Newton County Academy senior running back Colby Hollingsworth (4) looks for running room during the Generals' home game against Christian Collegiate Friday, Aug. 27, 2021.

Newton County Academy was coming off a 16-14 loss in Week 1 against Calhoun Academy in a game the Generals led for much of the contest.

Senior running back/middle linebacker Colby Hollingsworth knew the team was at a crossroad. NCA hadn’t gotten a victory in football since the 2019 season and hadn’t had a winning year since 2016. Long-removed were the Generals from their 2014 state championship run, and the only thing Hollingsworth had experienced as an NCA football player was losing most games in which he played.

“We were jittery in that game (against Calhoun Academy),” Hollingsworth recalled. “That was the most mistakes we ever could have made in one game. Me and the other seniors came together afterward and decided we weren’t going to have another season like last year. We just couldn’t.”

Since then, NCA has been on a roll. The Generals bounced back with a 42-30 win against Christian Collegiate in Week 2, beat Prentiss Christian 52-44 in Week 3 and topped Delta Academy 56-48 Sept. 10. They entered Friday’s non-divisional contest at Wilkinson County Christian Academy with a 2-0 record in MAIS District 2-2A. After moving down to eight-man football and hiring Steve Nelson as football coach and headmaster, NCA seems poised to have its first winning season in several years and perhaps make a playoff run despite the major changes that took place in the offseason.

“I think losing that first game was honestly the best thing that could have happened to us,” Hollingsworth said. “We feel like we’re the most overlooked team around, that everyone is like, ‘Academy is playing this week, they’ll lose,’ and we talk about that, how everyone is counting us out. We use that at practice, because we can’t go into every game thinking we’re going to lose or else we’ll be proving everyone right.”

Nelson came to NCA after spending two years at Lamar as its high school principal, boys basketball coach and junior varsity football coach. He also had previously coached football at Northeast Lauderdale and Lake. A Newton native and son of former Newton Superintendent James Louis “Creeper” Nelson, the opportunity to be a football coach and administrator appealed to Nelson when both positions came open at NCA. There was some uncertainty with the job, though: Nelson had never coached an eight-man football game prior to that opener against Calhoun Academy, and he didn’t know much about the roster.

“From summer workouts I knew these kids worked hard and knew they were hungry,” Nelson said. “They want to get on the winning track, and when you have good attitudes a lot of things seem to fall into place, and they did.”

Eight-man football, Nelson said, wasn’t too difficult of an adjustment.

“You still have to block and tackle, and the team that makes the least mistakes will still win,” Nelson said. “The biggest difference is you have three less guys on the field. The other big difference is if you have one guy who can really run, even if you defend the play perfectly, it’s hard to contain the field with just eight players. 

After leading Calhoun Academy until the final few minutes before losing in Week 1, Nelson said he was proud of how his players responded by getting the win against Christian Collegiate that following week. Since then, they’ve had two come-from-behind wins, a sign the mental toughness needed to win is developing within the players.

“Once you take that giant leap and get win No. 1 and you follow that up with a good come-from-behind win against Prentiss, the confidence comes with it,” Nelson said. “Now I’ve been telling them not to be cocky or think they’ve done anything extraordinary because you can be humbled very quickly.”

It’s something the players are taking to heart, Hollingsworth said. They aren’t focusing on winning district, winning state or even going unbeaten from here on out. 

“We’ve come together as a family,” Hollingsworth said. “We’re going into every game as an individual game. We’re thinking, ‘We’re 0-0, and we’ll win this game, and nothing else matters.’”

The biggest key to success so far, Nelson said, has been the Generals’ ability to put up big yards on the ground.

“That’s been our best defense as well,” Nelson said. “We’ve kept the ball away from opposing teams a lot. Our offensive line has done a good job, especially in the second half when we’ve seemed to wear down other teams. We’ve run really well in our last three ball games.”

Hollingsworth has been a big key to their success as well. Nelson said he’s averaging 16 tackles a game on defense while amassing nearly 700 yards rushing through four games. Against Delta Academy, Hollingsworth rushed for 299 yards on almost 40 carries.

“I wouldn’t have gotten at least half of that if my line didn’t block for me,” Hollingsworth said. “That’s the best I’ve seen my line block in all five years I’ve played. They helped me out and picked me up when I was down.”

He also credited Nelson for bringing renewed enthusiasm to the coaching staff.

“I absolutely love Coach Nelson,” Hollingsworth said. “If anything could happen to Newton Academy to turn us around, he was it. We wouldn’t have the success we’ve had without his play calling. He’ll call plays, and they’re always there for us to show how athletic and how good a team we are. He puts us in the best position to make plays.”

For Nelson, the fun has been getting to know the players and helping develop them. Winning games doesn’t hurt, either, though.

“When you have 30-plus years in education, you enjoy all these things and the relationships you build with the kids, and when you win, it makes everything that much better,” Nelson said.