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Published Saturday, October 11, 2008 in Sports

Photo by Jeffrey Leo

Newnan receiver E.J. Houston springs teammate Keandreas Wynn on a long run with a block during Friday’s win over Riverdale at Twelve Oaks Stadium.

Cougars continue impressive march

By Tommy Camp

The Times-Herald

Just when fans thought the Newnan Cougars' offense couldn't get any more efficient, it proved them wrong once again.

Not only did the Cougars score 44 points in their win over Riverdale Friday night, but put on another exhibition of effectiveness that is becoming the rule rather than the exception.

Newnan scored on its first five possessions in Friday's win.

That's nothing unusual for this year's Cougars. They scored on five straight possessions against Chapel Hill, on seven in a row against Lovejoy and Morrow and on the first four against Creekside.

But Friday's exhibition gave new meaning to the world juggernaut.

The Cougars covered 80 yards in three plays for their first TD, 85 in four for the second, 50 in four for their field goal, 71 in three for their third touchdown and 65 in four for their fourth.

They covered something in the neighborhood of 350 yards in 18 plays, put 30 points on the scoreboard and took a grand total of six minutes and 27 seconds to do it.

Newnan's top three skill players, Russell Powell, Alan Bonner and Keandreas Wynn led the way.

Wynn against demonstrated he is a power back with breakaway speed. Driving through gaping holes opened by the Cougars' offensive line, he outran Riverdale's gazelle-like secondary on 37, 64 and 38-yard touchdown sprints.

He now has nine rushing touchdowns this year and two receiving.

His three-touchdown performance matched the three he scored in the season opener against LaGrange.

Powell continued his masterful work at quarterback, throwing for one touchdown and running for another and now has 12 TD passes and five scoring runs this season.

He improved his record to 17-2 as a starter and extended to19 straight the games in which he as either run and/or thrown for at least one touchdown.

His 52-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter was the second longest of his career, next to the 62-yarder he enjoyed against Lithonia last year.

And Bonner scored twice, once running and once catching increasing his season totals to five receiving and two on the ground.

The Newnan offense scored in every quarter Friday, extending its stretch to 12 straight periods putting points on the scoreboard. Of the 24 quarters played so far this year, the Cougars have scored in 20 of them.

Defensively, the Cougars staggered somewhat at the beginning of Friday's game.

Riverdale scored on a 67-yard run on the sixth play of the game and on its second possession had a 75-yard run to set up its field goal.

The 67-yard touchdown was the longest Newnan has given up since Tri-Cities scored on a 73-yard play in the fourth quarter last year in the Cougars' 35-6 win in East Point.

The nine points the Raiders scored in the first period were the most scored on Newnan in any one quarter since North Gwinnett got 17 in the second quarter of last year's state quarterfinal game and the most in the regular season since Mundy's Mill scored 14 in the third period of game eight last year.

But after that initial success, Newnan shut down Riverdale, blanking the Raiders the rest of the way.

Alec Ogletree blocked a field goal attempt from the Cougars' 26 in the second quarter after a Newnan fumble had given the Raiders a golden opportunity t the Cougar 15 with Newnan clinging to a 13-9 lead at the time.

Ogletree also intercepted a pass at the Cougar five late in the first half.

In the third quarter Newnan stopped Riverdale on fourth down attempts from the Cougar 19 and 23.

Then in the fourth period the Cougars held Riverdale inside its own territory for the duration of the quarter.

Riverdale's nine points in the first quarter broke Newnan's nine-quarter streak during which it had held opponents scoreless.

The Cougars have now blanked their opposition in 12 of the last 13 quarters and in 24 quarters of play this year have allowed points in just five periods.

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