The Rams impressed earlier in the week at the Corky Kell + David Hunter 7-on-7 Classic hosted by Georgia Tech and head coach Brent Key.

On what was day one of the event, Newton swept the competition. 

Eight games, eight wins for the Rams’ skill-position players as senior quarterback Deron Benson had himself a day with his new receivers.

For head coach Josh Skelton, Tuesday’s event embodied the type of offseason his program strives for.

“I am very pleased with how they competed,” Skeleton said. “I feel like anytime we can go out we try to compete to win. These guys listen really well, I am very happy with how they communicated. It just shows how we are during the summer — team chemistry and guys wanting to compete. I’m excited, it is good for our team.”

In the early part of the day, the Rams competed in four pool-play matches before all the teams were seeded for the actual tournament.

Newton opened with a 18-2 win over Paulding County before taking down Cedar Grove 41-2.

In the final two games of the pool-play, Newton defeated Mill Creek 16-15 and Walton 27-8. This allowed for the Rams to be the No. 1 seed when the elimination games began.

Newton took care of Paulding County again 33-25 in the opening round before beating Southwest Dekalb 21-13 in the quarter-final.

The Rams prevailed 37-17 over Carver-Atlanta in the semi-final before they beat Mill Creek 20-5 in a rematch for the championship.

Out of the six teams that the Rams faced, all but one made the playoffs last season.

With a strong showing against quality competition, Skelton shared how the camp can be a confidence boost for a young Newton team.

“It does a lot for the confidence,” Skeleton said. “For one, we are extremely young. We only have one guy in the secondary that is a senior, Everyone else is either a junior or a sophomore.  All of our running backs are young and just our whole team in general. Right now these guys are trusting each other and trusting us as coaches and doing exactly what we ask them to do. They believe and the whole confidence has grown because they are doing what we ask and it’s working.”

On the offensive end, Benson was able to shine as he seemed to not have any problems connecting with receivers such as Derrick Miller and Devin Barber.

This new season marks the second time in a row that the Rams will have to replace their top two receivers from a year ago.

As Miller and Barber continue to show flashes that date back to the team’s 63-0 spring game win over Shiloh, Skelton did not shy away from making big assertions about the chemistry in the pass game.

“It’s the best I have seen in a long time [and] I have been here a long time,” Skelton said. “Just the chemistry and how we are. Two weeks into the summer, [it shows] the work they are putting in and how the many hours they are putting in over the weekend [and] on their own has really separated them. I think those guys will continue to progress, but we have seen the chemistry.”

A big part of the chemistry is the poise and experience shown by Benson, who is gearing up for his fourth year as the team’s starter.

Benson is coming off back-to-back 1,800-yard seasons that have seen the senior throw for 48 touchdowns and only nine interceptions.

Following Newton’s championship win over Mill Creek, Benson was unanimously selected by his teammates to accept the trophy from Key, who embraced the team and took photos after the game.

With a rare four-year starter as his quarterback, Skelton believes Benson is the one to lead Newton to Atlanta for the state championship.

“Absolutely. Deron has done an outstanding job,” Skelton said. “Very mature with how he leads. The respect that he demands [and] how the whole team respects him. He knows what it takes, there is nothing he has to see. He has won playoff games, he has won big games, so Deron has been seasoned. We have some young quarterbacks that he has taken under his wing and he has offered great advice and held them accountable too.”

The Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic will not be the only event that Newton will compete at this summer, but Skelton noted how a big part of the team’s goals over the summer come off the field, too.

“[It’s about] team bonding,” Skelton said. “Even outside of football there has been a lot of things we are investing in that is team bonding. Just the things we do out in the community, we are a big community service team. Those are the things we want to lead with. We feel like football part will take care of itself, those are the things we lean our hat on.”