Newton 37, Tucker 20

The Rams marched 72 yards on 7 plays, capped off by a 25-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Deandre Huff (5 catches, 126 yards) to push the lead out to 10 with less than 9 minutes left.

The key play of the drive, though, came on the third play. On third and 3 from their own 35, the Rams needed to get a first down to keep the ball away from a Tucker team looking for the go-ahead score.

Johnson backed up and drew the rush, then tossed it to Taylor on the screen. He scampered for 38 yards to the Tucker 27, setting up the big touchdown four plays later.

And when he scored again on Newton’s next possession – his fourth touchdown of the night – the win was sealed, making amends for a 57-21 loss to the Tigers one year earlier.

“Last year, we were better than that,” Taylor said. “But this year, we just worked so hard for this moment. We just played hard to the moment, and I’m proud of my teammates.”

Their tough play won the game, but it could have been by even more if not for some significant mistakes. Newton finished with more than 450 yards gained on offense, but the Rams had more than 80 yards in negative plays, the biggest two coming on punt snaps that sailed pass the kicker, one of which led to a Tucker touchdown.

But, no matter, the Newton defense wouldn’t bend in the second half. The only score they allowed was when the Tigers started on the 2-yard line and punched it in with one play. They wouldn’t let Tucker’s sweep get around the edge.

“I think it helped that we’d seen it,” Newton coach Terrance Banks said. “We talked about it at halftime, about how guys had to do a better job of getting off the block. Guys were worried about, ‘They’re holding me.” I said, ‘No, they’re not, because no flag has been thrown.’ So they did a better job of fighting through the block.”

Newton is 5-1 for the first time since 1995. This is the first time Tucker has had 3 losses in the first 6 games since 2006.