Newton County Academy 70, Kemper County 30
The Newton County Academy juggernaut just continues to roll over opponents.
The Generals scored 34 unanswered points in the second quarter and rolled to a 70-30 win over homestanding Kemper Academy on Friday night.
The Generals improved to 6-0 on the season and will travel to Calhoun Academy on Friday night in a non-division contest.
NCA coach Stevie Nelson said the Generals were “sluggish” in the first quarter but eventually got things going to put the game away early.
“I thought we started off a little sluggish, especially on defense,” Nelson said. “But on offense, I think we scored every time we had the ball. We were a little frustrated with the first quarter and it was a one-score game early in the second quarter. But we scored five times in the second quarter and pulled away to take the win. It was great to win and everybody played in the second half. Now it’s time to move on and get ready for a good Calhoun team.”
The Generals got the ball to start the game and scored on a 4-yard run. Jackson Bunyard kicked the PAT and the Generals led 7-0.
Kemper answered right back as they broke an 80-yard touchdown run. The Generals converted the two-point conversion and Kemper held an 8-7 lead.
The Rams got the ball back on an onside kick but the NCA defense held.
The Generals then scored on a pair of Hunter Scarbrough run, finding the end zone on runs of 69 and 15 yards as NCA led 22-8 at the end of the first quarter.
The Rams made things interesting as they scored on a 9-yard run to cut the score to 22-14 early in the second.
But the Generals then rolled of 34 unanswered points to put the game away. The first score was a 15-yard run by Scarbrough to go up 28-14.
NCA then got back-to-back touchdown passes from Thrash to Bunyard. The first was a 30-yard pass and the second was a 58-yarder. Bunyard hit both PATs and NCA led 42-14.
Scarbrough then scored on a 23-yard run and Bunyard finished with a 12-yard run late in the second. Bunyard hit both PATs and NCA led 56-14 at the half.
“It was a one-score game there and we were kind of frustrated with that,” Nelson said. “But we got rolling on offense and played better on defense and got some stops and were able to pull away there. Taylor Burt got to play some quality snaps at quarterback with the first group and that’s something that he needed to be able to do. I thought there were lots of good things that happened. The bottom line is a lot of people got to play and we got the win.”
Kemper scored first in the second half on an 85-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion was good and NCA led 56-22.
NCA answered with a 41-yard touchdown run from Bo Smith and a two-point conversion by J.C. Collins to make the score 64-22 at the end of the third quarter.
Kemper against scored on an 85-yard run and converted the two-point conversion to cut the score to 64-30.
NCA finished off with a 6-yard run from Logan Heidelberg for the final margin of 70-30.
