1970 Newton County
From 8-1—14
When the 1970 season came around , the Newton Co. tradition was so strong that their fans expected nothing but a big winner! There was a reason for that expectation as our team was averaging 28 wins & 3 losses for the last 11 years, with 7 Region Championships out of the last 9 years. The Rams team had lost (to graduation), All-Staters Thad Blankenship & Tony Harris, and also all-region Jim Gainer & tough Luke Odum.
Blankenship, over his career, established himself as one of the all-time local favorites. Tony Harris had graduated too young to even touch his true potential, but was still a terrific player. When we lost outstanding players, it always gave others (who had high hopes & dreams), an opportunity to "step out onto the main stage"! With seniors, the colorful "Bubba" Hill & Mickey Dickerson & Walter Sammons available, we knew we would have great leadership. The junior class would be well-represented by a great-shooting Clay Summers, & one of our quickest players ever, Stuart Clive. One of our most "fundamentally sound" players ever was sophomore 6'4" Kevin Price, and we knew we could count on him to contribute much. There was also an abundance of young talent which kept practices interesting & competitive! The Rams began the season ranked #4 in the state, & Carver-Atlanta was #1 again. The early games convinced me that this was one of our best-shooting teams, and there would be no "backing down" from anyone! Our biggest competition during the season came from Burney Harris, & we defeated them in Athens, 79-76, in a real battle (& in "Death Valley, we defeated them 71-58). We had a scare at Rockdale Co. (58-56), which was coached by former Newton Ram player, Richard Moore. We won our first 13 straight games (including 88-56 thrashing of Winder-Barrow), but when we went to Winder, the Bulldogs, who had been the only team to beat us in a previous 70-game streak, eked out a 59-58 victory, which proved to be the only loss of the regular season. With a 21-1 record entering sub-region play, Newton fans were already planning their vacations around the state tournament dates. -- story to be continued.
