Football Fridays in Georgia, presented by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, reminding you to park your phone while you're driving.

It saves lives as we welcome you to historic Weinman Stadium in Cartersville, where tonight, the 7-1 eighth ranked Dalton Catamounts have come to town to take on the second ranked and undefeated Cartersville Purple Hurricanes.

And good evening.

I'm Matt Stewart, joined by former Auburn Tigers All -American NFL first round draft pick and 15 year pro Wayne Gandy and Wayne Cartersville can clinch their fourth consecutive region championship.

Their 14th in 15 years with a victory tonight, Dalton can't win the region championship tonight.

They got a win tonight and win next week at Cass for that to happen.

But that's not really the big story here tonight.

The big story is the resurgent Dalton program.

They were 0-10 back in 2024.

They hired Chris Pruitt from Roswell.

He's turned this program around, but he turned him around enough to compete against this dominant Cartersville team.

And when you look at this Dalton team, they just want to kick the ball.

They want to get on the field.

They feel like they have the potential to beat Cartersville.

There's game they drove 40 miles south.

I know that sounds funny to try to take this victory.

Let's talk about Cartersville.

They have won their games by an average score of 52-3 That's not a misprint.

And this is a very talented team.

They're as talented as any seven a team in the state, starting with their wide receiver Maddox Davis.

He's one of the best in the country.

A four star rated as high as number four wide receiver in the country.

He's got 50 plus offers.

Hawks Davis.

He's the complete package, one of the best receivers in the country.

The incredible thing about him is the YAC that he produces get the ball in his hands.

He makes a big play, 36 receptions, almost half of them 15 touchdowns.

What an outstanding season he's having.

And over on the defensive side of the ball you got Cole Crawford.

He's rated as high as the number four inside linebacker in the country.

He's committed to Georgia Tech.

The same Cole Crawford he's been around since starting since he was a ninth grader.

He's the alpha.

He's the tempo setter.

He's a young man who knows how to play football, and he gets his teammates to follow.

Now this Dalton team is 7-1 They're an overtime loss away from being 8-0 coming into this game.

And they can score some points.

They have not scored less than 35 points in a game.

They're averaging 46 points per game.

And it all starts with their dual threat quarterback Kingswood.

He's a big, strong, physical, dual threat quarterback.

When you look at him he's 62, 200 pounds.

He can throw the ball 13 touchdowns zero interceptions.

He has seven running.

I think tonight that's what he's going to have to do.

Make some money running the ball.

And on the defensive side of the ball.

How do you cover Maddox Davis.

Well they got a guy a four star Frank Atangana who's got 28 offers.

And they've got a little bit of a history.

Atangana a fast physical man to man corner.

They like to shadow him on the best receiver.

That being Ox Davis tonight should be a great battle between these two big stars.

Yeah.

So it's Dalton and Cartersville.

These two teams have been playing each other since 1924.

Although Cartersville has won the last four meetings since, these two teams have been back in the same region again.

Let's send it down to Jon Nelson on the sidelines.

Thank you very much, Matt.

Good evening to you.

Good evening Wayne.

Thanks for accessing us.

However, you're doing so large device or small and chemistry test, we used to call them litmus tests.

And this is one tonight for the Dalton Catamounts, a team that averages just over 45 points a game.

And get this they're going to have to do it going up against a defense that only averages giving up 4.4.

So when you look at the roster for Dalton, they only lose 12 seniors after this year.

They matched the win total of the two previous years with match number four.

Game number four September 11 the win there.

You've got your new win.

Total matching what you've done over the last couple of seasons.

12 seniors this year, two dozen juniors that you're going to have coming back next year.

And get this, Matt.

When it comes to ninth graders that are active, you're coming up about 16 ninth graders.

So a very young team that's doing really well.

What happens tonight if you're a fan of Dalton, if I remember my chemistry correct, you're looking for the litmus test to turn red, which means it's going to be a bit of an acid night for Cartersville.

Let's go upstairs to Wineman Stadium and light a candle for this one.

Great match up here in northwest Georgia.

No doubt about it.

Should be a fun one to find out.

Just how far has this Dalton program come from that?

Oh, and ten just two years ago.

As you watch tonight's ball game, you can keep up with scores around the state by downloading the QR code on your screen.

That will take you to the GPB sports app, and you can keep up with all the scores around the state.

We got some big ones tonight as this is the next to last weekend of the regular season.

Playoffs start three weeks from now, and here's a look at the region standings that explains the picture.

Cartersville.

They are 84 and one in their region since 2012.

Did we say dominant?

But right now the story is they have a half game lead on Cass team.

They've already beaten Dalton's one game back.

For Dalton to get to that top spot, they got to beat Cartersville tonight and then Cass next week.

Cartersville clinches their 27th overall region championship with a victory tonight.

True dominance and Coach Pruitt and his Dalton team.

They know they want to get to the mountaintop.

As he said it goes through Cartersville.

Cartersville they the one.

They are the team that has set the bar of what excellence looks like in the region.

Dalton has a lot of work to do tonight.

They absolutely do.

And they're going to get the ball first.

Cartersville won the opening toss.

Wayne.

They have deferred.

So we see the Catamounts on offense to start this game.

When you look at this team this all goes through Caine Woods in the quarterback.

And what he can do.

This big offensive line.

We're going to talk about them.

A lot of size up front.

Uh a lot of talent up there as well.

Can they get the run game going with Bronx Stallion early to take a little pressure off of Caine Woods.

Well, they've averaged 183 yards on the ground overall, 437 yards of total offense per game.

Yeah.

We came in talking about Cartersville and what they can do, but Dalton 45 points a game.

They're going to need all of that here tonight.

When you face this defense of the hurricanes.

Opening kickoff is brought to you by heads up Georgia.

Park your phone while you're driving.

It saves lives and we are ready to go in Cartersville, Georgia, one of the great atmospheres in all of Georgia high school football here at Historic Stadium.

And it is their blackout night.

Jon Nelson will tell you more about that as we go throughout the evening.

And we are underway for the line drive kick.

It's going to be taken inside the five yard line up across the 20 and up to the 25 yard line.

And that's where Dalton is going to start.

Following the return by Cam London.

And here come the Catamounts on offense led by their quarterback Caine Woods.

He's a big, solid kid.

He's put on some weight in the weight room.

He's gone 165-205.

He's a game manager, but he has grown each and every game.

