The Newton Tigers dug themselves a big hole on Thursday night against Pelahatchie.
The Tigers rallied in the second half but couldn’t quite complete the comeback as they lost 48-34 to the Chiefs.
Newton falls to 1-6 on the season and 0-2 in division 5-2A play.
Newton coach Jeffrey Crosby said he was proud of the second-half effort but hopes his team can start a little faster in the coming weeks.
“I’m proud of the kids, they played really hard in the second half,” Crosby said. “We can’t wait until the second half to start playing hard and we can’t leave it in the official’s hands. We got hit with some holding penalties late in the game that really hurt us. But if we can play as hard as we did in the second half the next two games, we will have a chance to win those games and have a good seed for the playoffs.
The Tigers struggled on offense in the first half, punting on their first three possessions. Meanwhile, Pelahatchie built a 24-0 lead on touchdown runs of one, three and five yards.
Newton finally got on the board with a nine-play, 65-yard drive. Tazayvion Townsend scored on a 2-yard run and also converted the try for two to cut the lead to 24-8 at the half.
“We played a lot better in the second half,” Crosby said. “Defensively, we were lined up wrong and once we got that fixed, we played a lot better. And we were trying to do too much on offense in the first half. Once we made some adjustments at halftime, we played better on both sides of the ball. We started to throw the ball more because they were loading the box and were able to make some big plays on the outside.”
Newton got the ball to start the second half but fumbled on the first play. Pelahatchie scored three plays later on a 3-yard run and converted the two-point conversion to go up 32-8 with 10:30 left in the third quarter.
But Newton got a 49-yard kickoff return and scored on a 30-yard touchdown pass to Jymarques Holder on a 30-yard touchdown pass. The try for two failed and newton cut the lead to 32-14.
Pelahatchie answered with an 11-play, 60-yard drive and scored on a 2-yard run and convert the PAT to extend the lead to 40-14.
Newton then answered with an 11-play, 62-yard drive and scored on a 4-yard run by Townsend with 22 seconds left in the third quarter. The try for two failed and Newton trailed 40-20.
Newton got a break and recovered a Pelahatchie fumble. They scored six plays later on a 28-yard touchdown pass to Holder. The try for two was good and Newton cut the score to 40-28 with 10:01 left in the fourth.
Newton got the ball right back when they recovered a squib kick on the kickoff. Jaden Moore then hit Townsend on a 36-yard touchdown pass. The try for two failed and Newton trailed 40-34.
The two teams then turned the ball over on downs and Pelahatchie added a 25-yard touchdown run for the final margin of 48-34.
Newton had a balanced night on offense with 132 yards passing and 120 yards rushing for 252 yards of total offense. Townsend was 2-of-2 passing for 54 yards with two TDs while Jaden Moore was 4-of-10 passing for 78 yards. Townsend had 55 yards rushing on 14 carries while Moore had 37 yards rushing on three carries. Holder had 82 yards receiving on three catches while Townsend had two catches for 38 yards. Townsend also had 105 yards in kickoff returns.
On defense, Jimare Kincaid led the Tigers with 15 tackles while Kevin Davis had 13 tackles. Chrishun Leverette had 11 tackles while Rayshon Bunkley, Desmond Stevens and Janis Hughes each had 10 tackles. Jamarian Brown had nine tackles while Holder and Juvella Green each had eight tackles. Allen Roberts had six tackles while Derrick Moore had four tackles. Stevens also had two fumble recoveries.
