Friday's local football roundup: Tigers hold off Murray County; Canes run win streak to 35
ADAIRSVILLE 49, MURRAY COUNTY 30
The Adairsville Tigers defeated Murray County in a Region 6-AAA cross-over game Friday night 49-30
The Tigers took a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter and led 27-9 with just under four minutes remaining in the first half before the visiting Indians stormed back to make the score 27-23 at halftime.
Mason Boswell tossed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Burgess in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead but the PAT kick attempt was blocked.
In the second period, Christian Steele scored on a 15-yard run with a Josh Honea PAT kick giving the Tigers a 13-0 lead. Just over one minute later, Adairsville’s Chance Jones picked off a pass from Murray County’s Josh Curtis and returned it for a touchdown. The Honea kick had the Tigers leading 20-0.
Juan Andrade connected on a 37-yard field goal for Murray County with 6:15 remaining in the first half to get the Indians on the scorebard. Then after recovering an onside kickoff, Murray County scored on a 44-yard double-pass from Tucker Gregg to Justin Genitempo that made the score 20-9.
After one possession exchange, Adairsville pushed the lead to 27-9 on an 80-yard touchdown strike from Boswell to Travon Branch.
Murray County did not go away. The Indians answered with a pair of touchdowns before the intermission.
Gregg scored on a 2-yard run that capped an eight play, 80-yard scoring drive and then raced 85 yards on a draw play when the Indians got the ball back. The second TD run came with less than 0:24 remaining in the half.
Adairsville controlled more of the action in the second half and posted three, third quarter touchdowns to put the game out of reach.
Steele scored on a 7-yard run to cap a 64-yard, six play drive; Boswell connected with Derrick Simmons on a 24-yard touchdown pass; and Steele scored his third rushing touchdown with 0:45 remaining in the quarter. Boswell also added a pair of two-point conversions.
Murray County’s only scoring play of the second half was a 28-yard touchdown pass from Curtis to Preston Van Meter that cut Adairsville’s lead to 41-30 with 2:09 left in the third quarter.
Murray County fell to 2-3 with the loss.
Adairsville (3-2) heads into sub-region play October 6 at home against Calhoun. The Tigers have an open date in their schedule next week and finished the two region cross-over games 1-1. The results of those games could be used in the tie-breaker process for seeding following sub-region play and the region playoff games on November 3.
CARTERSVILLE WIN STREAK HITS 35
Top-ranked Cartersville easily took down visiting 10th-ranked Cedartown Friday night 41-7 in the 2017 Homecoming game for the Purple Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes took control early with a 67-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence to J’Kobe Orr then added a one-yard Lawrence touchdown run and a 40-yard field goal by Jonathan Cruz for a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Canes’ running back Rico Frye scored on a touchdown run midway through the second quarter and Lawrence connected with E.J. Turner to stretch the lead to 31-0 with five minutes left in the opening half.
Lawrence added one more first half touchdown with a pass to his tight end Jackson Lowe that gave the Hurricanes a 38-0 advantage at halftime.
With a running clock in the second half, Jonathan Cruz added a field goal for the Canes and Cedartown scored a late touchdown on a 23-yard shovel pass for a 41-7 final score.
It was the first loss of the year for Cedartown. They fall to 4-1 overall and 0-1 in Region 5-AAAA.
Cartersville (5-0, 1-0) plays at Central-Carroll next Friday.
COLONELS FALL AT 9TH-RANKED KELL
The Cass Colonels went on the road Friday night to 9th-ranked Kell and came up short, 28-10.
Kell (2-3, 2-0) scored on the Longhorns’ first three possessions to take a 21-0 lead.
On the first drive, Josiah Futral scored on a 16-yard touchdown run with 8:39 remaining in the first quarter.
Cass responded with a field goal to narrow the Kell lead to 7-3, but the Longhorns followed with a pair of touchdowns before the intermission.
Blake Simpson scored on touchdown runs from 28 and 20 yards for Kell.
In the third quarter, Futral scored on a 31-yard run that gave Kell a 28-3 lead.
Cass added a second half touchdown and made it a 28-10 final score with a 9-yard touchdown pass fro Rett Moore to Cameron Gonyea.
The Colonels (0-5, 0-3) have a bye week before hosting East Paulding on October 6th.
4TH-RANKED CARROLLTON HANDLES WOODLAND
The Woodland Wildcats lost a Region 7-AAAAA road game at 4th-ranked Carrollton Friday night, 41-6.
The Trojans took a 22-0 lead in the first half with a first quarter touchdown and two-point conversion, followed by a blocked punt returned for a score and a Thomaston touchdown run.
Carrollton pushed the lead to 35-0 prior to Woodland’s Justice Carter scoring on a 10-yard run for the Wildcats.
The Trojans (5-0, 2-0) added one more touchdown for a 41-6 final score.
Mark Wright was 16-of-25 passing for 169 yards and a touchdown for Carrollton. Kodee Brewer rushed for a team-leading 64 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries for the Trojans.
Woodland (2-3, 1-2) hosts Hiram next Friday.
