Adairsville, Cartersville, and Woodland win season openers
Three of the four local high school football teams were in action Friday night and all three came away with opening night wins.
Adairsville and Woodland won back-and-forth battles with their opponents, while Cartersville blanked visiting Allatoona at Weinman Stadium.
ADAIRSVILLE RALLIES FOR OPENING NIGHT WIN
Adairsville senior quarterback Mason Boswell connected with junior slot Derrick Simmons for a 13-yard touchdown Friday night with 2:08 remaining in the game to set up Boswell’s game-winning two-point conversion run as the Tigers edged visiting Chattooga, 21-20.
Adairsville head coach Eric Bishop made the decision to go for the win during a timeout — called by the Indians — following the Boswell to Simmons touchdown pass. The Tigers’ offense stayed on the sideline as the timeout ended and then sprinted to the ball as a group for the two-point conversion attempt.
The two-point play was a direct snap to Boswell who found the end zone behind the right side of his line and lead blockers.
The one point lead still had to be defended for two minutes and Chattooga threatened.
A long pass from Indians’ quarterback Devin Price slipped through the hands of an open Clayton Johnson in their final possession. Johnson had somehow managed to get beyond the Tigers’ defense.
A play later, Boswell picked off a pass to end Chattooga’s chances. Even that play ended in a fumble, but it was recovered by the Tigers who were able to run out the final seconds.
Adairsville took the game’s first lead with 7:52 remaining in the first quarter.
Boswell connected with Wade Conduff for a 37-yard touchdown pass to cap an 81-yard drive. Chris Rodriguez converted the extra point kick.
Five minutes later, Malachi Mack finished off a 69-yard Chattooga drive with a one-yard plunge to tie the game, 7-7.
The two teams went to the intermission knotted 7-7 after a scoreless second quarter.
Chattooga took a 14-7 lead with 4:31 remaining in the third quarter. Lashaun Lester ran in the Indians’ score with a 12-yard dash.
Adairsville answered just over four minutes later. Boswell capped an 11-play, 75-yard drive march with a five-yard touchdown run but the PAT was blocked and Chattooga retained a 14-13 lead.
Chattooga went up 20-13 with 6:08 left in the game. E.J. Lackey scored on a 67-yard scamper, but this time the Indians missed the extra point.
The Tigers responded with their game-winning drive that covered 69 yards on seven plays.
Chatooga (0-1) will host Wesleyan next Friday night in Summerville.
Adairsville (1-0) travels to Cass who was idle this week.
CANES BLANK ALLATOONA
Class 4A second-ranked Cartersville blasted Class 6A sixth-ranked Allatoona 35-0 Friday night at Weinman Stadium.
Following a scoreless first quarter, Cartersville junior quarterback Tee Webb and senior running back Marcus Gary got the Hurricanes’ offense going.
Webb finished 7-for-15 through the air for 150 yards and two touchdowns while Gary compiled 144 rushing yards and 94 receiving yards with two touchdowns.
Webb connected with Trendon Horton for the Canes’ first touchdown at the beginning of the second quarter. He also tossed a screen pass to Gary who used some quality downfield blocking to score on a 50-yard play.
Between those two plays, Gary scored on a 46-yard run and Marko Dudley rounded out the Canes’ 28-point second quarter by picking off an Allatoona pass the he returned 35-yards for a touchdown.
Quante Jennings scored Cartersville’s final touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 4-yard run and the 35-point lead forced the game into a running clock for the final minutes.
Oscar Hernandez missed a short early field goal attempt for the Canes, but he responded by nailing all five PAT kicks.
Allatoona (0-1) travels to Creekview next Friday.
Cartersville (1-0) takes next week off and will host Luella August 31 at Weinman Stadium.
WOODLAND OPENS WITH WIN AT SOUTHEAST WHITFIELD
Woodland captured a season-opening road win Friday night in Dalton with a 31-22 victory at Southeast Whitfield.
The game was delayed more than 90 minutes between the third and fourth quarters as lightning and a heavy downpour moved through the area while the scored was knotted at 15-15. Southeast was in possession at the Wildcats’ 36 yard line as the stadium was vacated for safety reasons.
When play resumed the Raiders took a 22-15 lead on a Christian Gillespie 13-yard touchdown run, but Woodland responded with 16 unanswered points down the stretch for their nine-point opening night win.
Justice Carter scored first for the Wildcats on a nine-yard run. Titus Jones connected with Austin Potter for a two-point conversion that gave Woodland an 8-0 lead.
Quarterback Jakob Foss found Demarcus Williams for a 37-yard touchdown pass that put Woodland ahead 15-0.
Southeast made the score 15-7 at halftime with a 14-yard Adam Sowder to Zac Cole touchdown pass.
A 32-yard touchdown run by Gillespie and a two-point conversion by the Raiders tied the game 15-15 with 4:39 remaining in the third quarter.
Justice Carter added his second touchdown run of the night on an 8-yarder. Jones ran in another two-point conversion for a 23-22 Wildcats’ lead with 8:24 remaining.
Jones then picked off a Southeast pass and later scored on a one-yard run with 1:18 left in the game. His third two-point conversion of the night sealed the Wildcats’ 31-22 win.
Southeast Whitfield (0-1) hosts Murray County next Friday in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
Woodland (1-0) has the week off before hosting East Hall on August 31.
