Published: September 03, 2008 02:58 pm            

Johnson's first win 'ugly'

NEWTON — DURANT – It wasn’t exactly the way James Johnson had envisioned his first victory as head football coach of Newton High School. But he’ll certainly take it.

The Tigers survived a penalty filled, turnover filler contest to beat Williams-Sullivan 8-2 Friday night in the season opener for both teams.

Newton improves to 1-0 on the season and will host Wilkinson County next week while Williams-Sullivan will travel to cross-town rival Durant.

It was a contest in which both teams struggled on offense and with penalties. Newton had just 112 yards of total offense, 84 yards in penalties and five turnovers. Williams-Sullivan on the other had only 72 yards of total offense, 124 yards in penalties and three interceptions.

“It certainly wasn’t pretty,” Johnson said. “As a matter of fact, that’s about the ugliest game I’ve ever been involved in. But it’s a win and I’ll take it. I was proud of our kids. They fought hard and never gave up. And I don’t care how you do it, it’s always good to come away with a victory. We’ve just got a lot of areas we have to improve in.”

Newton trailed for most of the contest after giving up a safety with 29 seconds left in the first quarter. Newton had five turnovers including four fumbles and an interception in the contest and struggled to get their new offense going.

“We had trouble with snaps all pre-season with snaps and fumbles,” Johnson said. “I think if we can eliminate the penalties and fumbles, we’ll be OK on offense. We’ve still got a long way to go over there. We’ve got to find out who we can depend on and get better on the line.”

But perhaps the story of the contest for Newton was its defense which held Williams-Sullivan out of the end zone all night. As a matter of fact, Newton gave Williams-Sullivan the ball inside their 20-yard line three different times without yielding a score.

“Our offense put our defense in bad positions all night but they kept responding and coming up with big plays,” Johnson said. “I thought our defensive line did a good job of causing some negative plays. And our defensive backs made some big plays and did a good job of defending the pass.

“There were several moments in the game when our defense could have laid down and we would have lost the game. But those guys stood up and played like men. I was very proud of how they hung in there.”

The Tigers scored their only touchdown of the night midway through the fourth quarter. After a punt, Newton got the football with about six minutes left in the game at the Williams-Sullivan 37.

From there it took only two plays for Newton to find the end zone as Hakeem Wright broke loose on a 35-yard run, scoring with 5:08 left in the game. Wright also scored the two-point conversion for an 8-2 lead.

Williams-Sullivan got to the Newton 31 and faced a fourth-and-one before being stuff by Newton’s Tony Jones and Drexil Jones. The Tigers seemed like they were going to run the clock out before another fumble gave the Yellowjackets another shot at the end zone. But Devontae Gardner’s second interception of the game on the Williams-Sullivan 8-yard line with 14.5 seconds left sealed the win.

Wright led the Newton offense with 73 yards rushing on seven carries.

Eric Brown led the Newton defense with nine tackles, including two sacks while Kavon Moore had six tackles. Dominique Williams also had an interception in the contest.

Next week, Newton takes on Wilkinson County, a team they lost to last year.

“They look big and athletic on offense,” Johnson said. “They are going to do some real basic stuff, they are going to line up and run it right at you. We’ll have to give those guys some help on run support. It should be a very physical game.”

The Tigers survived a penalty filled, turnover filler contest to beat Williams-Sullivan 8-2 Friday night in the season opener for both teams.

Newton improves to 1-0 on the season and will host Wilkinson County next week while Williams-Sullivan will travel to cross-town rival Durant.

It was a contest in which both teams struggled on offense and with penalties. Newton had just 112 yards of total offense, 84 yards in penalties and five turnovers. Williams-Sullivan on the other had only 72 yards of total offense, 124 yards in penalties and three interceptions.

“It certainly wasn’t pretty,” Johnson said. “As a matter of fact, that’s about the ugliest game I’ve ever been involved in. But it’s a win and I’ll take it. I was proud of our kids. They fought hard and never gave up. And I don’t care how you do it, it’s always good to come away with a victory. We’ve just got a lot of areas we have to improve in.”

Newton trailed for most of the contest after giving up a safety with 29 seconds left in the first quarter. Newton had five turnovers including four fumbles and an interception in the contest and struggled to get their new offense going.

“We had trouble with snaps all pre-season with snaps and fumbles,” Johnson said. “I think if we can eliminate the penalties and fumbles, we’ll be OK on offense. We’ve still got a long way to go over there. We’ve got to find out who we can depend on and get better on the line.”

But perhaps the story of the contest for Newton was its defense which held Williams-Sullivan out of the end zone all night. As a matter of fact, Newton gave Williams-Sullivan the ball inside their 20-yard line three different times without yielding a score.

“Our offense put our defense in bad positions all night but they kept responding and coming up with big plays,” Johnson said. “I thought our defensive line did a good job of causing some negative plays. And our defensive backs made some big plays and did a good job of defending the pass.

“There were several moments in the game when our defense could have laid down and we would have lost the game. But those guys stood up and played like men. I was very proud of how they hung in there.”

The Tigers scored their only touchdown of the night midway through the fourth quarter. After a punt, Newton got the football with about six minutes left in the game at the Williams-Sullivan 37.

From there it took only two plays for Newton to find the end zone as Hakeem Wright broke loose on a 35-yard run, scoring with 5:08 left in the game. Wright also scored the two-point conversion for an 8-2 lead.

Williams-Sullivan got to the Newton 31 and faced a fourth-and-one before being stuff by Newton’s Tony Jones and Drexil Jones. The Tigers seemed like they were going to run the clock out before another fumble gave the Yellowjackets another shot at the end zone. But Devontae Gardner’s second interception of the game on the Williams-Sullivan 8-yard line with 14.5 seconds left sealed the win.

Wright led the Newton offense with 73 yards rushing on seven carries.

Eric Brown led the Newton defense with nine tackles, including two sacks while Kavon Moore had six tackles. Dominique Williams also had an interception in the contest.

Next week, Newton takes on Wilkinson County, a team they lost to last year.

“They look big and athletic on offense,” Johnson said. “They are going to do some real basic stuff, they are going to line up and run it right at you. We’ll have to give those guys some help on run support. It should be a very physical game.”

        

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