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Published Thursday, November 05, 2009 in Sports

Indians offense to be challenged by Newnan 'D'

By Chris Goltermann

The Times-Herald

In physics, there's always been scientific debate about what happens when an unstoppable force meets the immovable object.

This week on the football field, that theory will be reversed when 7-2 East Coweta takes on 9-0 Newnan.

That's when the Indians' unstoppable object takes on the Cougars' immovable force.

Certainly something will have to give when East Coweta's offense led by senior tailback Tay Willis' 1,753 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns runs headlong into a Newnan defense led six seniors that have allowed just four offensive scores through nine games.

It's arguably the strongest matchup among three equally intriguing battles to be decided at Drake Stadium. In addition to special teams, East Coweta's steady defense takes on Newnan's revamped offense, which despite starting the year without a single starter back, has thrived while averaging 34-points-per-game.

"Giving up only three points a game has helped," said Newnan head coach Mike McDonald with a smile.

Considering that Willis has become the region's most dangerous offensive weapon and a Newnan defense led by five returning senior starters from last year's Class AAAAA semifinalist, the side that stands out most on Friday is likely to come out on top.

Just don't ask either head coach to provide a hypothesis on the final result. Neither McDonald nor East Coweta head football coach Clint Wade has the answers just yet.

At least not until late Friday night.

"They're awfully good," said Wade of Newnan's defense, which has shut out five opponents so far this season and is on pace to match its eight shutouts from 2008 . "They've just got a ton of athletes over there. They're quick to the ball, and when they hit you, you know it."

Looking at statistics doesn't provide a simple answer for the Cougar defense. Last week's five sacks against Mundy's Mill were a season high and they have nine total, compared to East Coweta's 20 total sacks. Newnan has forced 18 turnovers, but at an average of two per game.

The bigger key toward success might be looking at the defensive folks in uniform.

"I don't think it's anything special that we're doing," said McDonald. "We've just got some really good players."

This year mostly pride and bragging rights are on the line between the rivals. Newnan knows it will host the No. 4 finisher from a talent-rich Region 1-AAAAA alignment in south Georgia, which will be either Warner Robins or Valdosta, both 6-3.

East Coweta awaits 1-AAAAA's second-place finisher --which anywhere else in the state would be a No. 1 seed. Colquitt County, Lowndes and Northside Warner Robins are all 8-1 heading into Friday. If No. 7-state-ranked Northside-WR beats Colquitt, the Indians would actually have to play No. 3 Lowndes.

The rivalry, despite long stretches of dominance since 1992, has been nip-and-tuck every year. East Coweta won 10 straight meetings between 1993-2002 following and hasn't won another since.

"These kids have battled all year and I'm certainly not going to expect them to back down," said Wade, whose team has been battling injuries all week. At least three defensive starters weren't practicing on Tuesday including safety J.J. Miller and lineman Willie Holloway, who has 50 tackles and four sacks this season.

That'll make the margin for error even slimmer on Friday for East Coweta.

"I'm not going to say we're going to have to play perfect," said Wade. But we can't make any huge mistakes and we're going to have to force them into making one or two mistakes as well."

Willis, who is averaging 9.8 yards a carry in East Coweta's multiple-I set, may give the Indians a chance to end Newnan's reign.

Wade has continually given both his offensive line and assistants Tom Goechenour and Ron Beaucham for grooming a brand-new group of starters this season. A disciplined atmosphere was set early in the summer.

"Oh yeah. They did a lot of yelling and we did a whole lot of up-downs," said senior center Corey Hamlett. "We've been working hard on offense all year."

Willis broke away for five touchdowns in last week's win over Riverdale and had a four-touchdown performance earlier in the year in a win over Pebblebrook, two of which were set up by lead blocks from fullback Cody Davis, who has been as much a reason for the success.

East Coweta has tried to throw several wrinkles into the mix, using a wishbone set during goal line stands early in the season and using direct snaps to Willis last week, at least one of which resulted in a score.

"He makes it a lot easier," said Hamlett. "Sometimes all he needs is a crease."

Willis might need a bigger opening to run through this week. During Wednesday's practice at Newnan, the Cougars ran two scout offenses on and off the field against its defensive starters, with at least one member wearing a red pinny over their practice jersey representing where East Coweta's No. 1 would be on the field.

"He has such great vision and speed and the ability to cut and see the field," said McDonald. "You hold your breath every time he touches the football because he can go all the way on any given play."

Newnan defensive assistants wouldn't let their players forget the one time one of those red jerseys darted into the clear, before a voice shouted out "Ahh.. there goes one."

It was the only time a player representing Willis, got away though.

"He's probably the best running back we've faced so far," said Cougars senior linebacker Adam Strakose, who leads the unit with 64 tackles this season including a team-high eight for loss. "The thing we have to do on Friday is make sure that we don't make it easy for him. We want him to have to get up off the ground every time."

While the hard-nosed Strakose is being pursued by a smaller group of schools including West Alabama and the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga than some of his teammates, his play may bring back high school memories of East Coweta's most famous linebacker, Keith Brooking, who now also wears No. 51.

But it was a different NFL Pro-Bowler that Strakose patterned himself after.

"I started (playing linebacker) in ninth grade," he said. "I used to play offensive and defensive line. But when I started watching guys like (Chicago Bears linebacker) Brian Urlacher, I thought linebacker would be right for me."

Newnan's staff, though, may have thrown just as many scout team passes during Wednesday's practice. East Coweta has just under 600 yards passing, led by senior quarterback Austin Ingram, who has hit six receivers at least five times this year.

"So you can't just focus in on their running game because they can hurt you throwing it as well," said McDonald. "We've got to keep their offense off the field. And when they've got the ball we've got to stay away from the big play. We'll have to contain them and hopefully make them have go a long way."

The line of scrimmage will be entirely new for both teams this year. In addition to East Coweta's offensive line, three new starters up front for Newnan's defense have been as much a pleasant surprise. It's top four lineman have 26 hurries among them as well as four forced fumbles. O.D. Pittman and Cameron Rosser combined for eight tackles and three sacks last week in a rout of Mundy's Mill.

"What we know is that they're big and strong up front," said Hamlett, who has been joined up front by teammates Dominique Bridges, Cameron Smiley, J.T. Winslette and Nick Girard as well as tight end Darquan Boose. "It'll definitely be a challenge for us."

Newnan's five linebacker set has taken advantage of the unit's overall team speed and strength. Senior Zander Ogletree has 50 tackles and Anthony Cruver, Trevor Tanner and Alberry Melson all have more than 20 solo hits. Denzel Smith, who missed time earlier in the year to injury had three tackles and a sack last week having returned to the starting lineup.

If the Indians can get past that group, they'll be staring into a secondary made up entirely of seniors. Star safety Alec Ogletree, who has verbally committed to Georgia, leads the team with four sacks and countless big hits, while making 37 solo stops. Cornerbacks Jamal Ransby and Cantrell Dix have combined for six of Newnan's nine interceptions.

"Getting a turnover is great, but three-and-out is the goal every time we get out there," said Strakose, who added that this year's defensive seniors made it goal not to rest on last year's success. "We wanted to make it a point to the new group of starters that we were going continue what we were doing last year. I think it's made us all work harder."

(Times-Herald Sports Editor Tommy Camp contributed to this story)

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