The Newton County defense did something that not many teams have done in the last few years and that was limit the Scott Central offense.
After averaging 47 points a game last year, the Cougars held the Rebels to two touchdowns but lost 16-7 on Friday night.
Newton County falls to 0-3 on the season and will host Union on Friday night.
For Newton County coach Bobby Bass, he saw his team get better and almost knock off the defending 2A state champions.
“We are getting better, slowly but surely,” Bass said. “We are still making some mistakes that we have to clean up. It’s just one of those things where we are finding ways to lose instead of finding ways to win. We just have to be more consistent. I will say that our young kids are playing really hard right now, and it’s some of the older kids that are being inconsistent right now.”
Senior defensive lineman Cade Clark comes up with a big quarterback sack at Scott Central.
Jeff Parks / The Appeal
The first half was a defensive slugfest that featured five punts and three turnovers.
Newton County drove to the Scott Central 35 on its first drive but fumbled to stall the drive. Late in the first, County again drove deep in Scott Central territory before turning the ball over on downs at the Rebels 26.
Scott Central then put together a seven-play drive but turned the ball over on a Grey Hale interception. Eight plays later, L.T. Phillips capped off an 80-play drive on a 28-yard run. Cade Mangum booted the PAT and Newton County led 7-0, a score that lasted through the end of the first half.
“We went in and I thought we had a good game plan on defense,” Bass said. “We were going to mix up coverages and try to confuse the quarterback. Their coaches were very complimentary of our game plan after the game. I thought the game plan worked for the most part. We had a few breakdowns but they have some guys that can go. I thought our kids stepped up to the challenge. They were averaging about 45 points a game and I think that’s their lowest point total in four or five years.”
The defenses continued to dominate the action in the third quarter. Scott Central finally broke through on the first play of the fourth quarter when the Rebels hit a 46-yard pass play and converted the two-point conversion to take an 8-7 lead.
The Cougars gave the ball right back on a Grey Hale interception off a ball that was batted around and returned 35 yards to the Newton County 5. Scott Central then scored on the next play and converted the two-point conversion to take a 16-7 lead.
County did respond with an eight-play drive and missed a 25-yard field goal with about eight minutes left to play.
It was a tough night on offense for the Cougars with 59 yards passing and 146 yards rushing for 205 yards of total offense.
“We turned the ball over three times, and one of those led to a score,” Bass said. “You can’t turn the ball over against good teams. But they bring so much stuff at you on defense and have the guys outside to lock you up man to man. We had our chances against them and just have to find a way to go win a game like that.”
L.T. Phillips had 122 yards on 21 carries to lead the offense. Grey Hale was 6-of-14 for 59 yards.
Cooper Johnson led the defense with 11 tackles while Bobby Little had 10 tackles. L.J. Cole had eight stops while Caleb Davis and Caleb Parkman each had seven tackles apiece. Cade Clark had six tackles while Tylan McNichols had five stops. Jarvus Tucker, Charlie Hollingsworth, and Hale each had four tackles apiece while Hale also had two interceptions.