When you watch him a true dual threat and coach says he has that magical it factor that he's been riding so far this year.

Compared him to the late Robbie Roper, the great Robbie Roper, who coach Pruitt coached at Roswell, just has that it factor, knows how to get things done, knows how to win ball games, and Caine is averaging 234.5 yards per game in total offense.

It's going to take the ball and hand it off to stallion, and stallions going to get about 6 yards on the opening play.

Wayne let's take a look at the impact players.

When the Catamounts have the ball.

Brock stallion, their leading rusher and elusive workhorse.

Sirles the big receiver 65 with a great catch radius.

Athens.

Davenport.

Athens.

Davenport.

On the other side, the leading tackler for Cartersville and Kylan Pope.

What a dynamic, big play linebacker he is from the outside.

Stallion gets about 4 yards on his second carry up to the 35.

So 9 yards for stallion.

And this Dalton offense on their first two snaps.

Felt like they're going to have to establish the run with stallion.

Mason Lovelace tonight against this purple hurricane defense.

So it's third down and one.

And Woods going to run it and pick up the first down.

And a big hole for Caine Woods.

He breaks out into the open across the 30 stops still on his feet.

Caine Woods hard to get on the ground.

Down inside the ten yard line.

What a great run by Caine Woods.

Some of that magic we talked about with Woods didn't like the slant on the outside.

Decided to tuck the ball and it's as dangerous as a runner as anybody out on the field tonight.

As you can see here, showing you the speed, showing you the awareness, trying to make extra yards.

And that's what he's been doing all season long for the Catamounts.

So on third and one they turned that into first and goal to go.

Pass to the edge.

Caught on the edge.

Touchdown Dalton as the ball goes to Akeem Cox.

And here in the opening 90s of the game Dalton has taken the lead.

Big run there by Woods.

Clear path throwing catch to the outside.

Leverage the defense of the purple hurricanes and getting in the end zone.

Right there is Cox for the touchdown.

Great start for the Catamounts.

They come in here as huge underdogs.

And the kick is up and the kick is good.

It's 7-0 So Dalton scores early and quickly.

Play action.

Fake hitting the ball.

Just a bad angle right there by chance.

Brown playing underneath this route as he tries to jump this ball.

Great delivery.

Good job there.

Akeem Cox getting out of that tackle and into the end zone.

Just a great job throwing catch quarterback receiver.

And that nine yard touchdown throw by Caine Woods was set up by his 56 yard run inside the ten yard line on third and one.

And really loved how confident he was when he broke through that line of scrimmage as he was running down the field.

What a dangerous weapon he is.

We talked about that in the open.

His legs could be the factor tonight for Dalton.

Yeah, he was not thinking just get down.

He was thinking let me get more yards.

As you take a look at the DBHDD Red ribbon 365 curriculum scoring drive four plays, 74 yards.

The big play, the centerpiece play of that drive, the 56 yard run by Woods.

And so now we see this Cartersville offense get the ball for the first time tonight.

And this kick will be Nonreturnable as it bangs off the crossbar.

And their kicker Brax Bennett is one of the best in the country.

He's a 4.5 star rated by Kohl's kicking.

And he showed you right there as he put that ball in the air 70 yards to the back of the end zone.

Saw him doing warm ups.

And he was has a big leg on him.

And the best thing I saw about him he had an Auburn tiger towel hanging off his back.

So here you go offense for the Purple Hurricanes is run by the junior Harris Turner.

He's flanked by the running back Tiyon Coe.

Coe going to get the handoff and come to the near side and goes.

Got ten and more out across the 40 and brought down at the 43 yard line.

A 23 yard run by Tyran Coe on Cartersville.

First snap.

Great job getting to the outside.

Ty Coe just a super fast track guy right here.

Close to a penalty there on Christian Blue as he drags him out.

But what a big play to start off this drive.

Coe gets it again.

Crashes across the 50 and Coe gets 9 yards on that play.

Let's call it ten.

And another first down.

Good job blocking up front.

Offensive line.

Big hole there in the middle.

Good job working up to the second level by Ben Cagle the center.

Coe again, this time tackled by the freshman defensive end.

And they've got a lot of freshmen on the defensive side of the ball.

That was Malachi.

Long as you take a look at the impact players with the purple hurricanes have the ball.

I Coe lighting fast leading rusher Caden Kent Tuck dynamic in space.

He brings balance to the field for Dalton on defense.

Elijah Wood, Elijah Long, quarterback of the defense.

And Abraham Evans.

He's having a tremendous season.

They're leading tackler.

Coe again on the run.

Elijah Long, Malachi's brother, makes the tackle.

But a nice game by Coe again.

Again the ability to find the hole the senior.

One thing Coach Foster says is that he's running with an edge this season.

Known for his speed, but he's putting his foot in the ground.

And you saw right there a great example of that on that play.

You see number 90 Malachi Long.

He is the freshman brother of Elijah Long who made just made that tackle, made a tackle the play before.

He's shaken up on the play.

Big impressive line.

Dalton when you look at the size and only freshman out there long six foot two, 45 Carter Jackson inside about the same.

But their freshman.

And so the potential when you look at this defensive front along with Bearline over there, that rush.

He's a sophomore.

Just a lot of young talent here for Coach Pruitt.

They have only one senior starter, Javon Julius, at defensive tackle.

So this is a very young team.

As you take a look at Connor Foster in his eighth season, he's 91-9 as the Purple Hurricanes head coach got him to the state finals in 2020.

They feel like they've got a team that can do that again this year.

And this is the second quarterback, Brayden Doss, who's their dual threat quarterback.

They put him as a change of pace.

And he is as in the words of Connor Foster, runs like a wild animal.

He is a true dual threat.

When you look at ten touchdowns on the season, 486 yards, we're very capable, especially with the ball in his hand running.

So Doss stays in there at quarterback, coach foster says he can really energize the team because he'll run between the tackles.

Looks like that's what he wanted to do right there, slips a couple of tackles, gets inside the 30 and down to the 29 yard line.

As we take a look at the Johnny's Pizza, Cartersville offense, Turner the starting quarterback.

But Doss is already in there.

You got Coe as the running back.

Davis, Melvin and Kent, the wide receivers, Crawford, the tight end, then McMullen, Bailey, Cagle and left stick and love on that offensive line.

First down carry.

Nice job right there.

Running between the tackles once again Ty Cobb big offensive line up front.

Had to replace four starters from last season.

