East Saint Louis, IL. — Newton’s out-of-state matchup in Illinois with the East St. Louis Flyers came down to the final play Saturday, but the Rams ultimately fell short 28-21.
The matchup took place on the Flyers’ campus at Jordan Stadium and featured two teams ranked in the top 50 in their respective state according to Maxpreps (East St. Louis: Ranked No. 1 in Illinois/No. 67 Nationally. Newton: Ranked No. 44 in Georgia).
Flyers pull away in final moments
The Flyers and Rams played tight for most of the night, but it was East St. Louis who had the ball with a seven-point lead with just under five minutes left in the game.
This drive for East St. Louis was set up after the Rams failed to convert on fourth down inside of their own territory — setting up the Flyers with the ball and favorable field position.
However, the Flyers found themselves facing a fourth down of their own inside of Newton’s five-yard line.
East St. Louis called for a run play to the right, but two of the Rams’ seniors — Minnesota commit Zach Harden Jr. and East Carolina commit Bernard Lackey — swarmed the backfield to get the tackle and force the turnover on downs.
This gave Newton and quarterback Deron Benson one more shot to tie the game.
Newton methodically marched down the field and into the red zone with nine seconds left on the clock.
On what turned out to be the final play of the game, Benson took a shot for receiver Andrew Leslie, but East St. Louis’ Quincy Minor managed to catch up and force an incomplete pass to end the game with a Flyers’ win.
The pass breakup between Leslie and Minor caused confusion on the Rams’ sideline as the pass fell incomplete with five seconds left but the clock continued to run. The seconds left the clock and the game concluded without another play being run.
Early quarters
Although it was a one-score game by the end of the fourth quarter, Saturday’s matchup started in the Flyers’ favor.
By the midway point of the second quarter, East St. Louis held a 20-0 advantage.
The Flyers opened up the scoring on a six-yard touchdown run from senior tailback Larevious Woods
In the final minute of the opening quarter, the Flyers struck through the air.
On a fourth down and short deep into Newton territory, East St. Louis capitalized on the Rams loading the box by passing over the top to a wide open Armaad Sharp for a score to make it 13-0.
In the second quarter, FLyers’ quarterback Kendrick Lyons threw for his second touchdown of the game on a 23-yard pass to Laron Baker Jr. East St. Louis was successful on the two-point conversion to make it a 21-0 lead.
Once the Flyers mounted a three-score lead, the Rams began to climb back as they answered the touchdown almost immediately.
Benson took the snap and took a deep shot that landed in the hands of Malik Brightwell, who outran two Flyers’ defenders for a 80-yard touchdown.
On the ensuing drive, the Rams defense forced an interception around midfield when Harden picked off Lyons. Shortly after, Benson marched Newton down the field before throwing his second touchdown pass of the game to bring the score to within a touchdown.
Harden's interception gave him a pick in three of the Rams' first four games.
Benson connected with Leslie, who leaped to make the 12-yard touchdown grab over the East St. Louis defensive back.
The touchdown sent the Rams into halftime with momentum that carried past the 20-minute intermission.
In the opening minutes of the third quarter, the Rams made it even.
After a big kickoff return from freshman Kevin Hartsfield set the Rams up at the Flyers’ 40-yard line, the Rams went to the ground game to pick up the rest.
Senior running back and Cincinnati commit Zion Johnson had multiple hard-fought runs before eventually scoring on a 20-yard rush in which he maneuvered around multiple East St. Louis players before getting into the end zone.
Johnson’s rush tied the game at 21-21 with 10 minutes left in the third quarter.
In the opening minute of the final quarter, East St. Louis grabbed the lead on a 21-yard touchdown run from Kent State commit TaRyan Martin.
Martin’s score served as the decider as it put the Flyers ahead 28-21 to eventually take home the win.
What’s next
The loss drops the Rams to 1-3 on the season as they plan to enter a bye week. After the week off, Newton will begin the chase for the Region 4-AAAAAA crown when they play the Archer Tigers (0-4) Friday, Sept. 20.
Archer is still searching for its first win of the season after falling 34-16 to the Eastside Eagles at Sharp Stadium.
