A year after going winless, the Newton County Academy Generals finished a perfect run through the District 2-2A.
The Generals amassed more than 500 yards of offense and beat Ben’s Ford 54-20.
The Generals improve to 6-2 on the year and are 6-0 in district play. The win assures the Generals a first-round bye in the Class 2A playoffs.
“I thought we played one of our better games,” NCA coach Steve Nelson said. “Colby had another good game on both sides of the football and Hunter Scarbrough did what he does. I thought Trace Evans had his best game at quarterback and threw the ball really well. We got Lawson Reeves back this week and I think he will help us in the passing game. It was a good win. We just need to finish strong here and maybe we can sneak into the No. 2 spot in the playoffs.”
The NCA defense opened the game with a fumble recovery and Ben’s Ford turned the ball over on downs. NCA then got rolling on offense. Colby Hollingsworth ripped off a 45-yard run and then scored on a 20-yard run. Hollingsworth ran in the two-point conversion and the Generals led 8-0.
The Generals got the ball right back on a Braxton Kelly interception and immediately went to the air as Trace Evans hit Lawson Reeves on a 36-yard touchdown pass. The PAT failed and NCA led 14-0.
Ben’s Ford responded with a six-play, 64-yard drive and scored on a 6-yard run to cut the score to 14-7.
The Generals then went 44 yards in seven plays and Hollingsworth scored on a 1-yard run. The try was good and NCA led 22-7.
The Generals added one more touchdown before the half as Evans hit Kelly on a 29-yard touchdown pass. Evans ran in the two-point conversion and NCA led 30-7 at the half.
NCA got the ball to start the second half and went 80 yards in seven plays. Hollingsworth ripped off a big 47-yard run and then scored on a 2-yard run. The Generals converted the two-point conversion and the Generals led 38-7.
Ben’s Ford answered with a 12-play drive to cut the score to 38-14.
But NCA quickly went 52 yards in five plays as Hollingsworth scored on a 5-yard run with 10.5 seconds left in the third quarter. Hollingsworth ran in the two-point conversion and NCA led 46-14.
After recovering a Ben’s Ford fumble, the Generals added one last score as Evans hit Reid Terrell on a 29-yard touchdown pass and converted the two-point conversion to go up 54-14.
The Generals had 328 yards rushing and 180 passing for 508 yards of total offense. Hollingsworth had 175 yards on 20 rushes while Scarbrough had 85 yards on four carries. Evans had 47 yards rushing on three carries.
Evans was 5-of-8 passing for 180 yards while Braxton Kelly had two catches for 48 yards. Lawson Reeves had one catch for 36 yards while Micah Garrison had one catch for 35 yards. Scarbrough also had two catches for 32 yards while Paxton Russell had one catch for 29 yards.
On defense, Colby Hollingsworth was credited with 18 tackles and a fumble recovery while Scarbrough had 10 tackles. Garrison had 10 tackles while Russell had nine stops. Logan Smith had eight tackles and a fumble recovery while Reid Terrell had six stops. J.C. Collins had five tackles while Tyler Castillo had four tackles.
