Newton football coach Jeffrey Crosby said his Tigers had a hard time tackling the Leake County Gators.
That showed up on the stat sheet as the Gators rolled to 586 yards of total offense and took a 46-16 win over Newton on Thursday night.
Newton falls to 1-4 on the season and will host Lake on Friday night to open division play.
Crosby said the Tigers struggled to get the Gators to the ground.
“We just couldn’t tackle them, at all,” Crosby said. “They were just stronger than we were, especially up front. They had some really big guys up front and were bigger than they looked on film. And when we got to the backs, we had trouble getting them down to the ground. We did have some success on kickoffs but could never find the end zone on them.”
Leake scored first on a 10-play, 72-yard drive and punched it in on a 1-yard quarterback sneak to go up 8-0.
The Gators added a 57-yard run and a 17-yard touchdown pass to go up 24-8 before Newton scored.
After a 70-yard kickoff return by Tyzavion Townsend, Newton scored on a 5-yard run and also converted the two-point attempt to cut the score to 24-8.
But Leake answered with a quick, two-play, 45-yard drive and scored on a 5-yard run to go up 32-8 at the half.
Leake scored on an 80-yard run and a 20-yard pass as they led 46-8.
Newton added a late score as Townsend hit Jimare Kincaid in a 50yard touchdown pass. The Tigers also punched in the two-point conversion for the final margin of 46-16.
On offense, the Tigers had just 76 yards of total offense. Townsend had 63 yards rushing on 11 carries while Bryson Thomas was 3-of-11 passing for 25 yards. Jayden Tillman had one catch for 25 yards while Kincaid had a 5-yard catch for a touchdown.
“We tried some new guys in the backfield to see how they would run the football,” Crosby said. “When you are a running back, you have to see the hole and have to have vision. If you can’t see it, then you aren’t going to make and probably aren’t a running back.”
On defense, Jimare Kincaid led the Tigers with 17 tackles while Jamarian Brown and Allen Roberts each had 11 tackles. Juvenal Green had nine tackles while Desmond Stevens had eight stops. Jalis Hughes had five tackles while Townsend, Davion Davis and Derrick Moore each had four tackles apiece. Jy’Marques Holder and Jeremiah Johnson had three tackles apiece while Jayden Tillman, Jeremiah Caston, Xavier Snow and Chrisun Leverette each had two tackles. Kavion Davis also had a sack for the Tigers.