Jordan Bailey the only returning starter up there at left guard.

Bailey's got an offer from Rhyne Howard for the first time in quite some time.

They don't have a big D-1 prospect on that offensive line, although left Kotek and possibly love will develop into.

Defense.

Five yard penalty still first down, Left stick the right guard a three star 6′5″, 315.

Where are they growing these young men now these days just a lot of size.

J love over there at the right tackle at 6′4″, 290.

Massive right side.

So first and five following the penalty Coe gets the handoff dances into the hole, gets inside the ten.

And that's gonna be a touchdown for Cartersville.

Tycen Coe.

It was the tie on Coe drive.

Showing you the physicality that Coach Foster talked about running behind this offensive line.

That's a counter pull back up the middle right there.

Now he's showing you the strength and the speed, the elusiveness to get into the end zone.

So Tiyon Coe accounts for most of the yards on that drive.

And now the purple hurricanes are a p a t away from tying the game.

They got the swinging gate play on here and they're going to go for two and snap it.

The dos and dos did not get in I don't think.

Nope.

The ball is out and they do not convert on the two point play.

So they run that swinging gate.

Dalton wasn't fooled on the play and they don't get the extra point.

Right here.

DOS keeping the ball putting his foot in the ground.

Just coming up short.

Big hit there by Sean Blue the linebacker.

So Coe scores from 20 yards out.

They missed the p a t on the two point try at 7:06 early in the first.

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Welcome back to Weinmann Stadium.

It's been an exciting 4 minutes so far.

Time to catch up with our friends from Cartersville and the donation of $1,500.

Our friends from Cigna, our friend Darrell Demastus, friend of the network, hanging out with us.

Thanks for being a great friend of Football Fridays.

Oh.

Thank you John.

We appreciate you Cigna and all.

GPB does for us.

And we always count it a privilege and an honor to have you all here.

We enjoy it.

I need to say hello to my three grandbabies watching tonight.

Riker, Hudson and Everly's out there.

And thank you all so much for coming.

We appreciate it.

What he says when granddad says goes, let's end it upstairs.

Riker.

Hudson.

And what was the other one, Riley or Beverly?

I missed it.

Hopefully they're enjoying the ball game tonight.

Right now it's Dalton 76 lead on Cartersville here in a very fast moving dynamic.

First 4 minutes of the game.

A lot of excitement.

Both offenses are in a groove.

And we're talking about against two dynamic defenses.

Just moving the ball up and down the field.

Your DBHDD red ribbon 365 curriculum scoring drive.

It was eight plays, 80 yards.

Took 2.5 minutes off the clock.

And most of that was Tycen Coe, including the 20 yard touchdown run, 67 of the yards.

There's an onside kick and it is going to be recovered by.

Dalton Dalton got on top of that at the 48 yard line.

So Connor Foster now.

They change.

Now they change it.

The officials were pointing Dalton's ball.

And now they've changed their mind.

And they say it's Cartersville ball.

I was just about to say there Matt when did black become purple become white right there.

Getting to that ball.

Nice job there.

Recovering it.

By the kicker.

And you can see Coach Foster pulling out all the tricks.

Two point conversion try.

And already an onside kick.

So they steal a possession right there.

They get the ball right back.

Let's see if Cartersville takes a shot after recovering that early onside kick.

They run the speed sweep to Kent.

Now they run a double reverse.

Maddox Davis putting on a show and still going.

Davis inside the 20.

And Davis will score the touchdown.

Well they took their shot.

Not quite at what I was expecting but a double reverse.

Well when you get the ball to Davis it's like taking a shot from anywhere on the field.

Just a young man that makes things happen.

We talked about just a big season right here.

The elusiveness, the speed, the confidence that he runs with just a dynamic big play.

Junior receiver once again showing you waving through traffic right there.

The courage to cut back across field against that many defenders.

Maddox Davis the four star just a home run hitter.

Amazing play right there.

A double toss and reverse going to Davis.

And they go for the single point right here and get it.

And it is 13-7 We've had three touchdowns scored in less than 4.5 minutes.

We talked about this game possibly with these offenses becoming a track meet.

So far so good.

Maddox Davis just a superior athlete having a huge year.

Maybe the best performance in the state by a player so far.

Definitely so much so much talent.

50 offers on the board, including Bama and Clemson.

Just one of the top receivers in the country.

And on that play, have to give a salute to the quarterback.

Making that block out on the end right there.

Harrison Turner to spring Davis down the field.

So 137 following a 49 yard touchdown run by Maddox Davis.

And he covered much more than 49 yards on that play because he cut back across the field.

He came from the far side of the field to the near side of the field, and ended up going to the far corner of the end zone.

Amazing.

Run by Maddox Davis.

And this kick will be taken at the 1 yard line.

And stopped inside the 20 yard line was Cam London on the return.

Here's a look at the Johnny's pizza offense for Dalton.

Of course.

Woods we've seen in stallion the running back London Cox and Sirles the wide receivers.

And Ashlock is a three star tight end.

He's committed to Middle Tennessee.

Then you got Hammond, Bradley, Capparell, Tugwell and Sarmiento on that offensive line.

It's a big offensive line.

Yeah, the mountain over there in Bradley, London, Bradley 65, 340 definitely stands out on the field.

A project, but has a great upside to him.

Yeah, he's a human eclipse as you get a look at him there, that right guard position hand off goes to stallion and stallion stopped after a very short gain.

Haven't had a lot of time to talk about.

Valor.

Pike's up front for this Purple hurricane team, but very.

And a lot of depth and a lot of talent on this defense for Cartersville.

Yeah.

They've thrown five shutouts this season out of their eight games.

They have shut out five of the opponents.

Woods pump fake throws to the far side.

It's going to be caught up to the 30 yard line and a first down catch and run for the Catamounts as the ball goes to Kim.

Cox again.

Nice read once again going out wide just not being covered here on the outside route to Cox.

You can see they're trying to get to it.

Is Warmack a lot of space out there for Cox to work.

And Grayson Villar who you just referenced, is down on the field right now at the 11 yard line.

They're looking at his right leg.

It's Senior Day.

He was out there with his parents and family before the game started.

And they're treating him right now at the 11 yard line.

We'll step aside as they do.

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5 minutes into the game, Cartersville leading Dalton 13-7 Been pretty wild here with 7 minutes to play in the first quarter.

In the end, action big plays Dalton scored on their opening possession.

