First-year Newton County football coach Bobby Bass will admit he doesn’t know a lot about many of the opponents on his schedule.
But when he looks at the first six opponents, he knows that all six will test the young Cougars in some way.
“It’s a tough schedule,” Bass said. “I think they will all be competitive for sure. They will all be good tests. All of those teams bring something different to the table. They all present different challenges. And that’s what you want is somebody to test you and all of those teams do that.”
The Cougars will open the season on Aug. 17 with Leake Central, a team that beat them 34-14 last year.
“I know they have a new coach,” Bass said. “The guy they hired was from Louisville and played at Ole Miss so they will be well coached. When they were Carthage, that was always a rivalry game for Newton County. I watched them on film from last year and they have some athletes and a good bit of speed.”
The Cougars will then travel to Class 5A Neshoba on Aug. 24.
“They are very athletic,” Bass said. “It’s probably the most athletic Neshoba team I have seen in a while. They have some good athletic skill guys. Their quarterback is really good and they run the ball a lot.”
Game 3 of the season will be Scott Central, who handed Newton County its worst loss of the season last year, a 58-0 loss. But the Rebels have a new head coach this season.
“Me and Coach Devin Cooper have a little history,” Bass said. “We coached together at Clinton and are really good friends. He said they could potentially be really good. They lost their quarterback but have some other kids. They are going to be well coached and athletic.”
The Cougars will open September with a road trip to Southeast Lauderdale.
“I don’t know much about them but they had two really big receivers last year,” Bass said. “That’s what stood out to me was their skill kids.”
Then the Cougars will make the short trip up Miss. Highway 15 to county rival Union on Sept. 14. County’s only win last year was a 13-0 win over the Yellowjackets.
“I know what kind of coach Brad (Breland) is and he’s a great coach,” Bass said. “If anybody hates losing worse than me, it’s Brad. I know he will have his kids ready. He has done a tremendous job.”
The Cougars will then close out their non-division schedule with Enterprise on Sept. 21.
“They will be physical,” Bass said. “We want to be a physical team and stop the run. Right now, I don’t know what type of kids we have but I know what Enterprise has. We will have to be disciplined on defense.”
The Cougars will open Division 5-4A play with a home contest with Mendenhall.
“They have a very athletic quarterback,” Bass said. “He is the coach’s son as well and has a really high football IQ. And he’s a great athlete on top of that. They will also be really big up front.”
The Cougars will open October with a road contest at Quitman.
“It sounds like a broken record but they are big and athletic,” Bass said. “They had two big backs and did a good job of running the ball. They are well coached and we will certainly be challenged in our first two district games, that’s for sure.”
On Oct. 12, the Cougars will face Northeast Lauderdale, who also has a new coach this year.
“I don’t know a lot about their kids,” Bass said. “I know coach Douglas from when he was at Quitman and Meridian. Like everybody else, they will be well coached and have some athletes. We will have our hands full again.”
Then on Oct. 19, the Cougars will host rival West Lauderdale.
“There’s a lot of history there,” Bass said. “It’s a big rivalry game. They were a downhill, physical football team who had some big receivers who could go up and get the football.”
The Cougars will end the regular season with Northeast Jones on Oct. 26.
“I don’t know a lot but know they had a really good athlete at quarterback last year,” Bass said. “They will have their guys in the right spot. But I think for us, we are going to need to have some success early. Our kids need to get some confidence. We have some kids with ability, we just need to get some confidence.”
