This week's local high school football matchups at a glance
All four local football teams are in action again this Friday night with only Cartersville playing outside of its region. The Hurricanes face a road test at Class 7A unbeaten Cherokee in Canton. The hosting Warriors have started their season 4-0.
Adairsville hosts Haralson County in a key Region 6-AAA contest. The Tigers won their region opener last week at Coahulla Creek, but this will be the Rebels first region game.
Woodland will look to rebound from back-to-back losses as the Wildcats travel to region foe Paulding County and Cass will be hosting Villa Rica in a Region 7-AAAAA tilt.
HARALSON COUNTY REBELS (2-0, 0-0) at ADAIRSVILLE TIGERS (2-1, 1-0)
The Adairsville Tigers have won two straight with wins over Cass and Coahulla Creek and have opened the 2019 Region 6-AAA season 1-0. They now play seven more consecutive weeks within the region since their bye week in the region schedule is the final week of the season.
Haralson County has cruised in two road wins to open the season. The Rebels won at Gordon Central 28-10 and overwhelmed Armuchee 59-0. This will be Haralson’s Region 6-AAA opener. Adairsville head coach Eric Bishop is 43-27 in his seventh season — all at Adairsville. The Tigers made the state playoffs six of seven seasons between 2011 and 2017.
Haralson County head coach Scott Peavey is in the third season of his second tenure at the helm of the Rebels. Peavey was previously the head coach at Haralson in the 2002 through 2004 seasons when he was 4-26. He is now in the third season since his return and guided the Rebels to the state playoffs last season with an 8-win season. In total, Peavey is 16-37 in his sixth season with the Rebels. He was head coach at three Alabama schools between Haralson County stints. He was 46-34 (2009-2015) at Madison County (AL) in seven seasons, 6-5 at Asheville (AL) in 2005, and 16-16 in three seasons (1999-2001) at Walter Welborn (AL).
Adairsville leads the all-time series with Haralson County, 5-2.
Series:
2018 — Haralson 51, Adairsville 28
2017 — Adairsville 32, Haralson 0
2016 — Adairsville 42, Haralson 10
1983 — Adairsville 33, Haralson 0
1982 — Adairsville 27, Haralson 6
1981 — Haralson 49, Adairsville 25
1980 — Adairsville 20, Haralson 7
Projections:
CalPreps — Adairsville by 4
Massey — Haralson by 1
Maxwell — Adairsville by 9
CARTERSVILLE HURRICANES (3-0) at CHEROKEE WARRIORS (4-0)
The Class AAAA top-ranked Purple Hurricanes have blown out two straight opponents at Weinman Stadium heading into this matchup with Class AAAAAAA Cherokee. Cartersville opened the season with a 14-13 win at Class AAAAAA Allatoona before trouncing Luella 47-0 and McNair 51-0. The 3-0 start has extended the Canes’ regular season win streak to 51 games. The last time Cartersville lost a regular season was in 2014 — a 27-26 loss at North Cobb. The streak is even more impressive when you consider the Hurricanes were also unbeaten in the regular season the two seasons prior to the start of the current streak. That means Cartersville has won 71 of their last 72 regular season games dating back to 2012. The Hurricanes have won seven consecutive region championships and won back-to-back state titles in 2015-16 and were state runner-up last season.
Canes head coach Conor Foster, who was defensive coordinator under previous head coach Joey King, is in his first-ever head coaching role.
Cherokee head coach Josh Shaw has the Warriors’ program on a definite upswing. Cherokee is unbeaten through four games following a trip to the state playoffs last season out of Region 4-AAAAAAA.
Since 2002, the Warriors have made the state playoffs eight times. Three of those trips have been under Shaw who is 33-45 in his eighth season as a head coach — all at Cherokee.
The Warriors have wins this season over North Forsyth (29-14), Sequoyah (14-0), North Hall (24-7), and Kennesaw Mountain (38-0) and have not had a bye week yet. This is Cherokee’s final non-region game before playing five region games over the final seven weeks of the regular season.
Cartersville leads the all-time series with Cherokee, 6-2-1.
Series:
2018 — Cartersville 28, Cherokee 10
1971 — Tied 0-0
1970 — Cartersville 33, Cherokee 13
1969 — Cartersville 27, Cherokee 7
1968 — Cherokee 27, Cartersville 6
1961 — Cartersville 8, Cherokee 7
1960 — Cartersville 14, Cherokee 12
1957 — Cherokee 13, Cartersville 0
1956 — Cartersville 7, Cherokee 6
Projections:
CalPreps — Cartersville by 2
Massey — Cartersville by 18
Maxwell —Cartersville by 19
Broadcast: Cartersville games may be heard on WBHF-Cartersville (100.3FM / AM1450) Also available at wbhfradio.org or on the TuneIn app, search WBHF. Pregame coverage begins live at 6 p.m. with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. Matt Santini, Don Startup, Josh Brock, and Jack Howell with the broadcast.
