This week's high school football games at a glance

In Week 6 of the 2019 high school football season, the top-ranked Cartersville Hurricanes and the Cass Colonels hit the road for region games in Carrollton. Cartersville travels to Central-Carroll in Region 5-AAAA while Cass will challenge Class AAAAA 2nd-ranked Carrollton. The Woodland Wildcats are also on the road Firday at 8th-ranked Rome in another Region 7-AAAAA pairing while Adairsville hosts Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe in a key game in Region 6-AAA.

CARTERSVILLE HURRICANES (5-0, 1-0) at CENTRAL-CARROLL LIONS (3-2, 1-0)

Cartersville is ranked No. 1 in Class AAAA with a defense that has allowed only 22 points all season. The Hurricanes’ defense has two shutouts and effectively three since the only Cedartown points came on a safety last week.

Cartersville is dealing with injuries to running backs Quante Jennings and Harrison Allen. They also had offensive lineman Devin Luckett, cornerback Marquail Coaxum, and linebacker Jaylon Akins on the sidelines last week plus Marko Dudley left the Cedartown game after a hard hit.

Central started the region slate last week with a 17-14 win at LaGrange. The Lions also have wins this season over South Atlanta and Heard County. Their two losses were at Rockmart and at home to Mundy’s Mill.

Central head coach Darius Smiley is 8-17 in his third season at Central — his first head coaching position.

Cartersville first-year head coach Conor Foster leads the Hurricanes into their 23rd meeting all-time with the Lions.

Cartersville leads the series that dates back to 1980, 16-6. All six of the Lions’ wins came in succession between 1983 and 1987. That stretch includes two wins over Cartersville in 1987. The second game was for the Region 7-AA championship in a year the region was subdivided.

The Canes enter Friday night’s game having won 13 straight over the Lions since 1994.

Projections:

CalPreps — Cartersville by 29

Massey — Cartersville by 28

Maxwell — Cartersville by 37

CASS COLONELS (3-2, 2-1) at CARROLLTON TROJANS (5-0, 3-0)

With a win over Rome already in hand, the Class AAAAA 2nd-ranked Trojans sit as the current favorites to win Region 7-AAAAA. Carrollton is fresh off a 44-7 win last week at East Paulding and has an offense averaging better than 34 points per game.

Cass won three of four games in September and the Colonels’ defense allowed only 9.3 points per game in the wins. The loss to Rome last week, however, was 49-10 with Cass trailing 42-3 at halftime. Besides Rome, the other common opponent for Carrollton and Cass this season has been Villa Rica. Carrollton defeated the Wildcats 23-2 September 13. Cass topped Villa Rica 17-14 the next week.

Trojans’ head coach Sean Calhoun is in his fourth season as the mentor at Carrollton. His teams are 36-8 and have been in the state playoffs each year. Carrollton is his first head coaching job.

Carrollton has dominated the 22 games played in this all-time series. The Trojans are 20-2 against Cass with games dating back to 1978. Both Colonels’ wins came in the 1983 season — once in the regular season and the second for the Region 7-AAA championship.

Projections:

CalPreps — Carrollton by 38

Massey — Carrollton by 34

Maxwell — Carrollton by 35

LAKEVIEW-FO WARRIORS (2-3, 2-1) at ADAIRSVILLE TIGERS (2-3, 1-2)

Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe visits Adairsville Friday night in a game that is very important to both teams’ potential playoff chances.

Adairsville in in a stretch of games that also includes top Region 6-AAA playoff contenders Haralson County, North Murray, Calhoun, and Sonoraville. After falling in region games the last two weeks to the first two on that list, the Tigers are seeking a win to get back to the .500 mark overall and in the region standings.

LFO has region wins over Murray County and Ringgold along with a loss to Haralson County. The Warriors know they have the three-game stretch of Sonoraville, North Murray, and Calhoun in the final three weeks of their schedule. That string of future opponents makes picking up as many region wins as possible prior to that span vital for the Warriors.

LFO head coach Bo Campbell is 15-31 in his fifth season leading the Warriors. His squad made the state playoffs last season as a No. 3 seed and for the first time since 2009, but lost to North Hall in the first round to finish 7-4. Campbell was 4-16 in two seasons as head coach at Chattanooga Central (Tenn.) in the mid-2000s.

Friday night’s game is the 12th all-time meeting between the Tigers and Warriors. The only LFO win was in 2012. Adairsville won last season in Fort Oglethorpe, 13-12.

Projections:

CalPrep — Adairsville by 6

Massey — Adairsville by 2

Maxwell — Adairsville by 8

WOODLAND WILDCATS (1-4, 0-3) at ROME WOLVES (3-2, 2-1)

The Wolves scored 42 points in the first half last week at Cass on their way to a 49-10 win while the Wildcats lost at home to Hiram, 30-0. 8th-ranked Rome has won two of the last three Region 7-AAAAA titles, but a 24-20 loss at Carrollton September 20 has the Wolves looking up the region standings with five regular season games to play.

Since taking over at Rome, head coach John Reid’s teams have won 52 of 61 games hung two state championship banners at Barron Stadium. Reid is in his fifth season with the Wolves with previous stops at Tift County (14-17 in 2012-14); East Paulding (60-15 in 2006-11); Alcoa (Tenn.) (38-6, 2003-05); and William Blount (Tenn.) (5-6 in 2002).

Rome leads the all-time series with Woodland 14-3 and has five straight with the Wildcats.

The three Woodland wins over Rome were in 2013, 2009, and 1999.

Projections:

CalPreps — Rome by 45

Massey — Rome by 42

Maxwell — Rome by 40