That man right there number seven Caine Woods had a big 56 yard run to set up their touchdown pass that he threw.

And now it's first and ten here on their second possession at the 30 yard line.

Then you had an onside kick that Cartersville stole and a 49 yard run by Maddox Davis.

Been pretty wild hand off goes to stallion Brock stallion candidate for name of the year.

Picks up the first down at the 40 yard line.

Great job finding that backside cutback lane by stallion here 5′7″, 175.

You can see how he gets back into backside cut back.

Nice job playing his feet getting upfield.

He's gone up over 600 yards rushing for the season.

Already here tonight as the play gets blown up.

Kylan Pope there to blow up that play.

As we take a look at Cartersville on defense.

Brought to you by Johnny's Pizza Villa you just saw leave the field.

Pike's and Fernandez up front.

Pope just made the tackle.

Davenport and Crawford two outstanding inside backers.

Beau Brown, Kemp, Melvin and Warmack and Acton Atkins in the secondary.

Great linebacking corps here for the Purple hurricanes.

Davenport Crawford playing downhill, showing pressure early in this game.

Now sitting back.

Demari Mason gets his first carry of the ball game and he's in trouble.

And he's going to get stopped for a loss.

Henry Abernathy first guy to hit him.

Bolden.

Healthy decline.

Third down.

So Cartersville will take the t f L rather than the penalty mark off.

And now it's going to be third down and long.

When you play a talented defense with these kind of players.

Polk, Crawford and Davenport.

As you've seen the the better success by Brunk stallion has kind of been running right at him.

You get into their wheelhouse when you start trying to get outside.

They're just too fast.

They cover too much ground for you to get a lot of runs to the outside.

Cartersville is giving up 4.4 points per game.

Third down.

First.

Third and long.

Caine Woods is faced here in this game.

I on the law and Highland Pope and his ability to rush the passer.

And now they got Crawford playing up on the left edge.

Pass is batted down by Crawford playing that edge.

He didn't rush the quarterback.

He held his position and batted down the pass.

Great job just reading the eyes there of Woods waiting, waiting.

We know the kind of athlete he is.

63, 230.

You can see him just reading the eyes, timing his jump, getting that right hand on it.

Nice job there by the senior linebacker.

He is an amazing athlete.

The son of former Houston County head coach Ryan Crawford, who is now coaching here at Cartersville.

In the middle school program.

Ryan's also one of the top first basemen in the entire state.

Great baseball player, great football player, rugby style kick is going to be taken on the hop at the 30 yard line, and they get him out of bounds as Maddox Davis was thinking about taking another ball all the way back and a flag comes out at the 30.

Hawks Davis just.

You don't want to kick the ball anywhere near him.

It's just.

Just kick it out of bounds.

When he has the ball in his hands.

Personal foul.

Against the kicking team.

15 yard penalty at the end of the run.

First down.

So 15 yard personal foul against Dalton will come at the end of the run.

And that is going to give Cartersville the ball.

On the plus side of the 50.

Hawks Davis covering the ball right there going up saving the team yards by fielding it.

And then once he gets the ball you have to hold your breath.

If you're the Catamounts with his ability to return.

So first and ten ball at the 40 1 yard line for the hurricanes.

Turner complete to Davis and they finally get Davis on the ground at the 30 1 yard line.

Atangana on the coverage.

That battle right there.

Tangana Davis is just made for college.

And both of them juniors just battling at each other.

Two talented players.

Turner looking to the far side throwing.

And it's incomplete this time.

Davis was trying to come back and make the play on the sidelines.

Now it's going to be third down and one.

Just a little off there with the throw there by Turner.

And the one thing with Turner hasn't run a lot this season has tried to do most of his work.

He's a big physical kid.

Some of these plays, he might have to pull the ball down and take off with it right there, going with the hard count.

Once again, getting the defense to jump offsides.

Encroachment on the defense, five yard penalty.

Plays.

First down.

Getting all the Aldo Tugwell right there to jump offsides.

Very difficult for linemen that switch back and forth from O-line to D line.

Hard on a guy like Tugwell.

He's used to hearing the snap count.

He's used to hearing the hands clap and moving right there, getting drawn off.

Yeah, Tugwell, defensive lineman moved over to the offensive side of the ball a couple of weeks ago.

So now he's going both ways.

Doss on the run, weaving through the defense, and Braden Doss all the way down to the 14 yard line.

Just a very capable runner.

As we have seen in this game.

Running the ball looking all like a running back when he decides to take off 511, 190.

Junior has been a great addition to this offense.

Being able to run the ball.

Doss running again out of the direct snap, gets inside the 15 down to the 13.

Got only 1 yard on the play.

He is a 2028 athlete.

He's already got five offers, plays quarterback of course for Cartersville, but being recruited as an athlete and coach, foster feels like ultimately he might end up being a safety at the next level.

Yeah, we asked him where probably we would find a home.

Uh, he's a super fast.

Is he showing you?

He's a tough minded kid, plays with that reckless abandon that you want at the safety position.

Yeah.

Clocked at 21.5 miles per hour.

They wear those catapults that measure their speed.

So he's very quick.

And now Turner is back in there at quarterback.

Turner on the sprint out wants to throw instead.

Going to go down.

Knocked down at the 17 yard line.

And big Malachi Long's the first guy to get there.

As you take a look at the Dalton defense brought to you by Johnny's Pizza, you saw long making that tackle.

Abraham Evans number 20.

The Will linebacker is their most productive player.

And then Atangana who we talked about is the three star.

And you see the two Blu brothers.

They're twins.

Sean and Christian's.

They are the sons of Greg Blu, the former Georgia Bulldogs star, who is the defensive coordinator of the Catamounts.

So now it's third down after the TfL up top ball to the end zone.

Incomplete flag out.

Going to have Duffy Kent was the target.

And we're going to have a DPI here on Dalton.

Abraham Evans in coverage right there.

Double move by Kaden Kent two K as they call him.

Just grabbing.

You can see him grabbing the back of Kent's jersey.

There was Evans.

Pass interference on the defense.

Half the distance to the goal.

Still third down.

So that will not be a first down.

It's not an automatic first down.

And the yardage with the half the distance leaves them with a third down and about six or seven.

Obvious pull right there.

You can just see him grabbing Kaden Kent.

The speed that Kent possesses, he's one of those two way players as well.

Big impact on offense and defense.

Plays corner.

So it's really about third and five after they adjust the yardage.

