Newton beats Philly for first time since 1997
The Newton High School football team might have been partying like it was 1997 Thursday night at Philadelphia High School.
That’s because the Tigers ended a 17-game losing streak to the Tornadoes with a 36-28 come-from-behind win.
As the Tigers (7-3) are heading into a playoff matchup at Mize, they put together one of their best performances of the season.
Head coach Zack Grady said this was the type of football he wanted to see Newton play all season long.
“This is what I came here for is to play championship football,” Grady said. “I don’t care who we play next week. That’s what we want to do.”
The Tigers and Tornadoes played to a scoreless tie for the first 21 1/2 minutes before Philadelphia struck first. They scored on a 19-yard touchdown pass and then added a 39-yard touchdown pass with just 14 seconds left in the half.
That’s when the tide turned for the Tigers. Corey Taylor returned the ensuing kickoff 65 yards to the Philadelphia 20. The referees put 1.2 seconds back on the clock, as the clock ran out after Taylor was pushed out of bounds.
Then Tyreke Snow threw the first of his four touchdown passes, a 20-yard strike to Isaiah Johnson for a touchdown at the buzzer. Snow added the 2-point conversion to make it 14-8 at halftime.
Newton returned from the half and went to work. Snow found Rayvion Nettles for a 35-yard gain and then Johnson for a 19-yard gain to the Philadelphia 5. Snow did the rest scoring the touchdown to tie the game.
Newton had another great drive end at the Philadelphia 2 after the Tornadoes recovered a fumble, but Newton forced a Philadelphia punt. That led to a 51-yard touchdown pass after Snow evaded a sack and then found Johnson underneath, who took it in for the score. The two-point failed, but Newton led 20-14.
Philadelphia responded with back-to-back touchdowns of its own. The first was an 18-yard touchdown after a big kickoff return with 20 seconds left in the third quarter. The two-point conversion gave the Tornadoes the 22-20 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
Philadelphia then took advantage of 45-yard run to score a 1-yard touchdown. The Tornadoes elected to go for two instead of kicking the PAT, but the pass failed leaving the lead at 28-20.
Newton answered after the Tornadoes were flagged for offside on fourth-and-3. Snow scrambled and found Kezarrian Wash for a 6-yard touchdown with 6:55 to play. Snow ran in the two points to tie the game.
With 3:51 to play, Wash came up with an interception and then broke free on a double move route on second-and-16. Snow found the open man for a 62-yard touchdown. Snow capped the scoring with a 2-point conversion.
Philadelphia tried to answer. A 38-yard touchdown pass was called back for holding. The 11-play drive ended with an incompletion, and Newton kneeled to run out the clock.
Snow finished with 294 yards passing with four touchdowns and one interception, completing 15 of 27 passes. He also had 86 yards rushing on 18 carries.
Johnson finished the night with 134 yards receiving on five catches with two touchdowns. Wash had two catches for 68 yards, both touchdowns. Nettles finished with 57 yards on three catches. Kaleb Traxler added four catches for 26 yards.
