The Newton offense has been almost unstoppable this season but Magee found a way to slow it down on Friday night.
The Tigers had 13 penalties and two touchdowns called back but still managed to take a 24-2 win over homestanding Magee behind another strong effort from the defense.
The Tigers improve to 5-0 on the year and are currently ranked No. 3 in Class 2A as they head into a bye week. They will come out of the bye week and take on Scott Central in their 4-2A opener that has huge playoff implications for both teams.
For the Tigers and head coach Ryan Smith, it was an ugly win but still a win.
“We had two touchdowns called back and two 50-yard runs called back and 13 penalties,” Smith said. “The grass was like four inches high and it wasn’t our best effort. But it’s a win at the end of the day and I’m OK with that. We needed to play a close game and figure a way to make it work, even when things don’t go our way.”
Magee got the ball to begin the game and put together a time-consuming 14-play drive that took almost eight minutes off the clock. But the Newton defense stiffened and turned Magee over on downs on their own 5-yard line.
From there, Newton put together a long drive of its own, going 95 yards in 13 plays as Tre Hillie scored on a 3-yard quarterback keeper with 11:50 left in the first half. Hillie then hit Zackariah Johnson for the two-point conversion and Newton led 8-0.
The Newton defense forced a quick three-and-out and Zachary Johnson had a 78-yard punt return called back. But that didn’t stop Newton as they drove 68 yards on seven plays as Qua Irby scored on a 17-yard run with 6:45 left in the first half. Hillie hit Alex Hamilton for the two-point conversion and Newton led 16-0.
“Magee has a really young football team and we felt like if we could go up three scores on them, they would just lay down,” Smith said. “We had some things go against us and just couldn’t put them away in the first half. The longer we let them hang around, the more confidence they got.”
Newton had another big play negated right before the half when Zachary Johnson hit Javarious Moore on a touchdown pass but it was called back and the Tigers led 16-0 at the half. After a scoreless third quarter that featured four punts, the Tigers finally hit paydirt on special teams as Sirvares Snow returned a punt 88 yards for a touchdown with 9:41 left in the game. Tre Hillie ran in the two-point conversion and Newton led 24-0.
“I thought our defense did an outstanding job,” Smith said. “That’s two weeks in a row that the starting defense hasn’t given up a touchdown.
We thought we would be really fast on defense and would be able to track people down and go to the next play and that’s pretty much what we did. They got loose a couple of times but we used our speed to make them run another play. We are pleased with where we are at on the defensive side of the football right now.”
The Tigers had 153 yards rushing and threw for 80 yards for 233 yards of total offense. Hillie led the offense with 62 yards rushing on 20 carries while Irby had 38 yards on six carries and a touchdown.
“I thought we ran the ball a lot better than we have,” Smith said. “We have got three backs who are doing a good job. Snow doesn’t come off the field a lot but they are able to give him a breather. I think it is going to allow us to use some two-back sets and maybe move one of the twins out and give people a different look. And we’ve been working on some play-action stuff that forces defenses to be more honest and not just pin their ears back and come right at us.”
Jacquan Roberts had a solid night for the Newton defense as he totaled 10 tackles. Alex Hamilton was also a force on defense as he had nine tackles, a sack and an interception. Snow also had nine tackles while Zackariah Johnson had an interception.
