Canes win fifth consecutive region title, extend streak to 25; Tigers, Wildcats, and Colonels see se
CARTERSVILLE 68, TROUP 0
The top-ranked Purple Hurricanes clinched a school record fifth straight region championship Friday night by overwhelming visiting Troup, 68-0.
Cartersville improved its state-best winning streak to 25 consecutive games and will head into the playoffs as a No. 1 seed at 10-0.
Cartersville posted 56 first half points with 28 coming in each of the first two quarters.
Trey Creamer (photo) scored six touchdowns (five rushing and one receiving) to lead the Canes.
Trevor Lowe returned a fumble 25 yards for a touchdown and Bradley Kirk returned an interception for a Canes’ score in the second half along with a touchdown run by Dominique Williams.
Georgia Player of the Year candidate and Canes’ quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, was 14-for-19 for 208 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for 36 yards.
Cartersville will host Chestatee next week at Weinman Stadium to open defense of the Class AAAA state title.
NORTH MURRAY 28, ADAIRSVILLE 21
The Adairsville Tigers season came to a close Friday night with a 7-point home loss to North Murray in a Region 6-AAA playoff game. A win by Adairsville would have put the Tigers in the state playoffs for a school-record sixth straight season.
The Tigers traded leads with North Murray in the second half, but the visiting Mountaineers ultimately scored the game winning touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Both teams opened the game with touchdown drives on their first possessions.
Adairsville went up 7-0 on a 10 play, 72-yard drive that culminated with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Roger Redd to Ethan Belcher.
North Murray answered with a 75-yard, 12 play drive of their own. Tailback Brady Harper punched in a two-yard run to tie the game, 7-7.
The Mountaineers took a 14-7 lead to the intermission, following a short sneak for touchdown by sophomore quarterback, Preston Poag, Jr.
Adairsville took a 21-14 lead with a pair of scores in the third quarter.
Tigers’ sophomore running back, Mason Boswell capped a 48-yard drive with a five yard run to tie the score at 14-all and Travon Branch made a leaping grab over a defender in the end zone to collect a 35-yard touchdown pass from Redd that gave Adairsville the lead.
Poag raced for an 80-yard touchdown run on North Murray’s next play from scrimmage to knot the score at 21-all with 4:07 remaining in the third quarter.
North Murray scored the ultimate game winning touchdown on a 48-yard scamper by Harper on the first play of the fourth quarter, but the Tigers had a potential game-tying score negated.
The Mountaineers drove to the one yard line and had fourth-and-goal leading 28-21. Poag kept the ball and tried to sneak it in to put the game away, but it popped loose into the end zone.
Devon Isaac of the Tigers scooped it up and with a convoy of blockers returned the ball 100 yards for an apparent Adairsville touchdown.
After the officials huddled and a lengthy discussion, it was determined that there was a fumble on the play recovered by the Tigers. They also ruled, however, that there was an inadvertant whistle that stopped the play at the point of the fumble recovery and Adairsville was awarded possession at their own 1-yard line.
A pair of late drive attempts by the Tigers came up short and Adairsville’s final offensive play came with less than one minute remaining when a Redd pass tipped off Belcher’s hands on a fourth down play.
North Murray (7-3) earned the school’s first-ever state playoff berth. The Mountaineers will host Jackson County next Friday.
Adairsville’s season ends with a 3-7 mark.
ROME 56, WOODLAND 6
Rome rushed for 357 yards and finished with 454 total yards in a 56-6 rout of Woodland. The victory secured the Wolves first region title since 2006. Rome (8-2, 7-1 in 7-AAAAA) scored 42 points in the first half on their way to a runaway win.
The Wolves finished in a three-way tie for the region title with Carrollton and Kell, but held a point differential in the games between those teams.
Rome will host Miller Grove to open the Class AAAAA state playoffs next week.
Woodland’s lone score came on a Seth Johnson 67-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Knowles in the fourth quarter.
Woodland finished the year 0-10.
CARROLLTON 45, CASS 14
Carrollton scored 31 first half points before the Colonels got on the board with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Brett Gaddy to Devin Pritchett that made the score 31-7 at halftime.
After the Trojans took a 45-7 lead, Cass’ Rett Moore connected with Tavares Varnum for a 36-yard touchdown strike in the fourth quarter.
Carrollton finished in a three-way tie for the Region 7-AAAAA championship, but will finish second and be a No. 2 seed in the Class AAAAA state playoffs next week on a point differential tie-breaker among the tied teams. Rome won the title and Kell finished third.
Carrollton (9-1, 7-1) will host Lithonia in the first round of the state playoff next Friday night.
Cass finished the 2016 season with a 3-7 mark.
