Adairsville defeats Cass, 14-7

A week after being shutout at Chattooga, the Adairsville Tigers put enough points on the board to take Bartow County’s oldest rivalry and earn its first win of the season with a 14-7 victory over the visiting Cass Colonels.

Cass got the scoring started when quarterback Logan Nelson capped off a short drive with a 1-yard sneak into the end zone. The score was set up by a bizarre special teams play that saw a bad snap on a punt and a short, line drive punt fielded by the Colonels' Cameran Hill. Adairsville punter Emmanuel Lopez chased down a snap that sailed over his head, got the line drive kick away, but Hill snagged it at the 32-yard line and raced it down to the Tigers' 1-yard line.

Adairsville answered the Cass score promptly with two big runs from Ja’Maury Johnson and Eli Agnew. Agnew finished the drive with a 22-yard scamper and the first quarter closed with the teams tied 7-7.

In the second quarter, it was Cass’ turn for a special teams miscue. Malachi Gardner blocked a Colonels' punt and recovered the loose ball. Conner Crunkleton then scored on a 3-yard run to give Adairsville a 14-7 lead. The Tigers recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, but the drive ended almost as quickly as it started. The Colonels recovered a Tigers fumble to end that threat. Cass was not able to convert the turnover into points and thus went into the intermission down by a touchdown.

The second half of the game saw both teams struggle to move the football. As a result, the 14 points Adairsville posted in the game’s first 16 minutes wound up being enough to hold off the visiting Colonels.

Cass got the ball as deep as the Adairsville 30-yard line with under four minutes to go, but was unable to convert the good field position into points.

The Colonels (0-1) will host Forsyth Central next week, while Adairsville (1-1) will take a bye week.

In other county action next week, Woodland (1-0) will travel to East Hall and Cartersville (1-0) will host Luella. All kickoffs are set for 7:30 p.m.

WBHF will air Cartersville and Luella, while Bartow Sports Zone will broadcast Cass and Forsyth Central on bartowsportszone.com. Pregame coverage begins on both formats at 6 p.m.