The Neshoba Central football team lived up to its Rockets nickname as Austin Day and AJ Watkins blasted off to give their team a 39-14 win over Newton County in Friday night prep football action.

The young Cougars hung with the speedy and hard-hitting Rockets for a quarter and a half with a nine-play drive capped by a Chrisshun Burks 1-yard run with 39 seconds left in second quarter. After the PAT, the Cougars were gaining the momentum by narrowing the gap at 13-7, giving Cougars head coach Gene Mitchell a chance to hopefully make some adjustments during the break.

Day nipped that plan as the Rockets took the ensuing kickoff and lined up with most fans and coaches thinking that Neshoba Central would kill the clock. Instead, Day took the ball and blazed 54 yards to paydirt, ending the Cougars’ momentum and going up at the half 19-7.

“We didn’t respond to adversity well, especially on defense,” Mitchell said.

The Rockets scored 20 more points in the second half.

Mitchell didn’t use his team’s inexperience as an excuse.

“It is what it is, but we will start back to work tomorrow looking at film and finding the mistakes and coaching the kids up and fixing the problems,” he said.

The Cougars face Scott Central next Friday, while Neshoba Central hosts Philadelphia.