COVINGTON, Ga. — The Lady Rams flag football team dominated a pair of scrimmage games on Friday as the team welcomed North Clayton and Spalding to Newton’s new stadium.
Newton’s football team took part in an intersquad scrimmage the week prior, but Friday’s action saw the Lady Rams defend their turf for the very first time.
When it was all said and done, Newton’s defense rose to the occasion to record the 26th and 27th shutouts in program history.
“We play defense here,” said head coach Steven Gunn.
Six interceptions from the Lady Rams highlighted the performance, but the first drive of the game for Newton was led by the reigning All-Cov News Flag Football MVP.
The Lady Rams opened the game with multiple quality plays before Mya Perry connected for a touchdown pass to put Newton ahead.
Two plays into Spalding’s first drive, the Lady Rams defense made their presence known.
A short pass was intercepted and returned all the way back for a pick six as Newton rose to a two-score lead. Not too long into the ensuing drive, Spalding was picked off yet again by the Lady Rams.
The interception did not result in a pick six, but it did not take long for Perry to connect with Amaya Armstead for a touchdown pass. With the Perry-Amstead connection, the lead moved to 24-0.
With a slew of interceptions on Friday, Gunn described what has made his ball-hawking defense so strong.
“We are going to be aggressive,” Gunn said. “I will take a penalty for us running into somebody because we are going to be aggressive. I want somebody to be timid on the other team, [saying] ‘I don’t want to catch that because I may get hit’ and then we catch the football. We had a few interceptions tonight where they just made great reads, and I can’t coach that. That's just a natural ability.”
In the second half, Gunn made the move at quarterback as Armstead took over. Armstead saw time at quarterback a year ago in the absence of Perry, who missed games due to injury.
Armstead helped move the Newton offense well into striking distance, but an interception halted the drive in front of the goal line.
As Spalding found its first sign of momentum, Newton snatched it back with a quick interception across the middle.
Following a touchdown pass from Armstead not long after, Newton took a 30-0 lead as the remaining time ticked off the clock.
After the 30-0 win, the Lady Rams took a short break before they returned to the field to take on North Clayton.
As the game started, Newton’s defense came through with another interception. After the turnover, Perry and Armstead went for six once again as the pair gave the Lady Rams a 7-0 lead.
North Clayton was held to a punt before Perry and Armstead connected for their third touchdown of the game. This time, a deep pass from Perry was hauled in by a leaping Armstead.
Gunn noted that every player on the roster saw time on offense on Friday. With some new parts of the playbook, Gunn was happy to see the team put the adjustments into action.
“It’s a brand new playbook. There are about 18 plays we have never run before Tuesday.” Gunn said. “Their ability to read the play card and know what to do and get open and catch the football and listen to what they are coached to do. I have a group of girls that want to be great.”
The Lady Eagles made a few plays to move the ball early in their next drive, but a pass across the middle was taken back the other direction.
Jamira Flournoy saw the route develop and jumped in for the interception. Many North Clayton players attempted to track her down, but Flournoy raced all the way in for another Newton pick six.
With the score at 20-0, another Newton interception sent the game into halftime with the Lady Rams up big.
Each team had chances in the second half, but the 20-0 score stood for the remainder of the action.
As the team gathered to talk after the game, the focus was shifted to offensive coordinator Alexis Brown, who coached her final game with the Lady Rams.
Brown is set to become the new assistant coach for Morgan County’s girls basketball team — the program she once played for and won a state title at. When the team was getting together, players snuck around before they dumped gatorade on Brown.
Following a Final Four appearance a year ago, the Lady Rams hope Friday’s results will be a sign of things to come when the season arrives in October.
With a pair of shutout wins to open the new stadium, Gunn described how it felt to defend the Lady Rams’ home.
“Being able to just walk out the back of the school and come down here and hang out in our spot — it’s ours. It’s our locker room,” Gunn said. “To be able to walk straight out of there, we don't have to get on the bus and go anywhere. We walk out here and it has our logo in the middle and we do our job.”
