a field goal on their next possession and finished with a nine-play, 54-yard drive as Hale scored on a 17-yard touchdown run. Mangum’s PAT gave County a 31-7 lead for the final margin of victory.
“It could have easily been a shutout,” Bass said. “They popped one long run and we held them at the 5 and that was a big stop. If you watch them on film, they have been getting away with a lot of stuff, illegal formations and passes.”
County had 271 yards rushing and 215 passing for 486 yards of total offense. Hale was 10-of-11 passing for 215 yards and the senior quarterback also rushed for 101 yards on six carries with three TDs. Kamari Brown had 102 yards rushing on 14 carries while L.T. Phillips had 42 yards rushing on nine carries. McNichols had eight catches for 137 yards while Ethan Bounds had one catch for 64 yards.
On defense, L.J. Cole had nine tackles and a sack while Caleb Parkman had nine tackles as well. Cooper Johnson and Tylan McNichols each had six tackles and an interception. Bryce Jons and Cade Clarke each had five tackles apiece while Charlie Carmichael had four tackles. Josh Blaylock, Bobby Little, Kaleb Davis and Dontavius Robinson each had three tackles apiece.
