Tigers look to keep tradition going

By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
Oct. 23, 2003
Newton has completely dominated its football series with Lake and that's a tradition the Tigers would like to extend when they visit Lake's A.F. Hollingsworth Field, a.k.a. "Death Valley," Friday night in a Division 5-2A matchup.
The schools met nearly every year from 1931-44 before taking a hiatus until 2001.
Newton enters Friday's game with a 2-1 record in Division 5-2A and a 3-5 overall mark. The Tigers hammered Williams-Sullivan 40-7 last week.
Lake is 1-2 in the league and 3-5 overall after beating Kemper County 34-8 last week at DeKalb.
Lake head coach Ed Amis expects much the same as Posey.
Newton lost 18-12 to Bay Springs and 3-0 to West Lauderdale in a pair of overtime games. The Tigers also dropped a tough 15-8 game at Philadelphia.
Lake lost 20-14 in overtime at Clarkdale and suffered a 7-6 loss to Philadelphia two weeks ago.
The Hornets have been without senior tailback Damion Gray since the second game of the season. Filling in has been sophomore Greg Sanders.
Scott Central
at Union
Union extended its winning streak to five with a 22-20 Region 3-1A victory at Thomastown last week. Now the 5-3 Yellowjackets find themselves hosting an 8-0 Scott Central team that many expect to win the Class 1A state championship this year.
Not only does Union have top-ranked Scott Central this week, the Jackets must travel to defending Class 1A state champion Puckett next week.
Breland is impressed with the Rebels, who beat Sebastopol 35-8 last week after Union struggled to a 15-14 win over the Bobcats two weeks ago.
In beating Thomastown, Union's Anthony Johnson made his return to the lineup a successful one as he ran the ball 18 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns, completed both of his passes for 78 yards and one touchdown, and had eight tackles and a fumble recovery on defense.
Sylva-Bay Academy
at Newton County Academy
The Generals of NCA suffered a 33-28 loss to Winston Academy last week at Louisville. Sylva-Bay saw any chance of winning the Academy 3-A title endure a similar fate with a 35-0 loss to Heidelberg Academy at Bay Springs.
The Saints still have a solid shot at obtaining a wild-card berth in the playoffs, but need a win at NCA to solidify their position.
Sylva-Bay holds a 22-9 lead in the series which began in 1972 and has been played every year since.
The game pairs NCA head coach Mike Tucker with former player Chad Odom, now head coach at Sylva-Bay.