Photo/Stan Prophitt/KidzSportsPhotography.com.

Whitewater knew that playing Newnan, ranked fifth in Class AAAAA, in a scrimmage would present many challenges Friday night; a host of starters return to a Newnan team that advanced to the quarterfinals last season.

But Whitewater couldn’t have imagined the end result: a 54-7 loss to Newnan that was perhaps worse than the final score would indicate.

The Cougars scored on six of their first seven first-half possessions — four touchdowns followed turnovers forced by their defense — and they were led by quarterback Russell Powell, who torched Whitewater’s secondary, throwing three touchdown passes.

Alan Bonner was Powell’s go-to-receiver, hauling in two touchdown passes.

Whitewater’s lone touchdown was scored by running back Josh Clemons on a 26-yard run in the third quarter.

It’s clear that Whitewater, which returns only six starters, still has significant room for improvement in every aspect of the game.

“We have to work on everything,” Whitewater coach Amos McCreary said. “We didn’t execute at all. Newnan beat us at every part of the game: coaching, offense, defense and special teams.”

McCreary remains optimistic, though, as Whitewater’s season opener against Douglas County is only two weeks away.

“We have a long way to go,” McCreary said, “but I think we can be a good football team. We have a lot of new faces right now. Before all is said and done, we’ll be OK.”

It was not all gloom and doom for Whitewater against Newnan. McCreary lauded the play of linebackers Davis Knowles and Zac Mann and second-string quarterback Hayden Jordan, who suffered an ankle injury in the game and didn’t return.

“We are hoping that Hayden’s injury is just a bad sprain,” McCreary said.
Whitewater opens the season August 29 at home against Douglas County.

Three teams play scrimmages Friday night: Fayette County plays host to Jonesboro at 7:30 p.m.; Sandy Creek plays host to Salem at 7:30 p.m.; and McIntosh takes to the road to play at Rockdale County at 7:30 p.m.

Starr’s Mill played its scrimmage Thursday, losing to East Coweta 22-13.