After two straight heartbreaking losses, Newton County took a season’s worth of frustrations out on Enterprise on Friday night.
The Cougars rang up 461 yards of total offense as they hammered Enterprise 54-8 on Friday night.
Newton County is now 2-4 on the season and will host Mendenhall on Friday to open up Division 5-4A play.
First-year coach Bobby Bass was quick to praise his line play on both sides of the ball.
“We made our offensive and defensive lines go one way,” Bass said. “We put some scrappers in there on the defensive line. They were bear crawling and cutting and really gave them some problems. It allowed our offensive line to be fresh and that helped us a lot. We were able to give more effort and stay on our blocks this week. And we were able to talk to our offensive lineman in between series and that was huge.”
The Cougars got the ball to open the game and promptly drove 47 yards in six plays as Marcus Wash scored on a 1-yard run. Cole Shimfessel booted the PAT and County led 7-0.
After swapping turnovers, Enterprise scored it’s only points of the game on a 7-yard run to cap off a seven-play, 35-yard drive. The Bulldogs converted the two-point conversion and led 8-7.
But that lead didn’t last long as County went 41 yards in five plays as Carlois Walker scored on a 14-yard run. The PAT failed and County led 13-8 late in the first quarter.
After an Enterprise punt, County struck quickly as Miquel Evans broke a 67-yard touchdown run. Shimfessel’s PAT was good and County led 20-8.
County got the ball back as Makindal Evans forced a fumble and recovered it. Four plays later, Wash scored on an 8-yard run. Shimfessel’s PAT gave County a 27-8 lead.
The County special teams got in on the action on the next drive as they blocked the Enterprise punt and Cameron McDonald recovered at the Bulldog 10. Two plays later, Walker scored on a 10-yard run as County led 34-8 at the half.
“We were really concerned about 42 and I thought we did a good job of keeping him in check,” Bass said. “I think the light bulb went off a little bit for them. Our effort was a lot better on both sides of the ball. We put some really young kids on the field and they responded. Most of the defensive line were sophomores and freshmen. We rolled them in and out on the defensive line and a lot of kids got to play and they liked it. They understood and embraced what we were doing and that always helps. It takes special kids to do that, they were giving up their body for the team.”
After an Enterprise punt to start the second half, County moved 67 yards in four plays as Hayden West hit Donavon McCoy on a 42-yard pass. Shimfessel’s PAT was good and County led 41-8.
Damon Mapp scored County’s last two touchdowns on an 11-yard run and an 8-yard run to round out the scoring.
County had 461 yards of total offense with 404 yards rushing and 57 passing. Wash had 134 yards rushing on 15 carries while Evans had 95 yards on five carries. Walker had 62 yards on nine carries while Mapp had 61 yards on five carries. West had 29 yards on three carries.
Skylar Porter led the defense with four solo tackles and nine assists while Colin Crowder had two solos and nine assists. Miguel Evans had three solo tackles, two tackles for loss and six assists. Koye Hardaway also had three solo tackles and six assists. Ethan Gentry had one solo tackle and six assists.
