Woodland, Adairsville suffer region losses

Both Woodland and Adairsville suffered region football losses Friday night with the Wildcats falling to visiting East Paulding 24-7 and the Tigers dropping a 31-10 road decision at Ringgold.

Cartersville and Cass both had bye weeks and will return to action next week. Cartersville (9-0) hosts Troup (9-0) next Friday in a defacto Region 5-AAAA championship tilt at Weinman Stadium. Cass (1-8) wraps up the 2018 campaign at home against Paulding County (0-9).

EAST PAULDING 24, WOODLAND 7

Woodland moved the ball pretty well against visiting East Paulding but the Wildcats committed too many first half turnovers in a 17-point loss Friday night to the Raiders.

A Cameron Westmoreland field goal midway through the first quarter and a 10-yard rushing touchdown by Tyrell Robinson gave East Paulding a 10-0 advantage less than a minute into the second quarter.

Woodland responded with a drive culminated on a fourth down, one-yard Titus Jones (photo) touchdown run to narrow the margin to 10-7 at halftime. Justice Carter had a long run to the five yard line that set up the Wildcats’ score. Ronny Ramirez converted the extra point kick.

Neither team mustered another score until the fourth quarter when the Raiders’ Skyler Melton broke off a 44-yard scamper with about 10 minutes remaining and Jhalil Daniels added a one-yard rushing touchdown in the final minute.

East Paulding (5-4, 5-2) remains in contention for one of Region 7-AAAAA’s state playoff berths. The Raiders host Villa Rica next Friday.

Carter finished the game with 118 yards on 14 carries for Woodland and Demarcus Williams added 81 yards on 20 attempts.

Woodland (4-5, 2-5) will look to snap a five-game losing skid and salvage a .500 season next Friday at 10th-ranked Kell.

RINGGOLD 31, ADAIRSVILLE 10

A strong rushing attack by host Ringgold proved to be too much for the Adairsville Tigers Friday night in a 31-10 Region 6-AAA decision.

Ringgold got a big night from running backs Andre Tarver and Dalton Green to keep their Class AAA at-large playoff berth hopes alive.

Green had touchdown runs of 20- and 16-yards, while Tarver scored rushing touchdowns from 35- and 40-yards out to lead the host Tigers. Green put Ringgold up 6-0 with 11:52 remaining in the second quarter and rounded out the scoring with 4:20 left in the game. His final touchdown was set up by a 42-yard scamper by Tarver. Tarver’s two rushing touchdowns came in the third quarter to push Ringgold’s lead from 12-10 to 25-10 with 1:04 left in the period.

Ringgold quarterback Cole Kibler also had a solid night with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jared Dunn midway through the second quarter to take a 12-0 lead and another long pass to Dunn late in the third quarter to set up Tarver’s second score and a 25-10 advantage.

Trailing 12-0 with less than five minutes left in the first half, Adairsville drove quickly down the field to set up a successful 42-yard field goal by Emmanuel Lopez with 0:16 remaining before the intermission. Adairsville then cut Ringgold’s lead to 12-10 on the opening drive of the third quarter. Mason Boswell (photo) finished off a 65-yard drive that took 10 plays with a four-yard scoring run.

Boswell finished his final high school game with 162 total yards of offense. He rushed for 116 yards, passed for 36 and caught one pass for 10 yards.

Unfortunately for Adairsville, their threat would not last. Ringgold scored 19 unanswered point over the game’s final 20 minutes for their 21-point win.

Ringgold improves to 4-5 on the season and 3-4 in Region 6-AAA. They host Coahulla Creek next Friday.

Adairsville’s season ends with a 4-6 overall mark and a 3-5 region record.