What started out bad for Newton on Thursday night just got worse against Bay Springs.
The Tigers opened with a bad snap to the punter on their first series that led to a touchdown, and things just got worse from there, as Bay Springs ran roughshod over the Newton defense in a 47-20 non-division win.
For the Tigers (5-3, 0-3), it was another disappointing loss after a 5-0 start to the season.
“We just didn’t play as a unit,” Smith said. “It’s hard to stop the wing-T, and we had to move the twins down to defensive end to try to set an edge. We just couldn’t stop them on offense. Special teams mistakes really hurt us. But really it was just inconsistency on both sides of the football. We had a lot of penalties and didn’t do a good job of reading through our progressions on offense.”
A bad snap on the first punt gave the Bulldogs the ball at the Newton 9. Three plays later, Bay Springs scored on a 5-yard run with 10:04 left in the first for a 7-0 lead.
Newton then put together a 10-play drive, but it ended on downs at the Bay Springs 35. The Newton defense held Bay Springs on downs at their own 4 late in the first quarter to keep the score at 7-0. But quarterback Tre Hillie was sacked for a safety to give Bay Springs a 9-0 lead.
The Bulldogs then drove 32 yards in six plays, scoring on a 2-yard run with 10:07 left in the half for a 15-0 lead.
Newton gave Bay Springs another short field as a fake punt came up short, giving the Bulldogs the ball at the Newton 39. Ten plays later, Bay Springs made the score 22-0 with 3:43 left in the half.
The Tigers finally got something going as they used just four plays to go 63 yards as Sirvares Snow scored on a 37-yard run with 2:07 left in the half. The try for two failed and Bay Springs led 22-6 at the half.
“I think it starts up front for us,” Smith said. “I know our five are giving everything they have got, but they aren’t playing very well right now. They have gotten down and lost some confidence. But we have some young kids that are getting playing time and some young kids that want to be successful.”
Bay Springs built its lead to 28-6 with a 21-yard run with 2:08 left in the third. Newton responded with a five-play, 50-yard drive as Hillie scored on a 3-yard run with 43 seconds left in the third. Hillie ran in the two-point conversion to make the score 28-14.
After forcing a Bay Springs fumble, Newton gave the Bulldogs a short field as a pitch went behind Zachary Johnson, and the Bulldogs recovered at the Newton 13. Four plays later, Bay Springs scored on a 12-yard run.
Newton got its longest play of the game as Hillie hit Javarious Moore on a 62-yard pass to cut the score to 34-20 with 7:24 left to play.
But Bay Springs responded with a 58-yard touchdown run and added a late 7-yard run for the final of 47-0.
Newton had 319 yards of offense with 204 rushing and 115 passing. Hillie was 11-of-18 passing for 115 yards and rushed for 59 yards on 12 carries. Snow had 100 yards rushing on six carries. Moore had 88 yards receiving on four catches.
Snow also led the defense with 12 tackles while Alex Hamilton had nine tackles, a fumble recovery and an interception. Andre Ware also had 11 tackles.