Turner pump fake fires going to the end zone.

Touchdown Cartersville.

Cole Crawford the tight end.

We told you he plays both sides of the ball.

Scores his third touchdown on offense this season.

Beautifully executed play.

All about the execution there on that play there.

The patience in the pocket by the quarterback to let that happen.

Catching.

And we talked about Cole Crawford and his ability to impact the offense at that tight end position.

There.

P-a-t is up and that p a t is good.

Tavares puts it in.

And it is now 20-7.

Just caught Christian Blue.

The strong safety peeking.

You can see him.

He just got caught right there on the pick route.

Peeping peeking in at the quarterback and just getting lost.

Little wheel route to the outside was Cole Crawford.

Eugene Yu television and Facebook and Twitter.

So a 20-7 lead as after Dalton took the lead in this game, Cartersville has responded with three consecutive touchdowns and they now lead it by 13.

The question was, could Dalton offensively keep pace?

What style were they going to try to take the air out of the ball and slow pace right down this Cartersville team playing with a lot of confidence.

Both sides of the ball.

So Nevarez will kick it off again.

They've already executed one onside kick here in the first quarter.

This time they will kick it away.

And it will be taken right there at the 1 yard line.

London on the return gets up to the 21 22 yard line.

And that's where the Catamounts will go back on offense.

Early success on offense for the Catamounts, with Brock Stallion running the ball.

And we talked about the ability of Caine Woods.

He had that big run.

Can they design a couple of plays where they get him out in some open field and really use his legs here?

Kind of sparked them again.

239 to play here in the opening quarter.

Catamounts back now on offense and down by 13 points.

Caine Woods two of three passing for 21 yards.

Has that 156 yard run that set up their first touchdown.

Wood fires on the slant.

It's dropped by Cox.

Akeem Cox if he had caught that was in stride might have gone a long way.

Great job.

Good route there.

Good throw by the quarterback.

Working on Grayson Warmack the Georgia State commit.

Just got to catch the ball.

Akeem Cox scored earlier right there.

Just dropped one for his quarterback.

So second down and ten following the incompletion.

152 yards of offense for Cartersville in this first quarter 90:03 for Dalton.

Ball is fumbled.

It scooped up.

Great recovery by Woods to avoid a disastrous play right there by scooping up that fumble and then getting a positive yardage.

On it.

Woods right there late trying to pull this out of stallion.

As you can see.

Really pulled this ball reading the end.

Tried to pull it late as he saw the end drifting down the line and just fumbled the ball.

Lucky for him to get back on it.

So this time it's Cartersville that jumps offsides.

First down.

So that'll be a five yard Markoff and a first down for Dalton.

Nice job, hard count.

And we've seen Woods continue to do that tonight.

Trying to get the defense to declare right there.

Getting them to jump offsides.

So first and ten Woods in the pocket guns.

It is complete to Cox.

Then the ball comes out.

They're going to rule that an incompletion.

Cox has been the primary target here so far for Woods.

That time he should have had the ball.

Yeah.

Big pressure right there coming at him with Womack.

Nice job working up Cooper.

Melvin the junior physical safety right there.

Breaking that play up.

Brings up second down and ten.

Akeem Cox has offers from Troy and Middle Tennessee.

But he's dropped a couple of passes now on this series.

Ball going over on the far side this time.

And it is going to be a first down and more.

Clayton Thomas.

Beautiful job here by Woods.

Looking off.

We've seen him deliver that ball out to Cox a couple of times right there looking off and then finding Clayton Thomas down the field.

So Woods back to the air again going for Clayton Thomas Thompson.

And this time it's overthrown.

Let's check in with Nelly.

Quick update on the LA.

He was getting the range of motion tests and that were the physio takes the thumbs and he works on both sides of the knee, up on the table.

Ice was out.

He hasn't had it yet, but it looks like he's done for the night.

Had some comfort from Connor Foster, the head coach at Cartersville.

Pats on the back and a couple of conversations with those closest to him.

So I think Grayson has done for the night guys.

Yeah, tough for him.

It's senior night.

Tough to have to leave the game with injury.

Big run by Woods inside the 15.

Touchdown Dalton again.

Caine Woods showing what we thought we would see a big strong guy that can run that ball from the quarterback position.

Talked as this drive started.

How do you get Caine Woods running the ball here.

Just a quarterback run all the way.

The beautiful fake there on Cooper.

Melvin to get himself free and then showing you the speed that he possesses to get in the end zone.

Second big run for Caine Woods tonight.

It's now 20-13 They'll line up for the single patty here.

And the kick is up and the kick is good.

Julian Villa puts it through and it's 20-14 Right there.

The big fake there.

Just Cooper Melvin giving up the fake was so nice move there by Caine Woods his legs.

They're going to be key.

Try to keep pace.

He's going to have to continue to punish the defense.

And there are not a lot of that man.

And run the ball.

This match is the most points that Cartersville has surrendered in a game this season.

And Dalton has scored 14 on him here in less than a quarter.

Talked about Dalton team just wants to kick the ball off.

See how the cards fall by the end of the game.

Right now.

Trying to keep pace.

And that's the big thing.

King Caine Woods continue to make those kind of magical plays for this team.

So Dalton right back in the game after another big run by Caine Woods.

That was a 36 yard run that went for six.

So he's had a 56 yard run that set up their first touchdown.

He's had a 36 yard run.

That was a touchdown.

Pretty fun stuff here in this first quarter.

As these two teams have gone at each other.

Kick will be nonreturnable.

And you can expect that all night off the leg off the leg of Brax Bennett.

And so Cartersville brings it out to the 20 yard line.

As you take a look at the DBHDD red ribbon.

365 curriculum scoring drive, six plays, 78 yards the last 36 covered by Caine Woods.

Both coaches talked about the ability to try to create the explosive play and the ability to try to stop the explosive play.

They've done both in this game.

But so far the offenses are dominating in this first quarter.

So first and ten for Cartersville as they go back on offense at their own 20 yard line.

Turner in there at quarterback.

He's looking downfield.

He's firing here to the near side.

It's going to be caught.

And a short gain on the play as Atangana makes the tackle after the catch.

Tyran Coe with the reception picked up six on the play.

Ty Coe showing you his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, something that he's improved on this season.

And Tycen Coe gets the carry, gets the first down.

He'd always been a track guy and that's kind of what he hung his hat on.

