Canes keep rolling and eliminate Eastside, 28-9
November 18, 2023
Charles Wilson / BartowSportsZone.com
The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes advanced to the state quarterfinals for the 19th time in program history Friday night and eliminated the Eastside Eagles, 28-9.
Cartersville trailed 6-0 early in the game and traded multiple miscues with the Eagles in the early going.
Turner Abernathy had a recovery of an Eagles’ fumble on a punt. Tayshaun Carter recovered an errant punt snap by Eastside, and the Canes’ defense came up with two big stops near its own goal line — all in the first half. Cartersville also fumbled twice for turnovers of their own in the opening 24 minutes.
Eastside running back Jayden Barr scored on a five-yard run that gave the Eagles a first-quarter touchdown but the Canes’ Keylan McCarty blocked Eastside’s extra point attempt.
The Hurricanes responded with 14 unanswered points to take the lead. Running back Khristian Lando found paydirt with two of his three touchdown runs on the night as the Canes built a 14-6 advantage midway through the second quarter. The senior finished the night with scoring runs from 16, two, and one yard out in the victory.
The Eagles, who had driven to the Canes' 1-yard line before making an errant snap, settled for a field goal before the intermission to narrow the Cartersville lead to 14-9. As it turned out, that would be as close as the Eagles would get.
In the third quarter, Lando finished off a Canes’ drive with his third touchdown run of the night that put Cartersville up 21-9.
Later in the fourth quarter, Logan Shrewsbury returned a punt to the Eastside 30-yard line to set up the Hurricanes’ final scoring play. Quarterback Nate Russell connected with Richard Houston on an 11-yard screen pass that provided the Canes’ 28-9 winning margin.
Eastside finished the season 8-4 after making the second round for the second time in three years.
Cartersville (12-0) will host Jenkins next Friday at Weinman Stadium in the state quarterfinals. The Warriors, the No. 4 seed from Region 1-5A, have won a pair of one-point decisions in the first two rounds. Jenkins (5-7) knocked off Arabia Mountain 14-13 in the first round and edged Dutchtown in Round 2, 28-27.
In other Class 5A second-round action, Cass beat Mays 17-7, top-ranked Coffee topped Jones County 45-14, Jefferson stopped Hiram 42-21, Harris County cruised by Statesboro 42-7, Creekside stopped Dalton 49-24, and Warner Robins outlasted Ware County 23-21.
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QTR.
9:09 — 4-yard TD run by Jayden Barr. (PAT blocked). Eastside 6, Cartersville 0
1:07 — 2-yard TD run by Khristian Lando (Ryan Johnson kick) Cartersville 7, Eastside 6
2ND QTR.
6:44 — 2-yard TD run by Khristian Lando (Ryan Johnson kick) Cartersville 14, Eastside 6
1:28 — 34-yard FG by Jonathan Gomez. Cartersville 14, Eastside 9
3RD QTR.
8:14 — 16-yard TD run by Khristian Lando (Ryan Johnson kick) Cartersville 21, Eastside 9
4TH QTR.
6:36 — 11-yard TD pass, Nate Russell to Richard Houston (Ryan Johnson kick). Cartersville 28, Eastside 9 ~~ Kevin Pate and Matt Santini contributed to this report.
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