Newton County football coach Bobby Bass told his team before the game that they weren’t going to leave bullets in the gun.

And when the Cougars were staring overtime in the face, Bass stayed true to his word.

The Cougars went 65 yards in just four plays as Damon Mapp hit a streaking Tyron Henderson on a 29-yard touchdown pass with 22 seconds left in the game, as Newton County pulled off a last-minute comeback to take a 29-22 win over visiting Moss Point Friday night.

The Cougars improve to 8-5 on the season and will host Lawrence County in the third round of the Class 4A playoffs next week. Lawrence County, 8-5 as well, beat Greene County 17-14 to advance. 

For Bass, in his second year as head coach, it was a program-defining win over one of the state’s traditional powerhouses.

“I thought our kids executed our game plan really well,” Bass said. “They have explosive players, there is no doubt about it. It’s just a matter of keeping them contained, and for the most part we did that. I’m proud of our players, our community and our coaches. We fought our butts off. They scored, and we could have hung our heads, but our kids don’t do this here any more. We just keep fighting.”

Newton County built a 10-0 lead after Donovan McCoy scored on a 10-yard run with 41 seconds left in the first half. Moss Point answered with a quick three-play drive and went 54 yards as the Tigers scored on a 14-yard run with 18 seconds left in the first half, and the Cougars led 10-6 at intermission.

The momentum swung several times in the second half as Moss Point scored on an 11-yard run with 6:32 left in the third and went up 14-10 on the 2-point conversion.

But Newton County answered right back as Carlois Walker scored on a 37-yard run with 3:39 left in the third to cap off a five-play, 55-yard drive. The try for two failed and County led 16-14.

The score stayed there until early in the fourth quarter when Moss Point pulled off a double pass for a 46-yard touchdown with 9:50 left in the game. The try for two was good, and the Tigers led 22-16. 

After swapping punts, Newton County put together a big drive, all on the ground, as they went 74 yards in nine plays as Walker scored on an 8-yard touchdown run with 2:49 left in the game. Lee Hill’s PAT failed, to leave the game tied at 22-22.

“I told (Coach Rob Roberts) to go win it,” Bass said. “I told them before the game that we weren’t going to leave any bullets in the gun. I told our players that, that was my pre-game speech. I told them we were going to shoot as many bullets as they would give us. As long as we can keep shooting, we were going to keep shooting, and that’s what we did.”

The Cougars got the ball back with 58 seconds left to play, giving quarterback Damon Mapp a shot. After an incompletion on first down, Mapp hit Donavon McCoy on a 45-yard pass to put Newton County at the Moss Point 30. Two plays later, Mapp hit Henderson on a 29-yard touchdown pass with 22 seconds left for the win. Hill’s PAT gave County a 29-22 lead.

Bass said he extremely proud of his quarterback, who had been out since the Union game in Week 5.

“We got our quarterback back,” Bass said. “I’m so happy for him. It crushed him when he got hurt and couldn’t play. I know he’s excited and I’m excited for him. I know he’s excited to get back out here and play. He’s the heart and soul of our team, no doubt about it. These kids respect and love him.”