High School Football: All four local teams win on opening night

All four Bartow County football teams earned opening night wins Friday with Woodland overwhelming Gordon Central 43-9; Adairsville winning at Chattooga 35-14; Cartersville blanking visiting Morrow 55-0; and Cass winning at Dawson County 27-19.

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Wildcats overwhelm Warriors, 43-9

The Woodland Wildcats scored 35 unanswered points in a variety of ways during the second and third quarters Friday night to overwhelm the visiting Gordon Central Warriors, 43-9.

Jeremiah Rhodes takes down Gordon Central's Sean Gray in Woodland's 43-9 win Friday night.

Woodland led 8-0 at the end of the first quarter and was up 8-3 near the midway point of the second quarter before reeling off five unanswered touchdowns in the rout.

Freshman running back Isaiah Livsey capped a 10-play, 64 yard drive in the first quarter for the Wildcats first score with 2:03 remaining in the period. Chase Carson tossed a two-point conversion pass to Harlin Morris from the ‘swinging gate’ extra point formation to give the hosts an 8-0 lead. A fumbled punt set up Gordon Central at the Woodland 15 yard line, but the Wildcats’ defense stiffened to keep the Warriors out of the end zone. Allen Garcia connected on a 29-yard field goal to narrow the Woodland lead to 8-3 with 7:41 remaining in the second quarter.

Carson then started the Woodland rally by returning the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead with 7:26 left in the first half.

Woodland’s Jaeden Smith picked off a Gordon Central pass on the next possession and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown. He also added a two-point conversion run taking a pitch from the Wildcats’ same ‘swinging gate’ extra point formation.

On Woodland’s next possession, sophomore quarterback Brelace Williams connected with freshman Adarrian Wilson for a 36-yard touchdown pass and a 29-3 halftime lead following a PAT kick by Chris Sanchez.

Gordon Central attempted an onside kick to start the second half, but the effort backfired and turned into a Woodland touchdown.

Lineman Jeremiah Rhodes fielded the bouncing kick on the dead run and raced untouched for 47 yards and a kickoff return for a score. Another Sanchez kick gave Woodland a 36-3 lead only eight seconds into the second half.

Woodland’s longest drive of the game came on their next possession. Asa James had three chunk yardage runs to move the Wildcats quickly down the field. Heath Tatum finished off the 91-yard drive with a 7-yard run and a 43-3 lead following a third PAT kick by Sanchez.

Gordon Central added a 1-yard touchdown run by Sean Gray in the waning seconds of the third quarter against mostly Woodland reserves. The Warriors 24-yard drive was set up by a fumble. The extra point failed leaving the score 43-9.

A scoreless fourth quarter saw both teams play many reserves under a running clock.

Gordon Central (0-1) travels to Northwest Whitfield next Friday.

Woodland (1-0) travels to Marietta to take on the Osborne Cardinals in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

Second half surge lifts Tigers to win at Chattooga

Following a scoreless first half, Adairsville exploded for five second half touchdowns as the Tigers won at Chattooga, 35-14.

It was a long return of the opening second half kickoff that sparked the Tigers.

Eli Agnew’s long return set up Adairsville’s first touchdown two plays later. Coach Eric Bishop called for a pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff that Ethan Blome recovered for the Tigers -- the first of two such kicks recovered by Blome on the night. On the next play, sophomore quarterback Jonathan Gough connected with Grayson Belcher for a 41-yard touchdown and Adairsville suddenly led 14-0.

Gough added a 23-yard touchdown pass to Chris Roper in the third quarter and threw for a pair of two-point conversions in the contest. He finished 9-for-14 for 172 yards in his first start. Roper caught three passes for 55 yards and added 22 rushing yards.

Caden Copeland contributed a nine yard touchdown run for the Tigers and Agnew returned an interception 77 yards for a pick-six.

Adairsville (1-0) will host Cass next Friday night in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

Canes saddle Mustangs with shutout

The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes cruised past visiting Morrow with seven rushing touchdowns and four safeties Friday night at Weinman Stadium to win 55-0.

Jake Parker

Malachi Jeffries scored three rushing touchdowns. Khristian Lando ran for two scores while Keylan McCarty and Paul Gamble added one touchdown run each.

Meanwhile, the Canes’ defense was dominant with head coach Conor Foster praising the play of the entire defensive unit. He was especially impressed with the opening night play of Nasir Grandberry, Ben Robinson, and Chris Ryan.

Cartersville led 42-0 at halftime with quarterback Jake Parker credited by Foster for being consistent and confident in leading his team.

Cartersville (1-0) travels to West Forsyth next Friday for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. The Wolverines were 38-8 winners over Carver-Atlanta Wednesday. The game was part of the 2021 Corky Kell Classic.

Colonels pull out road win at Dawson County

Devin Henderson threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third score as the Cass Colonels came from behind to win at Dawson County, 27-19.

Henderson had a 14-yard scoring strike to Tino Jones late in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead and connected with Sacovie White late in the third quarter from 16-yards out that put the Colonels ahead 20-16. The sophomore quarterback’s 9-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter gave Cass a 27-19 advantage with just 5:48 remaining.

Class AA preseason all-state quarterback Zach Holtzclaw kept the host Tigers close throughout. Holtzclaw scored on a 1-yard keeper early in the second quarter to make the score 7-6 at the time. He also tossed a 51-yard touchdown pass with 7:09 left in the third quarter that put Dawson up 16-13.

The Tigers’ had a PAT kick blocked following their first touchdown, but took a 9-7 lead at halftime with a 39-yard field goal and went ahead 20-19 early in the fourth period with a 32-yard field goal.

"It was Freddie Gbadie and Devin Henderson basically all the way down the field on that final drive,” said Cass head coach Steve Gates following the game. "We ran power read over and over. Freddie would take it a couple of times. Devin would pull it a couple of times. Freddie would take it again and Devin would keep it. It was working and they didn’t adjust to it, so we just kept calling it.”

Ultimately, it was the Cass defense that sealed the victory. Dawson’s final possession ended when Ian Lowe stripped Dawson quarterback Holtzclaw and Tripp Adams recovered the loose ball to secure the Colonels’ 27-19 win.

Cass (1-0) makes the short trip to Adairsville next Friday night for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.