Part of a rebuilding process is learning how to win close football games.
Newton County had its chance to pull off a victory on Friday against Southeast Lauderdale but ended up losing a 34-28 overtime contest to the Tigers.
The Cougars are now 1-3 on the season and have lost three straight since a season-opening win against Leake Central.
For first-year coach Bobby Bass, the close loss was a frustrating one.
“We just made too many mistakes,” Bass said. “We kept on shooting ourselves in the foot. We had an opportunity to win that game and just couldn’t capitalize on those opportunities. We should have won that football game. We just couldn’t get it done.”
The Cougars appeared to be dead in the water after Southeast Lauderdale scored 21 straight points and led 28-17 with 5:13 left in the game.
But Newton County got in gear as Hayden West scored on a 32-yard run with 3:18 left in the game. West scored the two-point conversion and County trailed 28-25.
“I thought we came out and played with a sense of urgency to start both halves and then sort of went into a lull,” Bass said. “We have to play the entire game with a sense of urgency. That’s how we have to play the entire game, not in spots. Our kids are still learning how to do that.”
Newton County got the break it was looking for when they recovered a fumble deep in Southeast territory with 1:23 left in the game. But the Cougars were unable to find the end zone and settled for a Cole Shimfessel field goal to tie the game and sent it to overtime.
“We should have won that game in regulation,” Bass said. “When you get a chance to beat somebody, you have to go ahead and finish them off. The game should have never gone to overtime and that’s what’s frustrating.”
In overtime, Southeast scored first on a 10-yard run to take the lead. The Cougars then fumbled on their possession to give Southeast the win.
Newton County opened the game with a long drive as Marcus Wash scored on a 2-yard run with 6:22 left in the first to take a 7-0 lead.
After Southeast answered with a 17-yard touchdown pass, County got a 26-yard field goal from Shimfessel and a touchdown pass from West to Makindal Evans to take a 17-7 lead in the midway through the second quarter.
Southeast then rallied with two third-quarter touchdowns to lead 19-17 at the end of the third. A safety and a 34-yard run gave Southeast a 28-17 lead with 5:13 left in the game.
On the night, Southeast had 212 yards rushing and only 14 passing for 226 total yards.
West went 10-of-27 passing for 168 yards and two touchdowns for Newton County, while Wash led in rushing with 65 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. Rod Evans caught two passes for 64 yards and a touchdown, while Makindal Evans had three catches for 33 yards and a touchdown.
On defense, Marcus Wash had a big night with five solo tackles and eight assists. Skylar Porter wasn’t far behind with four solo tackles and eight assists. Daquan Sims had six solo tackles and three assists while Lamar Morgan had two solo tackles, six assists and three tackles for loss. Carlois Walker had three assists and five assists along with a fumble recovery. Makindal Evans also had fumble recovery. Miguel Evans had one solo tackle and nine assists and one tackle for loss.
