This week's local high school football matchups at a glance
Following a bye week and last Friday without a game, the Cartersville Purple Hurricanes and the Woodland Wildcats seek to remain among the state’s unbeaten teams this Friday night. Meanwhile, Adairsville will take a bye week this Friday night and Cass will look to break into the win column for the first time in 2019.
A quick glance at this week’s local high school football matchups.
LUELLA LIONS (0-1) at CARTERSVILLE HURRICANES (1-0)
The only meeting ever between these two programs was last year’s 55-3 Canes victory. Lions’ head coach Jason Jackson is 4-17 in his third season at Luella. Three of those wins came last season as the Lions finished 3-7 overall and 2-5 in Region 4-AAAA. Last week, Luella lost 18-6 to Trinity Christian — a Class A private school in Sharpsburg as Cartersville won 14-13 at Class 6A Allatoona August 23 to mark head coach Conor Foster’s debut.
The Canes are ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the Class 4A polls — depending on the source.
Series: 2018 — Cartersville 55, Luella 3 Projections:
CalPreps — Cartersville by 58 Massey — Cartersville by 42
Maxwell — Cartersville by 41
Local Broadcast:
— WBHF-Cartersville (100.3 FM / AM 1450, TuneIn app, wbhfradio.org, pregame at 6 p.m. / kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
WOODLAND WILDCATS (1-0) at EAST HALL VIKINGS (0-2)
Woodland, seeking its first winning season since 1999 and first non-losing season since a 5-5 campaign in 2008, got off to a great start two weeks ago with a dominant 35-7 win over visiting Southeast Whitfield.
Wildcats’ head coach Tony Plott (9-32 in fifth season) will look to keep the momentum this week as Woodland has its first road test following a bye week. Woodland started 4-0 last year, but dropped its last six games to finish 4-6. Among those wins was a 55-6 trouncing of the Vikings. This will be the Wildcats final non-region tune-up before starting Region 7-AAAAA play at home September 13 against Cass. Last year’s Woodland-East Hall contest is the only meeting ever between the two schools. The Class AAA Vikings are 0-2 under new head coach Michael Perry who was 15-8 in two seasons at Centennial before arriving in Rabbittown. East Hall lost its season opener at Flowery Branch 50-0 and dropped its home opener last Friday to Union County, 49-8.
Series:
2018 — Woodland 55, East Hall 6
Projections:
CalPreps — Woodland by 26 Massey — Woodland by 15
Maxwell — Woodland by 12
Local Broadcast:
Live look-ins during the Cartersville-Luella broadcast on WBHF. Score updates during the Cass-Forsyth Central broadcast on bartowsportszone.com.
FORSYTH CENTRAL BULLDOGS (1-0) at CASS COLONELS (0-1)
The Bulldogs and Colonels will meet for the seventh time Friday night as Cass hosts its first varsity contest on the new sports turf at Cochran Stadium. The two teams have split six previous matchups dating back to 2000. Each team won at home in 2000 and 2001, then split a pair of games played in 2014. The Colonels and Bulldogs faced one another a second time in 2014 due to the region’s cross-over playoff/consolation format. Cass won in 2015 and the two programs renewed their series last year when Forsyth Central won by 12. The Bulldogs won their 2019 opener August 23 over Chamblee, 43-10. Cass lost its opener last week at Adairsville, 14-7. Forsyth Central’s Frank Hepler is 194-294-9 in his 12th season as a head coach. He was 51-18 at West Forsyth and is currently 11-20 with the Bulldogs in his fourth season. The Bulldogs of Region 5-AAAAAAA returned to the post-season last year, going 7-4 after an 0-10 season in 2017 and 3-6 mark in 2016. Forsyth Central lost to Archer 56-0 in the first round of the Class 7A playoffs, but it was the Bulldogs’ first playoff appearance since the 2001 season.
Cass head coach Bobby Hughes enters Friday’s matchup with a career mark of 62-78. He is 15-36 at Cass in his sixth season. Prior to taking the top spot with the Colonels, Hughes was 5-25 at Howard (2008-2010) and 42-17 at Macon County (2003-2007) with a pair of region titles and state playoff appearances in all five seasons with the Bulldogs. Cass is seeking its first winning season since going 6-4 in 2015. The Colonels have not made the state playoffs since 2006 and 2004.
Series:
2018 — Forsyth Central 24, Cass 12 2015 — Cass 42, Forsyth Central 18 2014 — Forsyth Central 27, Cass 14 2014 — Cass 13, Forsyth Central 6
2011 — Forsyth Central 28, Cass 0
2010 — Cass 30, Forsyth Central 10
Projections:
CalPreps — Forsyth Central by 24
Massey — Forsyth Central by 14
Maxwell — Forsyth Central by 14
Local Broadcast:
This is the Johnny’s NY Style Pizza - Bartow County Game of the Week on bartowsportszone.com. Pregame coverage begins at 6 p.m. with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. To listen to the live broadcast, return to the website and click on the green ‘Listen Live’ button at 6 p.m.
ADAIRSVILLE TIGERS — BYE WEEK
The Tigers have an open week in their schedule following last Friday’s 14-7 win over visiting Cass. Adairsville travels to Coahulla Creek September 13 to open play in Region 6-AAA.
Series information from GHSFD.
