In a game for the district 5-4A championship, Newton County fell short against Leake Central.
The Gators used a big-play offense and stingy second-half defense to take a 25-22 win on Friday night.
Newton County falls to 5-4 on the season and will finish as the No. 2 seed in 5-4A. After finishing out the regular season at Southeast Lauderdale on Thursday, County will host Mendenhall in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
County coach Bobby Bass said the Cougars didn’t capitalize on their opportunities.
“We just had too many missed opportunities, and when you play a good, really athletic team, you have to capitalize on those chances that you get,” Bass said. “A good team is going to limit your opportunities. We scored to win and got holding penalty and then another and didn’t score there, that was big. We got it two more times and should have scored on the last drive but didn’t execute. For the most part, the defense played well. We let the quarterback escape a couple of times that hurt us and their big receiver got loose and made some big plays.”
County got the first break of the game when Leake punted on its first possession. The punt was almost blocked and only made it to the 18. Two plays later, Byron Pruitt scored on a 1-yard run. Tali King then hit Pruitt on the two-point conversion and Newton County led 8-0 early in the first quarter.
Leake then answered with an eight-play, 66-yard drive and scored on a 27-yard pass. The try for two failed and Newton County held an 8-6 lead.
County answered quickly. After a 75-yard return by Pruitt, Miles Mangum finished off a five-play drive with a 1-yard run. The try for two failed and County led 14-6.
Leake answered as they went 71 yards in 10 plays and scored on a 9-yard touchdown pass. The PA failed and County held 14-12 lead.
The game stalled until late in the half. After a Tali King interception, Leake went 48 yards in three plays and scored on a 17-yard quarterback scramble. The try for two failed and Leake led 18-14 at the half.
Newton County got the ball to start the second half and went 77 yards in 10 plays as Pruitt scored on a 7-yard run. Juan Brown ran in the two-point conversion and Newton County led 22-18.
After a Leake punt, County drove down and scored but it was called back on a holding penalty. After another holding call, the Cougars eventually turned the ball over on downs.
Leake made them pay as they hit an 81-yard touchdown pass with 10:28 left in the game. The PAT was good and Leake led 25-22.
County had three more possessions but fumbled, punted and turned the ball over on downs as the Gators held on for the win.
The Cougars had 263 yards of total offense with 152 rushing and 111 passing. Juan Brown led the Cougars with 133 yards rushing on 18 carries. Miles Mangum had 11 yards on three carries with a TD while Pruitt had three carries for seven yards with two TDs.
Tali King was 12-of-22 passing for 111 yards with an interception. Cam Bell had six catches for 53 yards while Pruitt had two catches for 27 yards.
On defense, Zack Garvin led the Cougars with nine tackles while Mangum had eight stops. Grant Keith had seven tackles and a sack while Peyton Hardy, Jacob Gilbert, Ben Norman and Pruitt each had six tackles. Kaleb Davis had five tackles while Juan Brown and Logan Evans each had four tackles. Charlie Carmichael had three tackles while Harrison Chaney, Bell, Kaleb Webster and Eli Slay each had two tackles.
