COVINGTON, Ga. — The Newton Rams’ 2023 season came to a close Friday night in round one of the Class AAAAAAA playoffs. At Sharp Stadium, the Camden County Wildcats scored 29 unanswered points to march back and defeat the Rams 29-15.
With the game still within seven points late in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats’ defense came up with critical stops.
Camden County stopped the Rams inside of the red zone twice. Both of those drives resulted in a turnover on downs for Newton.
On Newton’s final drive, Deron Benson’s pass was intercepted to mark the end of the Rams’ 2023 campaign.
However, the Rams stormed out of the gate with two scoring drives to open the game.
After a quick stop from its defense, Newton marched down the field before scoring on a four-yard rush from Jayden Ford.
Ford’s score was followed on the next Rams’ drive for a six-yard touchdown from Zion Johnson. Marcus Calwise took the ball in himself on the two-point conversion to give Newton a 15-0 advantage.
From that point on, the remaining Newton drives resulted in either a punt, turnover or turnover on downs. Senior playmakers Calwise and Keon Davis made key plays for the Rams, but the Camden County defense continued to stop Newton from finishing drives with points.
The Wildcats’ first response to the 15-0 deficit came late in the first quarter.
After marching down the field on a long drive, Ja’marley Riddle took the carry into the end zone from seven yards out.
Riddle’s score reduced the Newton lead to 15-8 going into halftime.
On the first drive of the second half, Camden County took the lead.
It capped off another long drive with a rushing score courtesy of Alexander Parks. The Wildcats converted the two-point try to take a 16-15 edge.
As the Camden County defense continued to hold Newton, Riddle scored his second touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter to extend the Wildcats lead to 22-15.
In the final minute of the game, Antonio Laws took a carry and raced toward the corner of the end zone to help give Camden County the 14-point win.
As a result, the Rams’ season — with first year head coach Josh Skelton — finishes with a 8-3 overall record while going 3-2 in Region 4-AAAAAAA. Newton also finished region runners up and defeated the Archer Tigers 47-17 on Nov. 3 to punch its ticket to the postseason.
