Newnan defense dominates North Gwinnett

Newnan quarterback Russell Powell threw two touchdowns passes and ran for one, and the host Cougars exacted revenge on North Gwinnett Friday, beating the Bulldogs 20-3 in a Class AAAAA quarterfinal game.

After two early slips and two incomplete passes, Powell, a 5-foot-10 senior who is also a coveted basketball prospect, completed his last 10 passes in intermittent rain to finish the game 10-for-12 for 126 yards.

The teams played last season in the same round, with North Gwinnett winning a 38-35 thriller. Newnan had given up 28 points this season and outscored its previous six opponents 236-0. North Gwinnett (10-3) had scored 34 and 43 points in playoff games against Brookwood and Lassiter.

“Wherever we have given the ball up, our guys just go out and play defense,” Newnan coach Robert Herring said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s on the plus side or the minus side, our kids go out there and do what they have to do.”

Newnan went ahead 7-0 when Powell found Alan Bonner on a 28-yard pass with 7:04 left in the second quarter. The Cougars drove 74 yards in seven plays, and Powell completed all four of his passes on the drive.

North Gwinnett pulled to 7-3 at halftime after Bonner lost a fumble at his 40 with just over two minutes to play. North moved inside Newnan’s 10, but Tyler Jarry dropped a third-down pass from Mike Tamburo after getting open in the end zone.

“If you don’t take advantage of opportunities in the red zone, you get beat by a team that’s this good,” North coach Bob Sphire said. “We felt we should have been up 21-7 at halftime, but we didn’t do our jobs inside the red zone.”

Tyler Jarry rushed for 87 yards on 21 carries for North Gwinnett, and Tamburo, scrambling for most of the evening, finished 7-for-19 passing for 72 yards and nine yards rushing on 16 carries. Tamburo, a Boise State commitment, was intercepted by Alex Ogletree in his final high school pass.

Newnan (13-0) will play Camden County, an 18-17 winner over Woodstock, in next week’s semifinals. The host team will be determined by a coin flip this weekend.