Notes, quotes and a thought
or two….
We are now halfway through the high school football regular season and have a better idea about where our county football teams stand.
Here’s my humble opinion of where our five county schools are at the midpoint of the season.
Newton County
The Cougars are 1-4 on the season and have lost two straight heartbreakers to Southeast Lauderdale and Union.
Nobody likes to lose, and it’s hard to keep on getting players to play hard but don’t give up on the Cougars. I’ve been on enough sidelines to be able to tell who knows what they are doing. Trust me when I say that Coach Bobby Bass knows his stuff and is a good defensive coach.
When taking over a program in the shape that Newton County was, it takes time and that generally starts in the junior high. It’s rare that you see immediate results in high school. Trust me when I say the Cougars are tons better than they were last year.
I had a college athletic director tell me once upon a time that there are four stages to winning. The first is losing big (the Cougars did that last year) and losing close, which the Cougars are doing now. The next step is winning close and then winning big. Those first two steps are the roughest and hardest to get through. Teaching kids how to win is tough. But given time, I think Bass will turn the Cougars around. But Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Union
The Yellowjackets are 3-2 on the season and have won two straight games with a very winnable game on the slate this week against Madison St. Joseph.
Veteran coach Brad Breland says his team is still a long way away from being good, but he has found some playmakers in Colby Ferguson and Kenyon Clay.
I’ve always known Breland is a good football coach. This is still a young football team who could go either way. But the Yellowjackets have winnable games ahead against Newton and Philadelphia and who knows against Lake and Scott Central.
Bottom line is, the Jackets need to continue to improve and buy into what Breland is selling.
Lake
The Hornets are now 4-1 on the season after a season-opening loss to Pelahatchie.
Coach Tate Hanna was distraught after losing the Newton County and Pelahatchie to open the season, but the Hornets have rebounded and found their identity.
The Hornets have developed a passing game with Mickey Parker and have some playmakers that will force people to not load the box.
The Hornets should easily beat Richland this week and be 5-1 as they head into division play. Again, an Oct. 11 matchup against Scott Central will tell the tale of the tape for the Hornets.
Most likely, that game will determine the division championship this season.
The Hornets are getting better every week and will be a force in the second half of the season.
Newton
The Tigers are 1-4 on the season and are headed into a much-needed bye week, as injuries have taken their toll in Zach Grady’s first season.
In all fairness to Coach Grady, he wasn’t left much to work with and quarterback Tre Hillie has been hurt most of the season.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team with as many skill players as Newton had last year. The Tigers are just the opposite this season.
In all honesty, the Tigers are really young, and any time you put young players on the field, you are going to struggle. And I don’t know if I see that changing any time soon. But a win against either Union or Philadelphia would put the Tigers in the playoffs.
NCA
The Generals have had some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen this season.
The Generals are 0-5 and could easily be 4-1. If they play Winston Academy again, they beat them. There was no reason to lose to Oak Hill in week two and if they played them again, I would take the Generals. In a 46-14 loss to Sylva Bay, the Generals were driving to cut the score to a touchdown when a phantom offensive assisting penalty killed a drive. In my 25-plus years of coaching high school football, I’ve never seen that call. Against undefeated Carroll, the Generals led 6-0 at the half and needed one good play in the second half but never got it. Last week, the Generals were just outmanned against Leake.
Despite the record, the Generals are playing hard. But reality is they don’t have a lot of skill players and struggle throwing the football so people can load the box on them. There are some wins left on the schedule if the Generals will continue to play hard.
Robbie Robertson is sports editor for The Newton County Appeal.
