After last year’s penalty-filled game, all Newton County Academy football coach Rob Roberts was looking for against Sylva-Bay was a hard-hitting football game.
He got exactly that from his Generals.
After falling behind early, the Generals pounded the Saints, rushing for 414 yards, as they hammered rival Sylva Bay 35-14 on Friday night in Decatur.
With the win, the Generals improve to 2-1 on the season and also take an early lead in the District 3-AA race.
“I thought we wore them down,” Roberts said. “I thought it was a hard-played football game and a good clean game. We got away with a win and any win is a good win. It pretty much puts us in the driver’s seat in the district.”
Things didn’t start out so well for the Generals as Sylva Bay returned the opening kick 80 yards for a touchdown. The PAT failed and the Saints lead 6-0.
“They took the opening kickoff to the house after we told them not to kick it to that kid and he ran it all the way back for a touchdown,” Roberts said. “After that, our defense really held them except for the screen pass they scored on and we missed about five tackles on that play.”
The Generals were then forced to punt on their first possession, but the Sylva Bay returner touched the ball and NCA’s Gunner Bounds came up with the recovery at the Sylva Bay 4.
It took only two plays for the Generals to score as Sage Gunn scored on a 5-yard run. Ethan McDill’s PAT failed to leave the score tied at 6-6.
The Saints put together a 10-play drive but the NCA defense stiffened and turned the ball over on downs at the NCA 22.
From there, the Generals put together an 11-play drive that Braxton Rose capped off with a 2-yard run. Logan Tadlock bulled in for the two-point conversion to give NCA a 14-6 lead late in the first quarter that held to the half.
The second half didn’t start out well as the Generals were forced to punt but snapped it over the punter’s head, giving the Saints the ball at the NCA 15. But Bounds came up big again as he intercepted a Sylva Bay pass at the goal.
From there, the Generals put together a 10-play, 99-yard drive as Gunn scored again on a 2-yard run midway through the third quarter. McDill’s PAT was good and NCA led 21-6.
The Saints kept it close on their next possession as they got free on a screen pass for a 53-yard touchdown. The try for two failed and NCA led 21-12.
The NCA offense then put the game away as they drove 67 yards in 10 plays as Logan Little scored on a 2-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter. McDill’s PAT gave NCA a 28-13 lead.
The Generals capped off the scoring as Little scored on a 2-yard quarterback keeper midway through the fourth.
The Generals had 432 yards of total offense with 414 yards on the ground. Gunn led the Generals with 131 yards on 17 carries while Rose had 125 yards on 15 carries. Logan Tadlock had 95 yards on 16 carries while Little had 45 yards on five carries.
“I thought we lined up and ran it right at them,” Roberts said. “That was our game plan to run right at them and that’s basically what we did. We’ve still got some work to do on the offensive line but I thought they did a good job overall.”
Tadlock led the NCA defense with seven tackles, including two for loss while Eli Finnegan had seven tackles as well. Austin Pippin had six stops while Rose and Bounds had five stops apiece. Jordan Mason, Ashton Crosby, Finnegan and Pippin were each credited with sacks.
