Tigers dominate second half to wreck Ramblers, 43-14
The third time taking the lead was the charm Friday night for the Adairsville Tigers as they won at LaFayette, 43-14. Twice in the first half, the Tigers took one touchdown leads only to have the host Ramblers tie the score.
But the second half was a different story with the Adairsville defense shutting out LaFayette while the Tigers’ offense posted four more touchdowns.
Courtney Slocum capped Adairsville’s first scoring drive with a six-yard run to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 6:59 remaining in the opening quarter. Emanuel Lopez booted the first of his PAT kicks.
Following an Adairsville special teams mistake, the Ramblers’ marched 43 yards to tie the score. Jamario Clements, who rushed for 41 yards on the drive, scored on a 21-yard touchdown run with 0:30 left in the opening period.
Midway through the second quarter, Adairsville grabbed a 14-7 lead with a Conner Crunkelton 39-yard scoring pass to Dylan Matthews, but LaFayette would knot the score again before the intermission.
An Adairsville fumble inside their own 10-yard line on their next possession set up the Ramblers’ score.
Clements crossed the goal line on a one-yard plunge to complete an eight-yard drive with 0:32 remaining in the half. That sent the teams to the locker room tied 14-14.
The second half was dominated by the Tigers.
Adairsville took the opening drive of the half and scored. Crunkelton culminated the drive with a nine-yard keeper with 7:28 left in the third quarter. The PAT kick was blocked, but the Tigers held a 20-14 advantage.
A bad snap during a punt on the next LaFayette possession more than made up for the missed PAT. The LaFayette punter fell on the ball in the end zone giving Adairsville a 22-14 lead with 6:43 remaining in the third period.
The Tigers increased their lead to 29-14 later in the period. Crunkelton connected with Slocum for a 73-yard strike with 1:03 left in the third.
Defensive star Tokyo Gordon set up the next Adairsville score with an interception on the next to last play of the third quarter.
Jamaury Johnson capped that Tigers’ possession and scoring drive with a three-yard run. It gave Adairsville a 36-14 lead with 10:02 left in the game.
Johnson added to the Adairsville lead later in the final period scoring on a short, two-yard run that capped a 90-yard scoring drive. The time-consuming drive gave the Tigers 29-unanswered points in the second half and a 43-14 advantage with 3:40 remaining.
The loss drops LaFayette to 2-3 overall and 2-1 in Region 6-AAA. Adairsville (3-1, 2-0) travels to Ringgold next Friday.
The game will be the Johnny’s NY Style Pizza - Bartow County Game of the Week via BartowSportsZone.com.
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