Cougars Win Seventh Straight and Ready for State

All of those people who went to the much anticipated Newnan-East Coweta matchup might have witnessed one of the greatest Coweta County rivalry games ever.

Since the Cougars had clinched the region championship in the last game and East Coweta was guaranteed a playoff spot, this game was all for pride. After being neck and neck the whole game, Newnan pulled away in the fourth quarter and won 43-26.

The Indians struck first on a 59 yard scamper by Tay Willis, but the Cougars responded quickly and tied the game at 7 when Alec Ogletree had a 58 yard reception from Lendell Arnold. After about 6 scoreless minutes, East Coweta took the lead off of a field goals. Once again Newnan responded, and Chris Robinson rushed 42 yards for a touchdown. With much help from the officials, East Coweta escaped the first half down by only 4 points.

The second half started off quite terribly for the Cougars with a scoreless third quarter. Tay Willis had another miraculous touchdown run; this one for 80 yards.

Just as Newnan was approaching the red zone and preparing to score, East Coweta picked off a tipped pass and ran it to Newnan territory. The Cougar defense then held the Indians to a field goal to make the score 19 - 14.

Newnan then got rolling by running the ball strong and keeping the clock running. Chris Robinson had a good run to retake the lead, and Lendell Arnold converted the 2 point conversion to make the score 22 - 19. Then as EC was ready to drive again, Newnan's defense shut them down, and it was a turnover on downs. Zander Ogletree then turned a screen pass into a touchdown run and spread the lead to 29 - 19. After an attempted EC comeback, the Cougars put the game away behind Chris Robinson's third score of the night.

This win finalized the Cougars' consecutive undefeated regular season. Newnan will play Valdosta at home on Friday, November 13 in the first round of the playoffs.

--Cole Duffey, Sports Editor