Cartersville, Cass, and Woodland pick up football preseason scrimmage wins
The unofficial opening night of the 2019 high school football season for all four local teams wrapped up Friday night with as many wins as possible for the local teams.
Both Cartersville and Cass came-from-behind to defeat Dalton and Pepperell, respectively, while the other two local teams squared off in Adairsville with Woodland taking a scrimmage victory over the host Tigers.
WOODLAND 21, ADAIRSVILLE 14
Senior Demarcus Williams scored on a 60-yard scamper and sophomore Asa James broke off a 74-yard touchdown run to give Woodland a 14-0 halftime lead. Wildcats sophomore kicker Jordan Holbrook converted the PATs.
Adairsville took advantage of a Woodland turnover near midfield in the third quarter with Tigers sophomore Eli Agnew scoring on a long run that narrowed the Wildcats’ lead to 14-7.
Woodland freshman running back Christian Vera gave Woodland a 21-7 lead with a 90-yard touchdown run and Adairsville freshman quarterback Chris Roper scored on a short keeper that made the final 21-14.
All-state punter Emanuel Lopez converted the Tigers’ PATs.
Both teams open the regular season Friday against teams they defeated in 2018.
Adairsville travels to Chattooga while Woodland will host Southeast Whitfield. The Woodland-Southeast Whitfield game will be broadcast live on BartowSportsZone.com via our Meridix portal partner. Pregame coverage will begin at 6 p.m. with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
Use the green “Listen Live” button at the top of the page beginning at 6 p.m. each Friday for the Johnny’s NY Style Pizza Bartow County Game of the Week.
CARTERSVILLE 24, DALTON 21
A pair of storied programs banged heads Friday night in a preseason scrimmage at Weinman Stadium with the host Hurricanes coming away with a 24-21 victory in new head coach Conor Foster’s unofficial debut.
Dalton stopped Cartersville twice to open the game and the Catamounts drove for one score to grab an early 7-0 advantage. Dalton also came up just short on another deep drive, but junior cornerback Devonte Ross broke up a pass in the end zone. The batted ball went high into the air and was picked off by junior safety Evan Slocum to keep the Dalton lead at 7-0.
Cartersville kicked a field goal on the ensuing drive to make the score 7-3 before an Amarai Orr interception on Dalton’s next possession set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Quante Jennings. The PAT gave the Hurricanes a 10-7 lead.
Ross picked off a pass on the next Catamounts’ possession, but Dalton’s Jahmyr Gibbs — a Georgia Tech commit — picked off a Canes’ pass and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown to give the Cats a 14-10 lead at the intermission.
Cartersville scored on its second drive of the second half with a Jennings 3-yard run capping off a 10-play, 43-yard drive that included a pair of fourth-down conversions.
With the Canes up 17-14, both squads turned to many of their younger players in the fourth quarter.
Dalton grabbed a 21-17 lead with a long run, but Cartersville countered with a late fourth quarter 60-plus yard scoring run by junior running back Earl Harris. “I think we played better as the night went along — especially on defense,” said Canes’ first-year head coach Conor Foster. “It’s always good to get the kids on film in a live game situation. We will take a look at the film Sunday and get ready for Allatoona. We will make a lot of progress next week.”
CASS 23, PEPPERELL 21
Junior place kicker Kaleb Speights nailed a 25-yard field goal Friday night in Lindale to give the Colonels a pleasing 23-21 come-from-behind win on the final play of the game.
The host Dragons led 14-0 early. Pepperell scored on a five-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter and added a 50-yard scoring dash on their next possession for a 14-0 lead.
Speights converted a 46-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining in the first half to get the Colonels on the scoreboard at the intermission. Although Cass failed to hit pay dirt in the first half due to several penalty set backs, the running back trio of David Gbadie, Zay Jackson, and Cameran Hill had productive evenings according to Colonels’ head coach Bobby Hughes. “They had some good runs and our quarterbacks — Logan Nelson and Triston Mize — did fine. We made some mistakes, but I’m pleased with their efforts and performances,” said Hughes.
On the first play of the fourth quarter Pepperell extended its lead to 21-10, but the Colonels would score the game’s final 13 points to escape with a win.
Morocco Wilkey scored on a 40-yard run and Speights converted a field goal with just over seven minutes remaining to narrow the Dragons’ lead to 21-20.
Pepperell used multiple timeouts to try and “ice” the Colonels’ junior kicker and it worked on an initial 35-yard miss, but a Dragons’ penalty gave Cass a second chance and Speights nailed the 25-yarder for the win.
“We outlasted a really good football team tonight that has a lot of tradition,” said a happy Cass head coach Bobby Hughes after the game. “Tonight is definitely something we can build on. Our kids keep believing in what we are doing. They stayed with it tonight.”
