GROVETOWN, Ga. — The Newton Rams successfully rebounded from last week’s 50-3 defeat on the road Friday with a 30-0 win over Grovetown in region play.
The win was never in doubt for the Rams as a quick 13-0 lead in the opening quarter gave Newton all the comfort it needed to finish the job.
Just a week after the Rams were stifled on the road against Grayson, the team got back into rhythm on the road.
“I liked the effort. Our guys were excited. I loved the week of practice we had to be honest with you,” said head coach Joshua Skelton. “We really focused on ourselves and just being ourselves. We played with a lot of energy tonight, the guys played with some pride tonight.”
If one unit dominated the day, it was the Rams’ defense.
Stop after stop prevented Grovetown from gaining any momentum, and it started on drive No. 1.
Newton turned a quick three-and-out off the Warriors offense, and a blocked punt made the possession even better for Newton.
As the Newton offense took the field for the first time, No. 3 jogged on as sophomore Kevin Hartsfield was back in action.
Hartsfield was sidelined for a month with an undisclosed injury as his last snaps came in the Rams’ loss to Bryant on Sept. 3.
Even though the Rams have a running back room full of depth. Hartsfield’s presence had a large impact according to Skelton.
“Kevin has been banged up this year. Finally getting him back going and his first game healthy really all year,” Skelton said. “Even in the early part of the season he wasn’t 100 percent. I think we did the right thing in the few weeks we had with just relaxing him and listening to his body and not letting him come back until he was 100 percent.”
Newton’s first drive was almost perfect. Key runs from freshman Karter Lumpkin and Hartsfield marched Newton down the field and into the red zone.
A 10-yard connection from quarterback Deron Benson to Braylon Miller put the first score on the board as Newton went ahead.
The first touchdown seemed to be the high point of the Newton air attack as the team found most of its success through the ground on Friday.
Benson went to the air multiple times to find wide outs such as Derrick Miller and Jaqwan Carr, but the Warriors secondary played stout.
After a Grovetown punt, the Rams’ run game made its first mark on the game with the team’s lead back.
The punt from the Warriors fell significantly short as Newton started at the Grovetown 25-yard line, and Hartsfield made it count on a seven-yard score.
Hartsfield’s rush made it a 13-0 lead, but Grovetown’s defense managed to tighten up the rest of the half.
Newton punted on back-to-back possessions before adding three points on a 30-yard field goal from Samuel Velasquez to end the half.
Through two quarters, the Rams’ defense did not allow the Warriors to get anything going.
Whether it was a punt, a forced fumble or a turnover on downs — the Rams defense made things as hard as possible for quarterback Jowell Jackson-Henriquez and the offense.
Newton’s offense stalled to open the half as they were forced to a quick three-and-out, but the defense came through again.
Multiple Rams rushed to the ball carrier and delivered a hit that sent the ball to the ground.
There, Miller scooped the ball up and took it into Warriors’ territory.
Now with good field position, Newton’s offense delivered on a one-yard rush from Hartsfield to make it a 22-0 lead.
For the remainder of the second half, Grovetown’s offense consisted of short runs and sweeps that gained yardage, but also cut the clock down.
As the second half flew by, the Rams managed to add one more score on the ground.
Following a turnover on downs, Benson handed the ball off to running back Darius “Hercules” White, who showed everyone in the stands why he had his nickname.
White broke not one, not two, not three, but almost eight tackles on a 37-yard rush that put Newton on the Grovetown two-yard line.
One play later, White punched in to make it a 30-0 lead.
Neither team managed to add on late as the score stood until zero’s were on the scoreboard.
In the moments following the final, Skelton gave his thoughts on the strong effort from his defensive unit.
“Defensively, we wanted to play with effort tonight,” Skelton said. “We really challenged everybody to just run into the ball. Run into the ball, not letting nobody beat us to the ball and just swarming. I think we did that tonight and we played with a lot more swag. We were reminding each other who we are and playing Newton ball.”
With the win, Newton moved to 4-3 on the season with a key win in region play.
Next up for the Rams will be a matchup with the Heritage Patriots(1-4, 0-1 as of press time) on Friday, Oct. 17.
