Flag football season is here, and the Newton Lady Rams have their eyes set on grabbing a winning season with a roster that has a fair share of experience.

A year ago, the Lady Rams finished the season 4-10 and were on the outside of the playoffs by the end of the year. This year, confidence seems to be high amongst the team with head coach Steven Gunn back at the helm.

“Our confidence level is super high from last year,” Gunn said. “It is seven-on-seven and we are returning six starters on both sides of the ball. We are looking to really do more than we did last year. Last year was my first year at Newton, first year with the girls just getting to know them and them trying to learn me.”

Newton is set to play 20 regular season games this year after only playing 14 a year prior. 

Ahead of a longer season, Gunn and team have been busy over the summer. For Gunn, him returning to coach the team and getting the group active ahead of the season is something the second-year coach feels will pay dividends.

“This will be the first time they have had a returning coach since this program was started five years ago. With that being said, we had a great summer,” Gunn said. “We went and played about 20 games during the summer. We went to the Shaq camp in McDonough and played in it. We have had the opportunity to go play better teams, great competition and the girls getting to know each other and me. I can build the offense around what it is we need to do to get the ball in the zone.”

From a stylistic standpoint, Gunn shed light on the team’s defensive identity,

“We are tenacious,” Gunn said. “We are really going to try to stop you from scoring. We are going to stand on defense. My motto is, ‘If I score 14, I should beat you.’ We are going to keep you out of the zone and we are going to put the ball in there as much as possible. We are really going to play good defense.”

One of the key returners for Gunn and the Lady Rams is Aryanah Clark.

“Clark plays safety for us and she had about 12 interceptions during our summer ball games. She is going to be back there being a ballhawk and she is going to help us out on offense too. I don’t know if you have seen it on Instagram or TikTok, but she is viral so go find her.”

Over the summer, Clark was featured in a TikTok clip that showed her going against Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

In the clip, Clark beat the All-Pro receiver on the route for a touchdown to send everyone into a frenzy. Clark was recognized at Newton in July and was named the Most Valuable Player of the camp along with a gift basket from Hill.

Another way that the team has used to get better is in collaboration with Newton’s football team, since the seasons take place at the same time.

Putting his players against some of the varsity players on Newton’s football team was a challenge Gunn did not shy away from.

“I've heard of other schools that work with their ninth grade [football] teams and go seven-on-seven with their girls flag football team. We would love to do that during our season because we overlap,” Gunn said. “We start in September and they are still going. We can work with our football team [to] get their ninth grade and JV [teams] out there to run pass routes so we can get one-on-one against some people. If they want to bring their big boys out there we will even take advantage of them. Whoever wants to line up seven-on-seven, we will go at it.”

One different aspect between football and flag football is the schedule.

Unlike Newton’s football team, the flag football team typically plays twice a week and plays two games on gameday.

“We play two games a night and we usually play multiple days a week. We have what they call playdates, and we have about six weeks to get 10 playdates in so we pack them in there,” Gunn said. “We play on Tuesdays  and Thursdays, sometimes we play on Saturdays. Our practice schedule is busy. We practice any day that we don't have that.”

The Lady Rams will kick off the 2024 season Tuesday, Oct. 8 at Sharp Stadium. Newton will square off with Clarke Central at 5:30 p.m. and Monroe Area at 7:30 p.m. as they look to avenge losses to each team from last season.