This week, the message for the Gulfport football team is humility following its nail-biter win over St. Martin to kick off district play.
The irony of that is asking the News 25 Student-Athlete of the Week to now brag on himself for his dominating performance in that 35-34 triumph.
Humble as they come, senior quarterback TQ Newsome is recipient for Week 6.
What was being dubbed a Top 10 matchup across the state between Gulfport and St. Martin lived up to the hype, Gulfport’s team captain lived up to the moment.
“People say leaders are going to lead and big time players are going to make big plays when the game is on the line, that’s what he did on Friday night.”
“It was a big game, we knew that for sure. The way we came out and just to have that win under our belt, we know they’re going to be a good team, they’re going to win some games in this region. So just us jumping out and getting that win ahead of them, that was big for us. We know that.”
With some help from the defense Newsome and company staved off a furious St. Martin rally, extending their run of consecutive wins in Class 6A-4 to 10.
On offense the future Southern Miss running back went off for 130 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries, while the present Gulfport quarterback dialed up another 131 yards and two more scores through the air.
“I just say I’m a football player. I just come out, try to do whatever I can do to help my team win or whatever they need me to do I’m going to come out and do it to the best of my ability. And as an athlete, I think that’s important to be a selfless player and help us win.”
“I just think him as a person, him as an athlete. He’s the total package. He’s a great student, great athlete, great person and you can’t ask for much better than that. He’s great in the air, he can throw it, he can run it. We try to lead by example, and he does a great job of doing that.”
Newsome was a lot of things to the admirals during their run to the 2017 district title, and that’s rolling right into the first year of the John Archie era.
The first-year head man is molding the program around his dual-threat ability on the field, and his dual-threat approach off it.
“He’s a total picture of what Gulfport football is all about and a total picture of the whole culture change with what we’re trying to do here at Gulfport with me coming in being the new head coach, and he’s going to picture that and show everyone that and once we get the whole team with that mindset we’re going to be pretty good.”
“That’s been instilled in me since I was small, I’m a student then athlete. So that’s always been a big thing for me, taking pride in my academics as well as what I can do on the field. And so yeah, that’s been very important and I take pride in that a lot.”
Newsome really does excel, in the classroom, boasting a score of 28 on the ... Click here to read full article
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