The Newton County Academy Generals opened the season up in fine fashion last week with a 54-7 pounding of Porter’s Chapel on Friday.
The Generals rolled up 540 yards of total offense with 392 yards rushing and 148 yards passing.
“We scored a lot,” Roberts said. “We weren’t trying to run the score up, but it was like 34-0 and was still in the first quarter. We had a running clock before halftime. We stayed in the spread and threw some bubble screens and thing like that. But I thought we played well on offense. It was like every time we touched the ball in the first half we scored. Everybody played and that’s always good. It kind of got out of hand but the clock ran the entire second half.”
Porter’s Chapel threw an interception on its second play from scrimmage as Hayze West stepped in front of a pass and returned it to the 24. Eli Finnegan scored on the first play as he raced 24 yards for a TD. Hayden West booted the PAT and NCA led 7-0.
After a Porter’s Chapel punt, Colby Hollingsworth got in on the scoring as he raced 70 yards for a touchdown. West’s PAT failed and NCA led 13-0.
After NCA forced another punt, the Generals needed five plays to find the end zone as Finnegan scored on a 7-yard run and West’s PAT gave the Generals a 20-0 lead.
NCA’s next score came after recovering a fumble and Hollingsworth scored on a 4-yard run to go up 27-0.
The Generals struck quickly again as Finnegan scooped up a fumble and raced 71 yards for a touchdown to take a 34-0 lead, still in the first quarter.
Porter’s Chapel then hit an 81-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 34-7.
NCA added two more scored as Zander Meeks scored on a 1-yard run and Finnegan scored on an 80-yard run to lead 47-7 at the half.
“I think it helped our confidence a lot,” Roberts said. “We stayed in the spread and ran our stuff. We have gotten a lot better at it. We only have five healthy offensive linemen, so we had to stay in the spread. I thought our defense did a good job of getting turnovers and stopping their passing game. We only gave up one long touchdown.”
NCA added one second half score as Meeks hit Hayden Wall on a 25-yard touchdown pass to game the score 54-7.
Finnegan had a huge game for the Generals with 213 yards rushing on eight carries along with the 71-yard fumble return for a touchdown. Hollingsworth had 125 yards rushing on six carries with two TDs. Meeks was 8-of-12 passing for 148 yards while Wall had four catches for 53 yards. Hayden West had three catches for 95 yards.
On defense, Harber Reese and Hollingsworth led the way with eight tackles. Jordan Mason had seven tackles while Finnegan, Kemp Alderman and Hayze West each had six tackles. Lee Hollingsworth had five tackles while Cole Hollingsworth and Trey Terrell each had four tackles.
