MILTON, Ga — With the season one week away, the Newton Rams went toe-to-toe with the reigning state champion Milton Eagles in a scrimmage. Ultimately, the Eagles made a key stop late to earn a 28-27 victory.

The key matchup of the contest was Milton’s passing attack against the Newton secondary. With future college football players in both units, each team came away with big plays.

Playing and competing from start to finish against a reigning champion is something that can boost confidence for a team. For Newton head coach Josh Skelton, Friday’s performance was something everyone on the sideline knew the team was capable of.

“It does a lot. I think internally, our expectations are a lot higher than what probably the outside people [think],” Skelton said. “We expect to win every game. I am very proud of the group. I know we didn’t play a full four-quarter game, but we played a top team in the country. We know who we are, we feel like on any given Friday we can be the best team in the state of Georgia.”

It was the Eagles that got it started.

Milton marched down the field before scoring on a touchdown pass from Luke Nickel to Tristen Payne to put the Eagles ahead 7-0.

After a Newton punt, Milton was geared up for another long drive. However, the Rams stopped the Eagles right in their tracks with an interception from Omarion Wallace.

Following another Newton punt, Milton went to the air again on their next offensive drive. Once again, the ball landed in the hands of Wallace for the interception

In a room alongside Minnesota commit Zach Harden Jr. and East Carolina commit Bernard Lackey, it was the sophomore, Wallace, who delivered the team’s biggest defensive moment.

Skelton credited Wallace along with the other defensive backs for their performance against the Milton air attack.

“It is really rewarding,” Skelton said. “We have a kid who is a sophomore, Omarion, who got two picks today. Rashod played well. One good thing about Zach is that she showed a lot of versatility. He is coming from last year [where he] just played corner to now play a lot of positions. Right now, anyone who knows our defensive back room knows they are special. We pride ourselves on getting turnovers and it starts on the back end.”

Even after a second interception, the Rams offense was unable to find traction as Milton grabbed an interception of its own. A pass from Newton quarterback Deron Benson deflected off the hands of receiver Andrew Leslie and into the hands of the Eagles’ defender.

A few drives later, Milton scored again on a five-yard run from TJ Lester.

On the final drive of the first half, the Rams offense began to find success. Newton marched down the field before Benson went Leslie’s way once more.

This time, the senior brought in the pass for the 24-yard touchdown. The score trimmed Milton’s lead down to 14-7 going into halftime.

The 20-minute intermission did not stop Newton’s momentum.

Right out of halftime, Newton went to the ground game and struck big.

Senior running back Zion Johnson took a carry 55-yards down the sideline for a touchdown to tie the game 14-14.

Following punts from both squads, every remaining drive in the game resulted in a touchdown.

Milton took the edge first on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Nickel to Ethan Barbour in the corner of the endzone.

Newton went back to the ground game to get the equalizer. It was freshman Kevin Hartsfield, who ran in the three-yard score to make it a 21-21 game. Hartsfield’s impact on the game was felt in the second half, as the freshman tallied 119 yards on seven carries.

With minutes left in the game, the Eagles got six once again on a two-yard touchdown run from Sheldon Atchison.

Athcison’s score set up the Rams with one more chance to tie the game with less than a minute left.

Newton’s momentum from its previous drives carried over and marched down into the Eagles’ red zone. From there, freshman Kenyon Hayes took the snap and tossed it into the endzone to a Rams’ receiver for a touchdown. 

The celebration quickly turned into anticipation as the Rams lined up to go for a two-point conversion to take the lead with less than a minute left in the game.

Hartsfield took the carry and ran past a Milton defender off the edge, but more Eagles’ ran to the ball and forced the freshman out of bounds on the two-yard line to get the stop and end the game.

Newton will look to carry some of its success from Friday into a week one rivalry. The Rams will square off with the Eastside Eagles in the first game of the Battle for the Newton Cup Friday, Aug. 16.