VILLA RICA WILDCATS (1-2, 0-1) at CASS COLONELS (2-1, 1-0)
The Colonels’ defense has been up to the task all season, allowing just over nine points per game and only a single touchdown the past two weeks in wins over Forsyth Central and Woodland.
It was the Cass offense that found its footing last week, however, in their 36-7 “two-day” win at Woodland to open the 2019 Region 7-AAAAA schedule. The “two-day” reference comes as result of the suspension of the game on Friday night with 2:04 remaining in the third quarter due to lightning strikes in the vicinity. Cass led 24-7 with 14 minutes remaining and added two more touchdowns in Saturday’s resumption for a 36-7 victory.
Tanayce Calhoun ran for two touchdowns. Zay Jackson and David Gbadie each ran for a score and Logan Nelson connected with Santino Jones for a 77-yard scoring strike in Cass’ win.
The scoring production was a pleasant arrival since the offense effectively had only one touchdown in its first two games. Cass lost 14-7 to Adairsville in the Colonels’ opener and although Nelson scored on a 1-yard keeper, the score was set up by a punt return to the one yard line. In a 15-7 win over Forsyth Central, Mark Perdue returned a fumble recovery 80 yards for a touchdown and the other score was a 50-yard touchdown pass from Nelson to Jones.
While the Colonels enter this week’s game on an upswing, Villa Rica has lost two straight. The Wildcats started the season with a 44-7 rout of Campbell in new head coach Christian Hunnicutt’s debut. They have followed with a 26-14 loss to M.L. King and a 23-2 loss last week to 3rd-ranked Carrollton. This week’s game at Cass will be Villa Rica’s first road game of the year.
Hunnicutt is in his fourth season as a head coach and at his third school. He was 4-6 at East Jackson in 2016. At Grayson the past two seasons, his teams were 20-5 with two state playoff appearances including a Region 8-AAAAAAA title last year.
Colonels’ head coach Bobby Hughes is 64-78 in his 14th season at three different programs. Hughes is 17-36 in his sixth year as the head coach at Cass. He was previously the program’s defensive coordinator. He was 42-17 in five seasons at Macon County with a pair of region titles between 2003 and 2007. He also had a three year stint at Howard in Macon where he was 5-25.
Villa Rica leads the all-time series with Cass, 10-3.
Series:
2018 — Villa Rica 16, Cass 3
2017 — Villa Rica 42, Cass 7
2016 — Villa Rica 23, Cass 17
2007 — Villa Rica 21, Cass 12
2006 — Cass 7, Villa Rica 3
2003 — Villa Rica 35, Cass 7
2002 — Villa Rica 21, Cass 14
1987 — Villa Rica 31, Cass 14
1986 — Villa Rica 32, Cass 6
1963 — Cass 40, Villa Rica 0
1962 — Cass 14, Villa Rica 0
1961 — Villa Rica 33, Cass 6
1960 — Villa Rica 20, Cass 0
Projections:
CalPreps — Villa Rica by 21
Massey — Villa Rica by 6
Maxwell — Villa Rica by 6
Broadcast: This is the Johnny's NY Style Pizza Bartow County Game of the Week. The broadcast is available via BartowSportsZone.com. Use the green, 'Listen Live' button at the top of this page beginning at 6 p.m. for live pre-game coverage. You may also use this link to reach the broadcast --https://www.meridix.com/channel/?liveid=bartowsportszone#/schedule/156460. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. Charles Wilson and Brad Stephens with the broadcast.
WOODLAND WILDCATS (1-2, 0-1) at PAULDING COUNTY PATRIOTS (1-2, 0-1)
The Patriots have started the season with losses in two of their first three. Paulding County lost to North Paulding 56-24 at home to start the year. The won at Kennesaw Mountain 48-13 but then fell at Hiram 28-15 last week to start Region 7-AAAAA play.
Paulding County head coach Van Spence is 11-23 in his fourth season with the Patriots, but did make the state playoffs in 2017 before falling to Buford in the first round and finishing 5-6.
Woodland started the season with a 35-7 home rout of Southeast Whitfield, but have now lost two straight — 34-28 at East Hall and 36-7 last week at home to Cass. Wildcats’ head coach Tony Plott is in his fifth year leading the Woodland program after a long presence at the school as an assistant and a coordinator. His teams are 9-34.
Paulding County leads the all-time series with Woodland, 8-5.
Series:
2018 — Woodland 26, Paulding 21
2017 — Paulding 35, Woodland 34
2016 — Paulding 35, Woodland 21
2013 — Woodland 22, Paulding 14
2012 — Woodland 28, Paulding 27
2009 — Woodland 39, Paulding 38
2008 — Woodland 48, Paulding 21
2005 — Paulding 23, Woodland 20
2004 — Paulding 22, Woodland 18
2003 — Paulding 23, Woodland 13
2002 — Paulding 24, Woodland 6
2001 — Paulding 22, Woodland 15
2000 — Paulding 34, Woodland 10
Projections:
CalPreps — Paulding by 26
Massey — Paulding by 18
Maxwell — Paulding by 22
-- series data from GHSFH
