It was a tale of two halves for Newton County on Friday night against Richland.
The Cougars built a 25-0 lead in the first half and held on to take a 25-16 win over Richland to snap a four-game losing streak.
The Cougars improve to 4-5 on the season and 1-2 in Division 5-4A play. The win also snapped a 14-game losing streak in district play, dating back to Oct. 14, 2016 when the Cougars beat Northeast Lauderdale 33-14.
“We needed a win coming into this week,” Newton County coach Bobby Bass said. “I thought we tackled a lot better and played better on defense. They only had 90 yards of offense and 39 of those came on one play so our defense played really well. I was pleased overall. Our kids played hard. We are still learning how to finish people off and that’s part of the maturing process.”
Richland got the ball to start the game and fumbled on the second play of the game as Miguel Evans came up the first of two recoveries.
The Cougars then went 40 yards in three plays as Carlonte Walker went 31 yards on a speed sweep for a touchdown. Lee Hill ran in the two-point conversion and Newton County led 8-0.
Evan recovered the ensuing kick to give the Cougars the ball at the Richland 17. But the drive stalled and Hill’s 35-yard field goal attempt failed.
The Cougars then forced a punt on defense and the offense went right back to work. This time, the Cougars went 72 yards in eight plays as Donavon McCoy scored on a 37-yard run. Hill’s PAT gave the Cougars a 15-0 lead.
“We thought we had a speed advantage so we were going to try and get the ball on the outside,” Bass said. “We had some good runs and that was part of the game plan. We would have had even more yards but we cut some of those up instead of staying wide. We do need to do a better job of blocking on the perimeter.”
After another Richland punt, the Cougars put together an 11-play drive that ended with a 36-yard field goal from Hill to give the Cougars an 18-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Cougars got the ball right back as Evans recovered another fumble for the Newton County defense. This time the Cougars went 29 yards in five plays as Carlois Walker scored on a 2-yard run. Hill’s PAT was good as the Cougars led 25-0, a score that stood until halftime.
“I thought we came out and played hard in the first half and were able to catch some breaks,” Bass said. “We did what we wanted to do and were able to build a good lead. In the second half, we shot ourselves in the foot and they had some things go their way. But we played good enough to hold on to win. We only gave up one big play but had some silly penalties that hurt us. We need to clean those things up.”
The Cougars had one of their best offensive games of the season as they rushed for 298 yards and threw for 46 for 344 yards of total offense. Carlois Walker had 102 yards rushing on 18 carries while McCoy had 76 yards rushing on 13 carries. McCoy also had 46 yards passing on 4-of-7 attempts. Carlonte Walker had 66 yards on three carries while Devyon May had 42 yards on nine carries.
Evans had a big game on defense with nine tackles, two for a loss and two fumble recoveries. Jarvus Tucker had eight tackles with three for a loss while Kaleb Blackwell, Colin Crowder and Christian McGee each had five tackles apiece. Tylan McNichols and Cameron McDonald each had four tackles apiece. Tony Shelwood also had a blocked punt for the Cougars.
