Newton’s injuries caught up with them in a bad way on Thursday night at Scott Central.
The Rebels showed why they are the defending 2A state champions as they raced out to a 55-0 lead at the half and cruised to a 55-12 win over Newton.
Newton falls to 0-8 on the season and will host Lake on Friday night for senior night.
It was another tough loss for the Tigers and second-year coach Zach Grady.
“We are just so decimated with injuries right now,” Grady said. “We were thin up front to begin with but when get three or four defensive lineman hurt, it’s tough. They took advantage of that. They are really good up front.”
The Tigers struggled on offense to begin the game as freshman quarterback Tyreke Snow threw two interceptions and lost a fumble in Newton’s first five plays as Scott Central built an early 21-0 lead.
“Tyreke struggled out of the gate, he’s a slow starter,” Grady said. “Once he settled down, I thought he played well. He finished the game well. Our problem is up front. We were just mismatched. We have trouble matching up with the bigger lines and Scott Central was a lot bigger than we were and that gave us issues.”
Scott Central raced out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter and added 27 points in the second half to lead 55-0 at the half.
“We have a lot of freshman and sophomores playing,” Grady said. “We are still really young. They aren’t playing bad, they are just making mistakes that young players make. We did some things better in the second half. Our kids never quit, I will say that.”
One bright spot was sophomore tight end Tyshun Evans who had 10 catches for 67 yards and had a 17-yard touchdown pass from Snow. The other Newton touchdown was 75-yard pass to Kaleb Trexler.
Snow finished 14-of-20 passing for 180 yards with two TDs and two interceptions. Evans had 10 catches for 67 yards and a TD while Kaleb Trexler had 92 yards receiving and a TD.
On defense, Anthony Smith led the way with 11 tackles while Daylon Taylor had seven tackles. Derek Alford had six tackles and one for a loss while Desmond Moore had six tackles. Atavius Hardy had five tackles and two for a loss.
Scott Central had 155 yards passing and 240 rushing for 395 yards of total offense. Jabrelynn Vivians led the Rebels with 104 yards on 12 carries. Treyon Wash was 6-of-7 passing for 155 yards and four touchdowns while Jeremiah Ousley had three catches for101 yards.
