Inside the Newton County weight room is a sign for each game on the Cougars’ football schedule this season.
One sign is bigger than all the rest and it’s Union.
And after last year’s 27-0 shutout by the Yellowjackets, Newton County coach Gene Mitchell hopes his players remember what last year’s game felt like.
“Union is quickly developing into a rivalry game, which is a good thing,” Mitchell said this summer. “It’s circled on everybody’s calendar and that’s OK. We played timid and intimidated and shy last year and they whipped our butts, and we have had to live with that for a whole year now. I hope our players have been as miserable about that as I have since then.”
Despite Newton County being winless, Union coach Brad Breland is leary of the Cougars.
“They played a lot better on Friday night against Southeast,” Breland said. “They looked physical and got after a pretty good Southeast Lauderdale team. It’s a county rival and I’m sure they will be excited and ready to go. I just hope we are ready.
“They run that double wing stuff which I’m familiar with. But we have a lot of freshman who haven’t seen it. They just have to be disciplined enough to read what they are supposed to read.”
Union was open last week and said the off week came at a good time for his young squad.
“I hope we are a little more energized and healthy this week,” Breland said. “We were banged up in several areas so hopefully they will be well coming back this week. With us being so young, the off week is just what the doctor ordered. We didn’t have to look for things to do or work on, that's for sure.”
Last year, Union’s shutout win avenged a 13-12 win by the Cougars in 2015.
Leake Academy at NCA
After winning three straight contests, the Generals will host Class AAA Leake Academy on Friday night.
The Rebels are 2-2 on the season with wins over St. Aloysius (21-13) and Hartfield (28-27) and losses to Simpson (71-39) and East Rankin (49-40).
“We’ve got Leake and Tri-County the next two weeks,” NCA coach Rob Roberts said. “If we can make it through those two game without getting anyone hurt, we should be pretty good for the rest of the season. We just want to have a good game and not get anybody hurt. Leake has scored a lot of points and will throw the ball and run it. They are a bigger school and we have to step up our game.”
The two teams haven’t played in the last four years and will renew a long-played rivalry.
Newton at Magee
The Tigers will put their undefeated record on the line this week as they travel to Magee to take on the Class 3A Trojans.
Magee is 2-2 on the season and has lost the last two games after opening up with a pair of wins. Magee opened the season with a 20-8 win over Jefferson County and beat North Forrest 36-30. But the Trojans have been hammered the last two weeks, losing 41-12 to Mendenhall and 46-8 to Collins.
“They are a spread-based team on offense and have some offense,” Newton coach Ryan Smith said. “Their quarterback is really good but they are more spread to run than to throw. On defense, they play man across the board with nobody high. I hope they do that on Friday night. I think we can attack that with our skill guys.”
The two teams did not play last year but the Trojans finished 7-5 and made the first round of the Class 3A playoffs, losing to Forest.
Choctaw Central at Lake
Lake will step in class this week when the Hornets host Choctaw Central.
Choctaw is 0-4 on the season, losing to Union (32-10), Cherokee, N.C. (49-31), Choctaw County (49-0) and Newton 54-13.
“Even though they have a new coach, they are doing a lot of the same stuff they have done for years,” Lake coach Tate Hanna said. “They are going to try and push you deep. They live off of big plays. We’ve just got to be focused because they are going to test us deep and will hit something big during the game. We just have to stay our course and keep doing what we do.”
The two teams did not play last year.
