Newnan defeats mistake prone Troup Tigers at home

To date the Newnan Cougars have had a 2013 football season that has given the faithful a roller coaster feeling or being a chocolate in Forrest Gump‘s candy box.
After a 52-21 loss to Marietta on August 30, Newnan defeated LaGrange 42-20 on September 6 before dropping a 55-21 decision to highly regarded Sandy Creek last week in Tyrone.
Friday night, the Cougars dominated most of the game even though they only won by a 17-7 margin over the Troup Tigers in Drake Stadium as they evened the record to 2-2 on the season.
The Tigers, who dropped a decision to Callaway last week on turnovers fell to 1-2 on the season.
After the Cougars failed on their first offensive series of the game, the Tigers took over and had some success moving the ball until with 6:33 remaining in the first quarter.
Newnan took over at their 42 and also had success moving the ball behind the running of J.K Britt who carried the ball on four of the first five plays of the series.
The Cougars moved the ball to the Tigers one yard line with a first and goal but were unable to score a touchdown as Britt was stopped twice for negative yards and a pass from quarterback Bailey Bryant was incomplete.
Newnan managed to come away with points as Conner Cox converted a 21-yard field goal with 3:54 remaining.
Britt played a role on defense on Troup’s next series as the Tigers were at their own 13 with a second down at their own 13 when a pass from quarterback Will Smith was picked off by Britt at the Cougars’ 40 with 2:46 remaining.
However, the Cougars were unable to take advantage of the turnover as they got as far as the Tigers’ 18 when they lost possession on downs in the early seconds of the second quarter.
After holding the Tigers, the Cougars took over at their 21 when Britt took a handoff and raced 43 yards through the middle and the home team had a first-and-10 at the Tigers’ 30.
Seven plays later the Cougars recorded a touchdown as Britt ran to his left for a five-yard score with 5:21 remaining in the half and the lead was 10-0 after the extra point by Cox was good.
The Cougars had one more opportunity to score in the first half as they started at their 27 and moved the ball downfield behind the passing of Bryant who completed four of five at one point, but a pair of incompletion and a play for negative yardage stalled the drive and they took the 10-0 lead to the locker room.
At the start of second half, the Tigers opened with possession at their 20 and went on a drive that would last over seven minutes behind the running of Dre Towns and Daryl Dunlap to make the Troup faithful feel encouraged as they moved to the Cougars’ 15.
However, the turnover bug that plagued the Tigers in their game at Callaway last week returned as Dunlap fumbled and the Cougars recovered with 4:28 remaining.
The Tigers defense came in and held the Cougars on the ensuing series and on the following series recorded only score of the evening came as a Cougar fumble was recovered and returned approximately 50 yards for a touchdown 30 seconds into the final quarter and the margin was cut to 10-7 after the extra point.
Troup attempted an onside kick but Newnan recovered at their own 33 and made the visitors pay for the call as they went on a 67-yard drive behind the running of Britt until they reached the Tigers‘ 17 when Bryant hit Arnold in the end zone with 8:41 remaining to take a 10-point lead after the extra point by Cox.
The Tigers were still in the game as proven by the ensuing kickoff that picked up at his three-yard line and returned it 57 yards to the Cougars 41.
However, the joy in the stands changed to agony as Smith was intercepted at the two yard line on the first play from scrimmage by a Cougar defender.
The Tigers defense, which made several plays throughout the game when needed was able to hold the Cougars at their own 13 and force a short punt with a chance to rally.
However, a Tiger special teams player elected to field a bouncing ball and attempt a return but bobbled the ball instead allowing the Cougars to retain possession and lower the emotion of their guests.
Troup finished the game with five turnovers and were flagged for over 100 yards for a number of infractions from consecutive illegal procedure calls to several personal foul violations.
The Cougars will be idle next week before hosting Hardaway on September 27while the Tigers will face another team of Cougars when they face Alexander next Friday.