COVINGTON, Ga. — Late-game heroics from Zach Harden Jr., combined with a big game from Zion Johnson propelled Newton to a 30-29 win over McEachern in the first round of the Class AAAAAA playoffs Saturday night.
The Rams and Indians, both 6-4, entered the game at Sharp Stadium looking to keep their seasons alive. The end result was an instant classic in the first round.
Ultimately, Newton’s performance in the final seven minutes proved to be the decider.
Facing a six-point deficit, quarterback Deron Benson connected on a deep ball with Zach Harden Jr., who leaped over the defender to make the catch and run all the way in for a 55-yard go-ahead touchdown.
Harden’s touchdown capped off a 13-point comeback for Newton in the second half.
In a game that was far from normal, the Minnesota commit discussed what was going through his head on the play.
“Win the game. Win the game,” Harden said. “That’s all that was going on in my mind, just win the game.”
McEachern dominates second half, until they don’t
The Indians entered halftime trailing 12-16, but that quickly changed in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
With the Rams set up to punt, McEachern got through to block it and recover the ball in the end zone. The special teams touchdown gave the Indians their first lead of the day at 19-16.
Along with the lead, the Indians also grabbed momentum that carried them to an even larger lead.
On Newton’s next offensive play after the blocked punt, the Rams coughed the ball up and gave it back to McEachern deep into Newton territory.
Shortly thereafter, McEachern quarterback Calvin Pittman scored on a five-yard rush to extend the Indians’ lead to 26-16.
Things went from bad to worse for the Rams.
On the next drive, Benson’s pass was tipped and intercepted by McEachern’s Austin Brown. The turnover resulted in three points on a 31-yard field goal from Jonathan Rodriguez — his second field goal of the day.
The next drive for the Rams started off well and they even pushed into McEachern territory. However, Benson threw a second interception in as many drives when he attempted to connect with Andrew Leslie in the end zone.
Benson’s pass was intercepted by Brown again to give it back to McEachern.
After three consecutive scoring drives for the Indians, the Rams’ defense made the stop on the next drive to cease momentum for the Indians.
Newton went back to the air on the next drive. This time, the Rams capitalized.
Benson connected with Leslie across the middle and the Memphis commit evaded multiple Indians defenders on his way to a Newton touchdown.
– photo by Garrett Pitts
The Benson-Leslie connection trimmed McEachern’s lead down to 29-23 to make it a one-score game.
Following two more stops from the Rams’ defense, Harden made the play of the night to put Newton ahead for good.
After the game, Newton head coach Josh Skelton gave his thoughts on the play and the kind of player Harden is.
“It was huge,” Skelton said. “Zach is really a throwback player. Zach is one of the guys that has worked with Audavion Collins and Nyland Green when he was younger knowing one day he would get his opportunity for it to be on his back. I don’t think it could have come down to the game being in a better guy’s hands — a guy that wants to win and embody the culture of everything we fight for.”
McEachern had one more chance to get the lead, and the drive started off strong.
The Indians moved down into Newton territory, but were held to a fourth and long. This set up a go-ahead field goal attempt for Rodriguez, who looked to go three-for-three on the day.
The 37-yard field goal had the distance, but was just left and no good.
When the referees made the signal, Sharp Stadium went into a frenzy.
Newton closed out the game on the ensuing drive to get the close win and advance to the next round.
Rams stay ahead in first half despite late surge from the Indians
Before the two teams began to trade blows in the second half, the first half was a tale of two very different quarters.
The first drive for the Indians ended fairly quickly, but not as fast as Newton’s first drive.
On the Rams’ first offensive play, Johnson ripped off a 51-yard touchdown to put the Rams ahead. A successful two-point try gave Newton a 8-0 lead early.
Following multiple empty possessions from both teams, Johnson struck big again.
Johnson evaded multiple McEachern defenders at the line of scrimmage before sprinting 49 yards for a Rams’ touchdown to go ahead 16-0.
– photo by Garrett Pitts
However, the two-score deficit did not last long.
On the ensuing drive, the Indians marched down the field before scoring on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Pittman to Cam Traylor.
McEachern’s special teams pounced on a Rams’ mistake on the next drive to force a safety. With Newton set up to punt deep in its own territory, the snap got past Leslie and rolled into the endzone where he was eventually tackled for a safety.
A 45-yard field goal from Rodriguez trimmed Newton’s lead to 16-12 ahead of halftime.
Big day for Johnson
As he has done many times this season, Johnson produced a big game on the ground.
Johnson ended the game with 25 carries for 192 yards and two touchdowns. Although the pass game was the focus in the second half, key runs from Johnson on the final drive served as the dagger in Newton’s win.
Rams conquer historic first round woes
Historically, the first round has not been too kind to Newton.
Newton’s last time advancing past the first round of the state playoffs was in the 2015-16 season. Since then, the Rams were 0-7 in the first round until Saturday night.
As someone who has been with the program for a long time, the playoff win meant a lot to the second-year head coach.
“I’m just happy for the guys. [It was] everything in terms of the type of grit we needed to play with,” Skelton said. “I’m excited, I’ve been here a long time and this is the first playoff win since 2015. This is one of our goals. These guys deserve it — our community and everyone who has fought through the adversity. I just couldn’t be more proud do everybody and I am happy for everyone to enjoy this win. Obviously, we are onto the next one but we are excited and happy that everyone put together a group effort.”
What’s Next
Newton will now turn its attention to the second round, where they will go on the road.
The Rams will face the North Gwinnett Bulldogs (11-0, 7-0 Region 7-AAAAAA) on Friday, Nov. 22.
With Newton set to face an undefeated region champion in a week, Harden and the Rams will look to carry the momentum with them on the road.
“We never quit,” Harden said. “All year long, we have never quit. We are going to keep fighting and whatever happens will happen. We are just going to keep fighting. I love these boys.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
