Newnan pounds Creekside, stays unbeaten

By Jeff Haws

For the AJC

Newnan’s shutout streak came to an end quickly Friday night.

Its undefeated record won’t fall quite so easily.

After registering shutouts in their past three games, the Cougars spotted Creekside a touchdown on its first possession, then shut down the Seminoles offense the rest of the night to win 34-6.

In addition to three consecutive shutouts, Newnan entered the game with a streak of 35 regular-season quarters without allowing a defensive touchdown and seven consecutive shutouts in Region 4-AAAAA play.

All three streaks came to an end on Creekside’s third play from scrimmage, when running back Zack Amey ran through several tackles on his way to a 58-yard touchdown that put Creekside (4-1, 3-1 in 4-AAAAA) up 6-0.

After that run, though, the Newnan defense showed why it has been so tough to score on the past couple of seasons.

“The guys just missed a couple of tackles, and we can’t do that,” Newnan coach Mike McDonald said. “From there, we just really started swarming and attacking and playing defense like we’re capable of playing.”

The Cougars (5-0, 4-0) held Creekside to 15 yards after that Amey touchdown run. Already without starting quarterback Tara Sewell because of an injury suffered last week against East Coweta, Creekside also lost Amey when he was ejected by officials late in the first half.

That gave an already struggling Creekside offense few options, and the Newnan offense took advantage of the Noles’ lack of scoring.

Newnan scored touchdowns on three of its next four possessions following the Creekside score, with running back Christopher Robinson carrying much of the load, running 16 times for 87 yards in the first half. He finished with 122 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.

Robinson said the Cougars were focused from the outset on offense.

“We just had to come out motivated, just come out and get on it,” Robinson said. “We knew we could do it. I just left it up to the line.”

Newnan finished with 223 rushing yards and 105 passing. Creekside had 77 rushing and 1 passing.