Canes blank Lions, 31-0

The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes won for the 18th straight time Friday night as they dismantled Class 7A Westlake, 31-0.

Canes’ quarterback Trevor Lawrence was 18 of 26 passing for three touchdowns and 295 yards. He did, however, throw a pair of interceptions. Cartersville’s Sean Holton had a huge night defensively. He totaled nine tackles, broke up one pass, and forced a fumble on the goal line.

The Canes finished the night with 346 yards of total offense and limited the visiting Lions to 167.

Cartersville went up 10-0 on a 27-yard field goal by Jonathan Cruz late in the first quarter and JKobe Orr made a leaping, jump ball TD catch in the end zone with 1:10 remaining in the first half as Cartersville took a 17-0 advantage to the intermission.

Darrien Poellnitz, who also forced and recovered a fumble in the game, caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Lawrence with 8:27 remaining in the third period to give the Canes a 24-0 lead. Lawrence later hit Avery Showell on a 39-yard scoring pass for the 31-0 final score with 8:54 left in the game.

As he has done often in his career, Lawrence spread the ball around to multiple receivers. Eight different Canes caught a pass. Antoine Jefferson finished with five receptions for 91 yards to lead that group. TJ Horton had two receptions for 50 yards and Trey Creamer caught three balls for 39 yards. Cartersville (3-0) will host Hapeville Charter next Friday at Weinman Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 7:30pm.