Newton County bests Warriors

The Choctaw Central Warriors played hard but the Newton County Cougars held on to their halftime lead to take a 26-19 win Friday night.

The Warriors drop to 0-6 while the Cougars improve to 3-4. Choctaw Central visits Leake Central this Friday night.

“We had a pretty good night defensively,” Coach Ed Routh said. “We didn’t score a few times when we were in the red zone. We had a fumble toward the end of the game that really hurt us.”

The Warriors struck first as Keyshawn Ben returned the opening kickoff 73 yards for a touchdown. Christian  Davis kicked the extra point and Choctaw Central led 7-0. Newton County then returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. The kick was no good and the Warriors led 7-6.

Newton County scored again in the first and went up 12-7 and that was the score at the half.

In the third quarter, the Cougars scored a couple of touchdowns and took a 20-7 lead. The Warriors answered with two touchdowns. First, Cruz Wilson scored on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Kooper Wesley. Then Taijon Dixon caught a 16-yard TD pass from Wesley and the Warriors trailed 20-19. The Cougars scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter and held on to take the win.

Ben was the leading rusher with 73 yards. Wilson was the leading receiver with 157 yards and a touchdown. Dixon had 70 receiving yards. Wesley passed for 228 yards passing.