Woodland drops opener at East Paulding

Woodland entered the fourth quarter at East Paulding Friday night trailing 31-0 before the Wildcats scored a pair of touchdowns in a 38-13 opening night loss in Dallas.

Javen Parker scored twice in the first half for East Paulding on runs of 13 and 14 yards while Cooper Hall added a 22 yard field goal. Those three scores gave the Raiders a 17-0 lead by halftime.

Baylor Thomason connected with Cameron Shelley midway through the third quarter to put East Paulding up 24-0. Quarterback Chantz Bouknight then hooked up with Kenechi Oluku for a 38 yard touchdown pass on the Raiders next possession to make the score 31-0.

Woodland defensive lineman Kwadrus Wilson scooped up a botched East Paulding snap with 9:32 remaining in the game and returned it 55 yards for the Wildcats’ first score. The extra point failed leaving the score at 31-6.

After Malachi Mitchell added a 4 yard touchdown run for East Paulding with 5:40 remaining, Woodland’s Isaiah Livsey added a final score for the Wildcats on a 10 yard run with 0:33 left in the game.

Woodland (0-1) hosts Coosa next Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

— Kevin Pate and Mike Garcia of WBHF contributed to this story.