And Botner Foster and the coaching staff challenged him this year to be a guy that runs with a little bit more of an edge, not just a track guy.

And he's showing you his ability to run between the tackles, run down, he'll break tackles in this game.

So far.

Play action, guns it in the middle and nearly intercepted as the Tangana jumped in front of that pass intended for Davis.

Nice job there.

By Atangana.

Very risky there by the quarterback.

Turner trying to get it to his big play.

Hawks Davis.

But Tangana doing a good job playing underneath.

Just couldn't come up with the interception.

As you can see the frustration.

Well these guys like we said have a competitive history going back to seven on seven.

In fact they were at Georgia.

And the story goes that Kirby Smart had to break him up and tell him to shut up because they were going they were going at each other so much.

The run here by Turner, going to tuck it and put it in his other arm and get out of bounds at the 40 yard line.

I like that decision there by Harrison Turner.

We talked about big, physical, capable kid.

Not as fast as Doss, but can make those kind of plays when the defense turns their back on you, you got to be able to pull the ball down and go get those five or 6 yards.

So third down and five line to gain is the 45, and we're down to the 30 final 39 seconds of this first quarter.

Maddox Davis has already lined up at the 40 ready to go.

And Atangana is looking right in his face.

Turner heavy rush has to step up to try to avoid it.

And there's the quarterback sack.

Bo Green the safety coming on the blitz gets the sack.

And it's going to be fourth down.

Coming with the pressure this time.

Just not going to sit back.

Good job there by Evans as well.

Rushing and then late coming as Bo Green the free safety very active season for him coming into this game with 40-7 tackles and two sacks notching his third sack on the season right there.

Yeah.

5′9″, 185.

And you guessed it a junior.

They've got 34 juniors.

This is a program.

As we enter the first quarter it's 20-14 This is a program that's not year there.

It's not there yet.

I mean they are coming.

Wild first quarter 34 points scored in the first 12 minutes.

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As we head to the second quarter here at Wineman Stadium, and a 20-14 lead for Cartersville.

Matt Stewart, Wayne Gandy and Jon Nelson.

But a fun first quarter.

Wayne Woo.

This.

Looking for a track meet.

So far, both teams have been able to provide especially the big play.

The legs of Woods.

The legs of Davis.

It's a great game here so far.

So earwood on to punt.

Gets it out of there.

It's a high kick.

Bo Green calls for a fair catch and makes it at the 33.

And that's where Cartersville gives up the ball and Dalton goes back on offense to start the second quarter.

Being able to run the ball behind this offensive line with Woods with the quarterback run, also with Brunk stallion being able to run between the tackles.

But when are they going to get guys like Haven Searles into the action?

Really haven't seen him.

The three star, the big target for this offense.

Yeah Searles is their top wide receiver with 30-9 catches.

He has not been targeted yet.

But Caine Woods has been the big story so far for Dalton with his running ability and also his arm has been pretty good.

He's going to run it again and this time he's going to muscle his way up to the 40 yard line.

Nice job.

Once again, just putting his foot in the ground bigger, stronger this season 62 about 200 pounds.

Hand off goes to stallion.

Stallion.

Going to get stopped after a two yard gain.

No running room for him that time.

Stallions rushed for 600 yards this season.

Eight touchdowns.

He started out at Dalton, then spent the last two years at Christian Heritage up there in northwest Georgia, and has come back to Dalton for his senior season.

Tough kid, especially for his size.

At 175, but he's providing that workhorse mentality that this offense needs.

Third down and one.

You see Ashlock the tight end, lined up in the back position.

You got to figure he's going to be blocking on this play for stallion.

No.

Instead they're going to pass and batted down in the air.

What a play by Kylan Pope screaming off the edge.

The awareness by Pope.

The three star another junior 6′3″, 225.

So so much potential as not even tapped into where coach Connor Foster believes he's going to arrive at.

But a great job of being aware, keeping his eyes on the quarterback, getting those hands up, knocking the ball down.

So now it's fourth down and one.

Hand off to Stallion.

And stallion is going to pick up the first down.

Got just enough I think they come running in from the sideline.

I think he got the line to gain.

So on fourth down and 1 Dalton does indeed pick up the first down.

Coach Pruitt.

He understands the kind of game.

He can't get the ball back.

He can't just continue to give Cartersville opportunity.

He came in the game knowing they were going to have to play on the edge right there, and that's his offense executed and picked up that first down.

Stallion in motion.

Now the run by Woods.

He runs right into the teeth of that defense.

Gets driven back after a two yard gain.

Caine Woods.

Got hurt early in the season.

Missed the first couple of games of the year and they had the freshman Hudson Rupert come off the bench.

A 14-year-old and leading with some big victories against Rock Martin northwest.

Whitfield and Calhoun.

Woods is the guy and he's showing you why he makes this team so dangerous.

Up top.

They go intercepted inside the 25 yard line as Cooper.

Melvin.

Melvin.

Melvin back across the 40 back across the 50.

Melvin all the way down to the 35 yard line.

Cooper Melvin with his team leading fifth interception of the season.

Just playing center field here.

Just stopping on this route.

Is Cam London here.

Plenty of time.

Airing it out down the field is Woods.

But Cam London, his receiver, just stopped on the route.

Easy interception for Melvin right there playing center field.

The back boundary safety.

You could see just stopping on the route.

Easy interception here.

And I love Cooper Melvin.

He's trying to score.

He is not just trying to ring up an interception.

He's trying to get a touchdown.

Melvin just picked up an offer recently from Tulane.

Gets a big interception here tonight.

And now Cartersville has it first and ten at the Dalton 34.

And Doss now back in there at quarterback.

Runs to the far side.

Going to get tackled.

Sean Blue in on that tackle.

Abraham Evans assisting on it as well.

Nice job.

Smooth transition between Turner and Doss here in this first half.

It's seamless.

It seems like you have to check.

Every play to see who's in at quarterback.

They really do.

You're right.

Good call doll still in there.

And now the sophomore CJ McLendon is in there at running back.

Spread him out trips to the right trying to pull the linebackers out the center of the field.

Doss wants to throw and he throws it.

Receiver broke off his route and went to the sideline.

And that's just the seventh incompletion that Doss has thrown.

They don't ask him to throw much, but when he does, he's pretty good.

83% completion rate.

83% eight touchdowns, zero interception right there.

Just not on the same page with Davis Davis running a comeback route.

Doss throwing over the top there.

