The Newton County Cougars saw a first-half lead disappear in the third quarter on Friday night against Quitman.
But instead of quitting, the Cougars responded with its best drive of the season.
After giving up a 14-0 lead, the Cougars used a 16-play drive to go 89 yards and take a 21-14 win over the homesteading Panthers on Friday night.
Newton County improves to 4-5 (3-1 in 5-4A) on the season and will be off for the final week of the regular season. The Cougars are locked in as the No. 2 seed in Division 5-4A.
Bass said the Cougars played one of their best games of the season.
“It was a big win for us, a really big win,” Bass said. “It allows us to host a home playoff game which is always big. I think that makes four years in a row we have hosted a home playoff game and that’s something that hasn’t been done in a long time. It was a big win for our kids. Our kids played really hard.”
The Cougars got the ball to start the game and put together a 14-play drive that ended when Cade Mangum missed a 25-yard field goal.
The game stayed scoreless until midway through the second quarter. The Cougars took advantage of a Quitman fumble and went 65 yards in five plays as L.T. Phillips scored on a 33-yard run. Mangum hit the PAT and County led 7-0.
The Panthers laid the ball on the ground again and the Cougars recovered on the Quitman 21. Two plays later as time expired Grey Hale hit Tylan McNichols on a 22-yard touchdown pass. Mangum’s PAT was good, and County led 14-0 at the half.
“We had a couple of turnovers that hurt us, but our kids did a really good job of tackling,” Bass said. “They are very athletic and have good size and good speed. We knew going in that some of them are really hard to tackle. I thought we played our assignments and were getting to the football. And we got a good push in the middle of our line.”
The third quarter belonged to the Panthers, due to some errors by the Cougars. Quitman got the ball to start the half and put together a 13-play drive before an interception by Cooper Johnson gave County the ball. But three plays later, County fumbled the ball back and Quitman had the ball at the County 7. Two plays later, Quitman scored on a 5-yard run to cut the Newton County lead to 14-7.
County was forced to punt on its next possession and a bad snap forced a short punt, given the Panthers the ball at the Cougars 25. Three plays later, Quitman scored on a 5-yard run to tie the game at 14-14.
“The third quarter was to a good period for us on offense or defense,” Bass said. “We gave them two short fields and they took advantage of it. But we overcame that, and I was proud of how we responded. I little earlier in the year, we might not have responded that way, but I think it shows our growth as a team.”
But Newton County responded with one of its best drives of the season, going 89 yards in 16 plays as McNichols scored on a 5-yard run with 7:09 left in the game. Mangum’s PAT gave Newton County a 21-14 lead.
Newton County had 248 yards rushing and 91 passing for 339 yards of total offense.
Hale was 5-of-10 passing for 91 yards with one TD and rushed for 43 yards on seven carries. Kimari Brown had 95 yards rushing on 18 carries while L.T. Phillips had 88 yards on 88 carries. McNichols had 22 yards rushing on five carries along with 55 yards receiving on three carries.
On defense, Logan Usry led the Cougars with eight tackles while Caleb Parkman had six tackles. Cooper Johnson had four tackles and an interception while Byron Pruitt, Josh Blaylock and Bobby Little each had four tackles apiece. Collier Mangum and Kaleb Davis each had three tackles apiece while Bryce Jones, Cade Clarke and McNichols each had two tackles apiece. Hale also had an interception for the Cougars.
