High School Football Roundup: Canes blank Grangers; Wildcats, Colonels, Tigers fall
LAWRENCE TOSSES SIX TD PASSES AS CANES BLANK GRANGERS
Trevor Lawrence threw six touchdown passes in the first half as Cartersville blanked the LaGrange Grangers at Callaway Stadium in LaGrange, 56-0.
The Region 5-AAAA win for the Purple Hurricanes marks the 37th consecutive victory for the two-time defending state champions over the past three seasons.
Lawrence -- who totaled 227 yards -- had touchdown strikes to J’Kobe Orr (43-yards) and Jackson Lowe (35 yards) in the first quarter. He connected with E.J. Turner twice (10 and 51 yards), T.J. Horton, and Rico Frye for additional touchdowns in the second period.
The Hurricanes’ special teams added a seventh first half touchdown with a blocked punt for a touchdown scored by Marquail Coaxum. Jake Richards was credited with the block.
Jonathan Cruz connected on each extra point and Cartersville led 49-0 at the intermission.
With a running clock in effect, Canes’ running back Marcus Gray scored on a six-yard run for the only second half touchdown and a 56-0 final score.
Cartersville (7-0, 3-0) hosts Sandy Creek next Friday at Weinman Stadium in another region matchup.
PAULDING COUNTY RALLIES PAST WOODLAND
The Woodland Wildcats led Paulding County 34-21 with just over eight minutes remaining Friday night, but the visiting Patriots rallied late for a 35-34 Region 7-AAAAA win.
Woodland quarterback Brody Williams connected with Demarcus Williams for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 4:07 remaining in the third quarter that gave the Wildcats a 34-21 lead, but the PAT attempt was blocked and that would ultimately prove to be the difference.
The Patriots drove down the field and scored on a 3-yard pass with 2:57 remaining to narrow the lead to 34-28 and forced Woodland to punt on their ensuing possession.
Now with the ball at their own 44-yard line with 1:48 remaining, the Patriots drove to the Woodland 7-yard line for a 4th and goal play with 34.5 seconds remaining. Paulding connected for the 7-yard touchdown pass and added the PAT for the come-from-behind, one-point win.
Woodland started the game by recovering an onside kick and scored two plays later on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Brody Williams to Dylan Forman.
Paulding tied the game with a touchdown pass, but the Wildcats regained the lead on a 9-yard touchdown run by Kaison Williams late in the first quarter.
Now ahead 14-7, Woodland again utilized an onside kick and recovery to set up another first quarter score. Demarcus Williams gave the Wildcats a 21-7 lead on an eight-yard run.
Quarterback Brody Williams added a second quarter touchdown run for Woodland with a five-yard jaunt that gave the Wildcats a 28-7 advantage.
Paulding County added a second quarter touchdown with just over five minutes remaining before the half to make the score 28-14 at the break.
The Patriots then narrowed the margin to 28-21 with 8:07 remaining in the third quarter on an 8-yard pass play. The scoring drive was 50 yards following a Woodland fumble at midfield.
Paulding County improved to 3-4 overall and 3-2 in Region 7-AAAAA.
Woodland (3-4, 2-3) travels to East Paulding next Friday.
ADAIRSVILLE DROPS SUB-REGION OPENER TO CALHOUN
Calhoun quarterback Gavin Gray threw four touchdown passes and ran for two more scores as Calhoun pulled away from Adairsville in the second half for a 42-16 Region 6-AAA South sub-region win.
Gray had a 61-yard touchdown pass to Drew Rutledge and a 77-yard scoring pass to Luke Moseley in the first half to go with a two-yard touchdown run.
Adairsville scored on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Mason Boswell to Ethan Belcher to tie the score 7-7, cut Calhoun’s lead to 14-10 with a 37-yard Josh Honea field goal, and added a 27-yard touchdown pass from Boswell to Cody Henderson with 0:09 left in the first half to make the score 21-16 at halftime.
Calhoun (6-1, 2-0) scored three unanswered second half touchdowns for a 42-16 win.
Gray scored on a one-yard run and threw two second half touchdown passes. He connected with Moseley on a 15-yarder and Zack Fuller with a 10-yard strike.
Adairsville (3-3, 0-1) plays at Sonoraville next Friday in another 6-AAA South sub-region game.
COLONELS EDGED BY RAIDERS
The Cass Colonels led 9-7 in the final minute of the third quarter Friday night, but visiting East Paulding took advantage of a Colonels’ special teams mistake for a go-ahead field goal and scored a late insurance touchdown to secure a 17-9 Region 7-AAAAA win at Cass’ Doug Cochran Stadium.
East Paulding took the opening kickoff and drove 59 yards on five plays to take a 7-0 lead. Quarterback John Estes found Ashton Dixon on an 18-yard pass for the score.
Cass drove back down the field on their initial possession of the night. The drive stalled in the red zone however and the Colonels settled for a 36-yard field goal by Anthony Robledo.
Robledo added the only other score of the first half with a 20-yard field goal with 0:13 left in the first half. The kick culminated a 68-yard, 9-play drive to make the score 7-6 at the intermission.
After receiving the second half kickoff, Cass drove 76 yards in 12 plays and used up 7:29 of the third quarter, but again settled for a 21-yard field goal by Robledo to take a 9-7 lead.
The Cass defense stopped East Paulding on their next possession and forced a punt, but a short kick clipped the heal of a Cass player on the punt return team and East Paulding recovered at the Colonels’ 22-yard line.
From there the Raiders drove to the Cass five yard line, but were forced to kick a 21-yard field goal by Devlin Dolph to take a 10-9 lead with 0:06 remaining in the third quarter.
Both defenses limited opposing offenses in the final period, but the Raiders were able to add a late 58-yard drive that was culminated with a 2-yard run by Tyrell Robinson with 1:39 left.
East Paulding improved to 2-4 overall and 2-2 in region play.
Cass (0-6, 0-4) travels to region leading and top-ranked Rome next Friday at Barron Stadium.
