Thanksgiving has now come and went. But that doesn’t mean I can’t continue to be thankful for the many great moments and experiences that I witnessed this year.
This includes the end of the 2024 football season at the local level. The season ended last Friday at Creekside when the Eastside Eagles were shut out on the road in the Elite Eight. While technically my second football season in Newton County, this was the first one where I had any involvement in the actual content production, as I did not contribute to last year’s local coverage in my former role.
I had a few emotions heading into the year. The first being nervousness and anxiety, because just weeks before the season there was a change here at the paper that brought the full-time editorial staff down to two. As someone who had only covered news 95 percent of the time, stepping up into a larger role for SportsExtra seemed a bit daunting.
My second, and primary emotion, was excitement. I knew that Newton County football had some talent, but I truly had no idea the extent of it until I saw the games. I was absolutely blown away. I was also excited to cover a sport that I had wanted to cover for the better part of a decade back when I was giving hot takes to anyone who would listen.
That excitement translated when I took my first in-person assignment of the season when Eastside faced Archer at Sharp Stadium. It was my first high school football game in several years, and my first at Sharp ever.
But within minutes of being at the stadium, I was reminded of the unique feeling that Friday Night Lights provided. There really is nothing quite like it.
The whole season I got to witness fantastic performances from players like Jayden Barr, Zion Johnson, RyShawn Perry, Ashton Hawkins, Jaylen Victor and Jude Nelson among many others. I got to hear performances from all of the local marchings bands and even got a practice invite from The Pride of Eastside. I also got to meet and talk with several coaches and athletic staff that help put everything together.
All in all, I am extremely thankful for my first season of Newton County football.
There’s a lot of people to thank. First thank you goes to Garrett Pitts, our sports editor. He had the difficult task of keeping the ship steered straight on the sports end while there was no managing editor for approximately six weeks. He did an absolutely fantastic job of that.
His hard work all season is the main reason why this year’s SportsExtra is one of, if not THE best in our paper’s history.
A big thank you goes out to our photographers. Michael Bandoo, Anthony Banks and Cassie Jones captured some amazing shots that brought the game to life through the newspaper. In a world where it’s easier than ever to take good pictures, these three are a reminder of how invaluable sports photographers are.
Another thank you goes out to our correspondents who contributed this season. DJ Moore, Cooper Huau and Jet Rawls all stepped in a lot this year and delivered some great recaps. They all improved tremendously through this 14-week stretch and I hope that they will all be back next season.
Our sister paper The Walton Tribune also deserves a major shoutout as well. They helped fill in the gaps all season long and were a huge resource. Brendan Koerner, Chris Bridges, David Johnson and the entire team over there are all great.
A thank you goes out to the players, coaches and athletic staff’s that allow us to provide comprehensive coverage of your programs.
Last but not least, a thank you goes out to all of you, our readers. I can’t ever thank you guys enough for taking the time to read, acknowledge, praise, critique and consume our content. Whether it’s the paper product, our online product or social media, we strive to be the best we can be and we do it for you.
The end goal was always to deliver the best possible product. Despite all of the obstacles, I feel we did so with flying colors.
Evan Newton is the Managing Editor of The Covington News. He can be reached at enewton@covnews.com.
