Canes roar past Hiram, 48-0
- 20 hours ago
- 4 min read
August 22, 2026
Scott Barkley / CanesAthletics.com
The Cartersville defense allowed Hiram across midfield only once while the Canes offense scored touchdowns on each of its seven first-half possessions to build a 48-0 halftime lead on the way to a one-sided season-opening road victory Friday night, Aug. 21.
It began with special teams, as Madoxx Davis returned the opening kickoff 60 yards to the Hornet 38.
"It was an open field," he said. "When I see green, I'm heading to the end zone."
It wasn't as easy as Davis makes it sound, with the junior breaking a couple of tackles to get the ball into Hornet territory. Nine-yard runs by Tyon Coe sandwiched a 14-yard pass from Harris Turner to Davis to get the ball to the six-yard-line, setting up Coe's touchdown run less than two minutes into the game.
A Hiram punt to cap its first possession once again gave the ball to the ever-dangerous Davis, who slipped out of three tackles during a 54-yard return to the 11-yard-line. On the next play, tight end Cole Crawford, released on the right side of the line, collected Turner's pass and jogged into the end zone untouched for the 14-0 lead after Landon Trevino's extra point kick.
With CHS pulling most starters after halftime, Davis finished with four receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown to go with 114 return yards. Turner completed eight of 10 passes for 131 yards and three touchdowns, while Brayden Doss connected on all four of his pass attempts for 66 yards alongside seven yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Kaiden Kent was the game's leading receiver, with 71 yards on four catches and a touchdown. Crawford's lone catch went for the 11-yard score, while Cooper Melvin had two receptions for 32 yards. Coe's 31 yards on five carries and a touchdown led the ground game.
Lightning in the area delayed the game until a little after 8 p.m.
"That was a little bit of adversity we needed to handle, and I felt they did that well," said head coach Conor Foster. "You want to see them respond and show some maturity, some leadership, and I'm really proud of our guys for doing that.
"We played really fast on offense. Our defense put us in great position. We played four quarterbacks tonight, with all of them contributing in different ways. We got ourselves into the right place and with the right tempo."
With a running clock in the second half, the Canes only received the ball once, and that in the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, sophomore quarterback Brody Jones completed a 16-yard pass to Elijah Garrett in addition to ripping off a 33-yard run on third down. Freshman Brock Crawford completed one of two passes for 12 yards to JB Nichols.
The Canes finished with 317 total yards of offense, 225 of them through the air.
After Crawford's touchdown, Hiram lost 13 yards on a fourth-down attempt to give Cartersville possession at the Hornet 12. Two runs by Coe and three more from McClendon punched the ball across with 4:35 remaining in the first quarter and gave the Canes a 21-0 advantage. Four minutes later, Davis caught Turner's pass and was hit at the 12. Keeping his feet, he dove over a would-be tackler at the three before nose-diving into the end zone for another Canes score, making the difference 27-0 after a failed conversion.
A Hiram miscue set up the Canes' next score.
Attempting to punt from their own 15, a low snap forced the Hiram punter to fall on the ball at the two-yard-line. Doss bowled over the goal line on the next snap behind defensive linemen-turned-blockers Grayson Villar and Elijah Peeks.
The Canes' final scores of the half, and the game, came on a 26-yard touchdown throw from Turner to Kent, who lost the ball stretching for the score, but recovered past the line. With a little over a minute to play, Davis somehow snagged a tipped pass out of the air and broke away from one tackler before deking another for a 37-yard play down to the one. Doss found the edge on the following play to give CHS a 48-0 lead after Trevino's kick with 1:06 in the half.
The half ended with Henry Abernathy's second-down fumble recovery on Hiram's next possession.
Foster said he has seen steady improvement in his team, with a nod to Dan Mullins, inside linebackers coach and director of performance, as well as Corey Gochee, strength coordinator, after the Aug. 7 scrimmage with highly-regarded McEachern.
"When you scrimmage an opponent like them, you see the size, speed, and physicality, and our kids were up for it. Any time you play an opponent like that, it's going to make you better," Foster said. "I'm proud of our kids, and Coach Mullins and Coach Gochee did a fantastic job in the weight room and from a conditioning standpoint over the last two weeks."
CHS (1-0) enters Weinman Stadium for its first home game of the season next Friday, Aug. 28, against Mt. Zion, who lost to Callaway on Friday, 22-12. The evening will honor the Teacher of the Year as well as celebrate the Canes' 2016 state championship team.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
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