Houston Co. looks to rebound against Newton

Houston County (3-2) looks to rebound against Newton (2-1) following the 44-10 loss to Warner Robins. Head Coach Ryan Crawford simply put that his team needs to play better, following the Warner Robins game he acknowledged how good of a team Warner Robins is but in the same breath explained how they’re good too, and needed to make improvements as a whole moving forward.

Newton is in Class 7A coming off an 8-7 loss to McEachern last week. One thing about Newton is that they’re stacked defensively and has allowed just two touchdowns so far. The defense features some three- and four-star prospects with two of them holding down the secondary.

Defense is also Houston County’s strength. Last week wasn’t their brightest hour but despite the final score, the defense had an exceptional first quarter against the No.1 team in Class 5A. Warner Robins first offensive touchdown didn’t come until the end of the second quarter after Houston limited their drives and held them to field goals. The front seven consisting of Jayleem Santos, Jalen Jordan, Jayson Hodges and Larry Fields is a load for any offensive line to handle, and they showed it against Warner Robins. Santos came up with an intereption from tipping a pass on a heads up while rushing the quarterback.

But by halftime, the game began to get out of reach as the offense couldn’t get out of their funk. Little mistakes like low snaps built up and held them from gaining any momentum, Crawford pointed lack of focus for being one of the main reasons they’ve struggled with the little things.

Newton isn’t a team Houston can beat while playing sloppy. As long as the offense can produce enough to keep it close, the defense is capable of keeping Newton off the scoreboard or even taking the matters into their own hands by scoring; like when Houston beat Coffee off a Cam Stewart pick six.

The game is at Freedom Field of Friday, Oct. 9 and kicks off at 7:30 p.m.

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