Canes roll, Tigers earn road win
Cartersville remained undefeated Friday night with a 45-10 homecoming win over Central-Carroll, while Adairsville grabbed a crucial, region road win at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, 13-12.
Cass and Woodland were not as fortunate in Region 7-AAAAA action.
Cass lost to 5th-ranked Carrollton 41-7 at home and Woodland fell to top-ranked Rome 48-7.
CARTERSVILLE 45, CENTRAL-CARROLL 10
The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes rolled to a 45-10 homecoming victory over Central-Carroll Friday night at Weinman Stadium.
Harrison Allen (photo) and Quante Jennings scored first quarter rushing touchdowns for the Canes as they took a 14-0 lead through 12 minutes.
Cartersville then built a 38-0 halftime lead on a pair of touchdown passes by Tee Webb and a 37-yard field goal by Oscar Hernandez.
Webb connected with Dadrian Dennis to put Cartersville up 21-0 and after Sunni Moorehead almost returned an interception for a score. Webb found Trendon Horton for a 12-yard scoring strike.
Jennings had a three-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that gave Cartersville a 45-0 lead, but Central avoided the shutout with a pair of scores during a running clock second half.
Central quarterback Landon Shulenberg connected with Omari Glenn for a touchdown pass to make the score 45-7 and the Lions kicked a field goal as time expired for a 45-10 final score.
Webb finished 16-for-20 passing for 233 yards and two touchdowns. Dennis led the receivers with five catches for 123 yards and a score.
Central-Carroll falls to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in Region 5-AAAA.
Cartersville (6-0, 2-0) hosts LaGrange next Friday at Weinman Stadium.
ADAIRSVILLE 13, LFO 12
The Adairsville Tigers bounced back from a loss to North Murray on the final play of last week’s game to win 13-12 Friday night at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe.
After falling behind 3-0, Adairsville took a 7-3 halftime lead on a four-yard touchdown run by Derrick Simmons (photo).
Mason Boswell put the Tigers up 13-3 with 2:12 remaining in the third quarter with a three-yard touchdown run, but the PAT failed.
LFO’s Nathan Williams narrowed the Adairsville lead to 13-10 early in the fourth quarter and the Warrors threatened again late in the game, but a Williams fumble recovered by Josh Brown twarted the drive.
With time expiring, Adairsville elected to take a safety rather than risk a turnover deep in their own territory and the Tigers held on for a 13-12 victory.
The loss dropped LFO to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in Region 6-AAA.
Adairsville (3-2, 2-2) hosts region leader and top-ranked Calhoun next Friday night.
ROME 48, WOODLAND 7
Woodland matched first possession touchdowns with Rome Friday night, but the Wolves then reeled off 41 unanswered points to defeat the Wildcats, 48-7.
Rome, the two-time defending Class 5A state champions and top-ranked team in the classification, scored in four plays after the opening kickoff.
N.C. State commit, Jamious Griffin scored on a 13-yard run as the Wolves took a 7-0 lead, but Woodland marched right back down the field on the Wildcats’ initial possession.
Justice Carter (photo) scored on a 19-yard run to complete an 80 yard drive that took eight plays. Ronny Ramirez converted the PAT kick and the score was knotted 7-7 midway through the first quarter.
Unfortunately for Woodland, the remainder of the first half was dominated by the Wolves.
Griffin had two more short touchdown runs to complete scoring drives and Rome quarterback Knox Kadum connected with Xavier Roberts-Donaldson for three touchdown passes as the Wolves took a 42-7 lead to the locker room at the intermission.
Kadum’s scoring tosses were from 45-, 17-, and 19-yards. The third coming with only 0:10 left in the half.
With both the third and fourth quarters played with a running clock, the only additional score was set up by an interception return by Rome to the Woodland five yard line. Tra Lawrence scored the Wolves’ final touchdown on a five-yard run. The PAT kick failed and a scoreless fourth quarter left the final score, 48-7.
Rome improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in Region 7-AAAAA.
Woodland (4-2, 2-2) hosts 5th-ranked Carrollton next Friday night.
CARROLLTON 41, CASS 7
The 5th-ranked Carrollton Trojans raced to a 35-0 halftime lead at Cass Friday night and finished the night with a 41-7 win over the Colonels at Doug Cochran Stadium.
Carrollton scored three first quarter touchdowns and added two more in the second quarter.
Brandon Marenco ran for two of the scores. Keshawn Ridley and Nick Tuggle rushed for one touchdown apiece and Terrell Carmichael connected with Virgil Brewer for the other Trojans’ first half score.
Both teams added a third quarter score.
The Colonels points came on an 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive with Thomas Gilliam accounting for 60 yards and quarterback Rett Moore the remainder — including a 1-yard touchdown keeper. Kicker Kaleb Speights kicked the PAT.
Gilliam finished the night with 84 yards rushing for the Colonels. Moore added 43 yards on the ground. Javen Bridges caught two of the three Cass completed passes for 25 yards.
Carrollton improved to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in Region 7-AAAAA.
Cass (1-5, 0-4) travels to Hiram next Friday.