But in this situation if you're Dalton you got to keep your eye on Doss of running this ball.

So third down five to go.

Handoff goes to McClendon.

He's going to get dragged down shy of the marker.

Great job.

Flag comes out.

Might have a misconduct penalty here.

Elijah Wood running that down from behind.

Coming through the middle of the defense.

Being able to bounce to the outside.

And get McLendon down on the ground.

After you play dead ball personal foul on Cartersville.

15 yard penalty.

Fourth down.

So that's going to back him up.

They did not pick up the first down obviously on that play.

And now you tack on a 15 yard deficit.

And let's see what Connor Foster decides to do.

As you can see Elijah Wood there coming from inside running that play down.

And then you see the push right there by left stick right guard trying to finish the play just a little behind the the whistle.

Excuse me Elijah.

Uh a long Malachi long there pushing him out of bounds.

So fourth down and now a punting situation.

Kick in the air.

Fair catch made by green.

And he got hit right as the ball got there.

And that'll be a penalty on the gauge.

He called fair catch and then got hit anyway.

So a 15 yard personal foul coming up here on Cartersville.

So back to back costly penalties.

They were going to have him pinned inside the ten yard line until that penalty right there.

Pretty clean game other than the offsides penalties and last couple of plays we've had some personal fouls here.

After the play.

Dead ball personal foul.

Hence Cartersville 15 yard penalty at the end of the run.

First down.

So they interfere with the catch right here.

And that's a 15 yard mark off against Cartersville.

Dalton's going to have the ball at the 25.

When we get back.

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Heads up, Georgia.

Welcome back to Wineman Stadium.

814 for the first half.

And you notice once again, Cartersville is in there dressed blacks tonight.

There's a reason for it.

It's a part of their commitment to service here in the community.

Hanging out with Zach Pritchard.

And you notice that there's a lot of folks that are wearing said T-shirt this evening.

The blackout T-shirts.

Zach.

It has to do with a canned food drive.

Genesis for that.

And how successful has it been?

Yeah, so Cartersville is a very special community.

We love, you know, each other and we really rally support.

And although we're very, very blessed, you know, really there's a need here.

And I think not only myself but other partners in the community is really recognize that.

And canned food is a simple way to get involved, give back to really people who need it.

Um, and so anyway, that was kind of the nexus is to get these young men and women who are really, really blessed, just like I was when I, when I was here, you know, when I Knott wore the jersey.

And so they you know, Carterville High School was a great partner for us.

Get the young folks involved.

And that was really the Nexus was just, hey, helping those people you may not see every day, right.

But they're right here in this community.

There are people we love and there are people we're going to support.

Real successful campaign here.

Let's send it back upstairs to Matt.

Black out hunger.

That's the motto here tonight.

And a big play right there as Grayson Warmack blacks out.

Cam London drops him for a loss.

Great job.

Open field tackle there by Warmack.

Reading that all the way keeping his head to the outside.

The three star senior Georgia State commit.

So second down and long now second down following that t f l. And Woods in the pocket guns it hard to the outside.

It's going to be caught by stallion.

He's run out of bounds at the 28 29 yard line.

Going to bring up third down.

It was showing you a lot of arm strength on these long.

Throwing the ball from the other hash delivering some of these passes here in this first half.

I think he's got a great future.

He's a three star quarterback.

ESPN's the only one of the recruiting services that is rating him here at this time.

But he does have an offer from Georgia State from Sacramento State, which is now part of the Mid-American conference.

Believe it or not, they're in the Mac.

He's receiving interest from some power conference schools, including schools like Georgia.

Heavy Rush, and he's in trouble.

Quarterback sack back inside the 20 yard line.

And there's Kylan Pope again.

A. Big pressure off the edge here.

Athens Davenport the pressure right there.

Colin Pope working underneath the tandem.

Getting home for the sack.

Just an outstanding linebacking corps with Athens.

Davenport sophomore Cole Crawford, the senior Kylin Pope who is the junior and now a punting situation for Dalton from the five yard line.

There's Bennett gets it out of there and gets hit as he kicks, but no flag dropped.

It hits at the 40 yard line.

He was off balance and that's a great kick.

But they're not going to drop a flag right there.

Great job by the official right there.

The white hat is looking at the play.

Didn't feel like enough contact happened.

Very very close here.

Athens Davenport right here coming underneath.

Yeah I think it was incidental.

Contact incidental.

I don't think it was by any means a a full floor, full force hit on the punter, I think, uh, Bennett maybe elaborated a little bit.

We gotta teach Brax how to sell it a little more to get it.

Yeah.

Just watch an NBA game.

They'll teach you how to.

Flop.

So first and ten.

Handoff goes to Tycen Coe.

He's trying to bounce it, and he gets bounced to the ground by Abraham Evans.

Evans once again able to work from underneath to make these plays.

You can see just nowhere.

Good job holding the point in there by Macon.

And Julius running down there.

Elijah Long and Evans.

Second down and now Maddox on the run has the first down and more.

And he is like a bull at the wide receiver position.

Picks up the first down.

He is so strong.

He's just a guy that you don't want to go too many plays without letting him touch the ball.

Yeah, about every four plays you need to find a way right there.

Just taking it as a runner, showing you his explosiveness once again.

Pass thrown out on the edge and short gain this time.

And you see you just can't get him on the ground.

It takes three or four guys to get him on the ground.

Just a relentless work ethic.

In the words of Connor, Foster said he's on the jugs machine seven days a week.

Sometimes he has to go out there and say, look, hey, it's time to turn out the lights.

I got to go home.

I'm trying to get better, trying to get his teammates to commit at that same way.

McClendon up the middle, big run.

McClendon all the way down to the seven yard line.

CJ McClendon, the sophomore with a big run for the hurricanes.

Great job on that right side.

Once again.

McClendon with the cutback.

So pace here inside the red zone.

First and goal to go.

Turner stays in there at quarterback.

Going to hand it off to McClendon.

McClendon inside the two and gets stood up there.

Big Carter Macon the junior nose guard there to meet him.

But now it's going to be second down and goal.

McClendon came in this game averaging 7-7 0.4 yards a carry five touchdowns.

Foster has a big future just learning how to play.

McClendon man big hit by Evans still gets into the end zone for the touchdown.

McClendon survives the hit by Evans and scores the touchdown.

It's 26-14 three runs in a row there for CJ McClendon the sophomore six feet 190 physical high motor runner here taking the hit absorbs the hit right there and still spins himself into the end zone.

