Canes win 50th consecutive regular season game; Cass holds off Forsyth Central for victory; Woodland
Two of the three local teams picked up victories Friday night with Cartersville and Cass winning their respective home openers. Woodland suffered their first loss of the season, but rallied in the third quarter to threaten in a 34-28 loss at East Hall.
HURRICANES WIN 50TH CONSECUTIVE REGULAR SEASON GAME
The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes football team took its bye in the schedule ast week to get back to the basics and regain the form it has shown since 2014. The strategy clearly worked. Cartersville defeated the visiting Luella Lions 47-0 Friday night at Weinman Stadium to improve to 2-0 on the season. The win also marked the program’s 50th consecutive regular season victory. The 50-game streak began with the first Trevor Lawrence start against North Paulding in 2014.
Friday night, Tee Webb completed 10 of his 11 passing attempts for 189 yards to accompany his three touchdowns. The Louisville commit had one rushing touchdown and two through the air. He totaled 201 yards with 189 via passes. Devontae Ross had a 57-yard touchdown reception and returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown. He finished with four catches for 86 yards. Marquail Coaxum added a 69-yard touchdown reception on a halfback pass throw by Evan Slocum in the second quarter. Quante Jennings collected two touchdowns on four carries that totaled 45 yards.
Cartersville raced to a 27-0 lead after one quarter and led 40-0 at the half. There was a running clock in the second half, but that didn’t stop Cartersville from adding one more score with its reserves in the game. Jalen Thomas reached the end zone on a fourth and three play from 36-yards out to add insurance to the Canes’ lead.
Cartersville will hosts McNair next Friday night at Weinman Stadium at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WBHF with Countdown to Kickoff presented by the Glenda Mitchell Law Firm beginning at 6:00, Kickoff at 7:30, and the Harry Daniel Insurance Post Game Party following the game.
COLONELS CASH IN TURNOVERS, DEFENSE COMES UP BIG IN HOME WIN OVER FORSYTH CENTRAL
Cass took advantage of three first half turnovers by Forsyth Central, scored all 15 of their points in the first 13 minutes of the game, and made it hold up in a 15-7 home opening win over the Bulldogs. Following the first Forsyth Central turnover at the Cass 30 yard line, Colonels quarterback Logan Nelson connected with Santino Jones for 50 yards and a touchdown for a 6-0 lead with 5:59 remaining in the first quarter. A two-point conversion pass attempt failed from a direct snap on the “swinging gate” formation. Again taking advantage of a Bulldogs’ turnover, it was the Colonels’ Mark Purdue who ‘scooped and scored’ from 80 yards away when a faulty option pitch was hauled in on a couple of bounces off the new Cochran Stadium sports turf.
The defensive touchdown gave Cass a 12-0 lead with 1:05 remaining in the first quarter.
This time from a more conventional formation, a Logan Nelson pass for an attempted two-point conversion fell incomplete.
A third first half fumble set up the Colonels for their final points.
Cass drove deep into Forsyth Central territory before settling for a 31-yard Kaleb Speights field goal and a 15-0 advantage with 11:25 left in the second quarter. Exchanged possessions and strong play by both defenses closed out the first half with Cass leading 15-0. Tajh Dawson returned the second half kickoff deep into Forsyth Central territory, but the Colonels stalled and the third quarter finished with Cass still clinging to their 15-point lead.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs rallied for their only score of the night. It came on an 8-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bronson Landreth to Caydin Mowen with 3:31 remaining in the game. Forsyth Central would force one more Cass punt and drove deep into Cass territory in the waining seconds, but Santino Jones came up with a clutch interception at the 10-yard line to seal the Colonels win. Forsyth Central (1-1) travels to Denmark for another non-region game next Friday. Cass (1-1) travels across town to open Region 7-AAAAA play at Woodland (1-1). The Cass-Woodland game will be broadcast live via BartowSportsZone.com as the Johnny’s NY Style Pizza Bartow County Game of the Week with pregame coverage beginning at 6 p.m. and kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
WOODLAND RALLY COMES UP SHORT
Following a big win over Southeast Whitfield on opening night, the Woodland offense struggled out of the gate and went scoreless Friday night in a 34-28 loss to East Hall in Gainesville. Meanwhile, the host Vikings took a 21-0 into the intermission and limited Woodland to only 60 yards of offense in the first half. Matthew Lott scored first for East Hall on a 10-yard run. Mon Tabor scored on a 70-yard jaunt, and a Woodland punt was blocked and recovered for a touchdown for the Vikings’ first three scores. Woodland rallied in the third quarter to get back into the game. The Wildcats posted 20 unanswered points to make the score 21-20, but East Hall was able to answer. DeMarcus Williams got Woodland on the scoreboard with a 2-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter. JT Thomas raced into the end zone from 48-yards out for the Wildcats’ second score, and Williams added a 9-yard scoring run and a two-point conversion run to narrow the Vikings’ advantage to one point.
Clete Cooper connected with Drew Highfield for a 31-yard touchdown in the first minute of the fourth quarter to extend the Vikings’ lead to 28-20. Following a Woodland fumble, Cooper connected with Prather for a long pass to the Wildcats’ 15-yard line. That set up a 15-yard scoring strike from Cooper to Prather with nine minutes remaining that gave East Hall a 34-20 lead. Noah Tidwell added a 7-yard touchdown run for Woodland with about four minutes remaining and Asa James ran for a two-point conversion to make the score 34-28, but East Hall was able to handle the ensuing kickoff with their hands team and run out the clock for a six-point win. For Woodland, James finished with 74 yards on 13 carries, while Williams totaled an estimated 146 yards on 21 carries. Tidwell contributed almost 50 yards on six attempts in the second half. Thomas added 28 rushing yards and 25 passing. East Hall evened their season record at 1-1. Woodland (1-1) will begin Region 7-AAAAA play at home next Friday when they host Cass (1-1). The game will be broadcast on BartowSportsZone.com as the Johnny’s NY Style Pizza Bartow County Game of the Week. Pregame coverage will begin at 6 p.m. with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
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-- Charles Wilson and Kevin Pate contributed to this report.
