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- Newton clinched the region title in double overtime, beating Heritage 14-13 with a decisive two point conversion stop on senior night.
- Newton went 12-1-1 over the final 14 games, recovering from early injuries and tough opponents to peak entering playoffs.
- Three freshmen started key roles (rusher, quarterback, safety), forcing increased competition and earning vital playing time.
- With quarterback Mya Perry sidelined, Amaya Armstead stepped in and helped stabilize the offense.
- Thomasville awaits in the first round Dec. 4; QB Justyce Cole is athletic with a big arm, posing a defensive challenge.
For the first time ever, Newton’s flag football team is a region champion.
In the weeks leading up to the 2025 flag football season, Newton head coach Steven Gunn made the team’s intentions very clear at Newton County’s fall sports media day.
“I won’t lie to you, our expectation for the year is, ‘We are going to win, we are going to win now, and we are going to win state,’” Gunn said.
The Lady Rams won then, and continued to win on their way to a 14-5-1 record and a first place finish in District 4 Area 8.
The team completed another accomplishment this season when they defeated Alcovy and Eastside to secure the first ever flag football Newton Cup, as the other two schools field their first ever flag football teams in 2025.
Since the program’s inaugural season in 2020, the Lady Rams have continued to increase their win total and their placement in the region.
With the program’s first ever region title secured, Gunn reflected on how it was a testament of the work done in the years prior.
“The build up of what we were trying to do the last two summers, the last three years has finally come to fruition,” Gunn said. “They were able to get over that hurdle. I try to tell them that, ‘People are hunting us now, we are not the hunters.’ People are now trying to take us down, we are the top dogs.”
When Newton took on the Heritage Lady Patriots with a region title on the line, the game fit the bill as it took two overtime periods for the Lady Rams to pull it off.
“We went into Heritage that night and we knew that game was going to be for all the marbles. We came out and were energized. It was also our senior night which helped out,” Gunn said. “We got seven seniors on the team and a senior manager so we have eight senior girls to recognize that time. 14-13 ballgame and it was 7-7 at the end of regulation. Double overtime, we get a two-point conversion stop to win the ballgame. We were super pumped up.”
Newton defeated Heritage 14-13, and then it went on to win its remaining three games to close out a dominant run.
Even though the team has seemed to peak at the right time, the first part of the season saw the team fall in matchups against some of the state’s best.
“[We were] 2-4 in the first six. The first two games of the year we played the No. 1 team in Division 4 and the No. 3 team in Division 5, so we didn’t start out easy. We then played a Locust Grove team which is legit. We got battle-tested straight from the jump,” Gunn said. “We had some injuries which hurt in the beginning. We had to have some ninth graders jump in there and play, who had not played flag before or didn’t play with us during the summer time.”
One of the injuries Gunn highlighted was at the quarterback position, where veteran Mya Perry was sidelined.
In Perry’s absences, Amaya Armstead stepped in to lead Gunn’s offense.
“We finally got some footing about us and figured out who we were and what we can do to move the football,” Gunn said. “We hung our hat on defense and if we score 14 points, we win the game. There were some games where we had to score more than 14 to win and we were able to do it. We finally got healthy, got some girls back and went on to go 12-1-1 there in the last 14 games.”
Gunn noted how the freshman’s presence in the lineup benefited for many reasons.
The first, it allowed the team’s underclassmen to get playing time against quality competition.
Additionally, Gunn believed it had an added effect on the team’s senior group that was competing with the newer crop of players.
“At one point we had a freshman rusher, a freshman quarterback and a freshman starting at safety,” Gunn said. “I got three freshmen starting in a group of 14 girls so those girls got major play time which pushed everyone else. ‘Hey, if you want to play you have to be better than the baby. You have to outwork that kid that basically knows nothing about flag, she is just coming out here and being athletic.’ We had some girls in other places step u[, but I am super proud of those ninth graders for coming in and doing what they had to do.”
With the regular season concluded, Newton now turns the page to its second consecutive playoff berth.
A year ago, the Lady Rams won its first round matchup over Hillgrove before they fell to Lambert.
This time around, Newton will take on a Thomasville team that made the playoffs after a 9-7 record in the school’s first ever flag football season.
The Lady Bulldogs may only be in year one, but Gunn noted how they will have their work cut out for them in the first round.
“Thomasville is extremely athletic,” Gunn said. “This is their first year as a program so all I can go off of is what I’ve seen on film — breaking it down the last couple of days. Their quarterback, [Justyce Cole], is extremely athletic and fast. She has a great arm, and I mean she has a cannon. I’ve seen her throw the ball 40-plus yards multiple times. They have tall wide receivers. We are going to have to play solid defense. On the defensive side of the ball, they rush two, so that means we will have to have good blockers.”
Newton and Thomasville will battle in the first round on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 5:30 at Sharp Stadium. The winner will then take on the victor between Decatur and Chattahoochee on the same day.
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