Taking that hit from Abraham Evans.

You can see the size on this young sophomore.

So Nevarez is on for the p a t. Canes playing a point down right now.

Remember they went for two after their first touchdown and failed to get in.

So they have uh, been playing.

A point.

Behind Cartersville.

15 yard penalty assessed on the kickoff.

Or maybe a point on schedule is the best way to describe it.

So Wyatt Yearwood, the punter, is the holder on the play.

And Cole Crawford is the snapper.

What is it that he doesn't do?

Kick kicks back there and the kick is up and the kick is blocked.

So that's a second p-a- t that Cartersville has failed to convert and the score remains 26 14.

But Cartersville scored their fourth touchdown of the night.

This time it's TJ McClendon for CJ McClendon 12 point lead.

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All right.

What do you think, Jasper?

Honestly, I think that polyester shirts affecting your game.

What?

I think cotton would have been a better choice.

Cotton?

Yeah, it's come a long way.

You know, nowadays, cotton breeze and wicks moisture.

Great.

Plus, buying cotton means supporting Georgia farmers.

I think that's wonderful.

Okay, sure.

But what do you think about the putt?

O. It's really hadn't thought about it.

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As always, crowded at Weinmann Stadium on a football Friday for 11 for the first four scores to two.

Dalton's got some work to do coming up at the half.

We check in with our Usha Vance Student Athlete of the week scores around the state that include a lot of big region games.

Wintersville classic among them.

Catch up with our friends at Georgia EMC and the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

All the halftime coming up just around the bit here at Wyman Stadium.

Back upstairs to Matt.

Yeah, I see it down there trying to hang out with the kids, trying to stay.

Cool factor you know.

Yeah yeah.

Keep saying that.

They'll show how cool.

You are.

It's the cool factor.

Cool factor.

Yeah.

No one says that anymore.

Here's a look at the DBHDD Red ribbon 365 curriculum scoring drive six plays, 53 yards.

And it was CJ McLendon who took it in from 1 yard out to make it 26 14.

And of course that 15 yard penalty that we had is now going to be assessed to Cartersville, which means the purple Hurricanes are kicking off from their own 25 yard line.

Perhaps Dalton's going to be able to get a good return out of this.

Nevarez tees it up and boots as far as he can.

It's going to be taken at the 15 yard line.

London on the return, cutting back into the middle, not getting a whole lot out of it considering he took the ball at the 15.

Makes it back to the 26 and a flag out.

Consistently they've been kicking the ball to London.

Yeah.

Here in this first half.

Keeping the ball away from Atangana.

Don't want that kind of athlete with the ball out there in open space.

But once again a penalty flag on the field.

Blocking the back on the return team.

Ten yard penalty from the end of the run.

First down castle.

So that kind of negates any kind of good field position.

They were going to get out of that with that block in the back.

And let's see where they put the ball down with 403 to play in the half.

Dalton 7-1 on the season they are 3-1 in the region.

They are an overtime loss against Cedartown from being 8-0 that's what Cartersville is right now 8-0 4-0 in the region.

Win tonight.

Clinches their fourth consecutive region championship.

So they put the ball down at the 21.

Handoff goes to stallion.

Cuts back gets about three or four on the play.

Tackle made by Abernathy.

Nice job there by Abernathy coming off that edge.

Another young junior 63200 pounds right there 51.

Interesting on this drive.

How fast do they get into that two minute mode right here.

Kind of just you know taking their time.

I don't want to get into exactly.

You want to play.

You want a slow play this thing and get points out of it.

Pass completed out on the edge.

And it goes to Cox for the reception.

That was Kent on the tackle.

So now it's going to be third down and short.

Yeah you don't want to score too fast here.

You don't want to let Cartersville get the ball again before halftime.

Third down here to keep this drive going.

Imagine they're going to keep it in the hands of Caine Woods here.

Stallion goes in motion.

Woods on the quarterback.

Run first down.

Woods gets the first down.

Crawford got him on the ground, but at the 36.

Nice job.

Once again, the ability that he's shown in this game is what's keeping them in it so far.

With Woods being able to run the ball.

Woods going to run it again.

Going out to the far side gets about five on the play.

Yeah, he has been their biggest threat, but we're not surprised by that.

He came in as the second leading rusher on this team.

That run right there puts him over 100 yards already in the game.

Looking to try to get that swing pass out to stallion taken away from him there by Abernathy.

Had to take the ball and run it.

It's the second 100 yard rushing game of his junior season, and he's gotten it here in the first half.

Ball coming out here complete.

And that's the first pass that's gone to Sirles.

Even Sirles their four star wide receiver.

First catch for him.

And it's going to be third down.

Getting the ball in his hands out on the edge.

The big target 6′5″, 180.

Junior yeah he's got 16 offers weighing.

Still just an 11th grader.

It's third down and one.

Showing pressure.

Coe Crawford outside.

He's known to be able to bring outstanding pressure.

You got to keep your eye on him.

Woods is going to run it.

He's going to pick up the first down.

Although he gets dragged down right away.

Good recovery by Athens Davenport but a first down carry for Woods.

That'll keep the drive going with 126 to play in the half.

You can see each and every time Woods kind of these runs are taking a toll on him.

His defense is fast and physical right there.

Trying to work that right arm.

He's throwing arm out.

Suffered a broken hand in the Rockmart game.

The season opener, but has bounced back from that.

Pass out there to stallion.

It was behind him and he takes a loss on the play.

As Warmack comes up from his safety position to get the TfL.

Collins, both with the big hit right at the end here.

As you can see, working underneath Hammond just a little love tap right there, knocking Woods to the ground.

First half.

So a time-out was called by Dalton that stops the clock with 1-0 one.

So let's take a look at the PSR rankings because these are really relevant.

With just two weeks left in the regular season, Cartersville is number three right now.

Dalton's number five.

And both these teams, their ranking is going to go up.

Win or lose.

Their rankings are going to go up because they've played each other tonight.

And so what that means is both those teams would have first and second round home playoff games.

Cartersville would be at home in the quarterfinals provided they stay alive, of course, and Dalton would be on the road in the quarterfinals.

But they.

Dalton has not had a home playoff game since 2016, but they're about to get one.

I love how Coach Pruitt and Coach Foster are keeping their judgment on this PSR until the end of the season, but it's first installment being this season.

But right now, it's all about winning for both of these programs.

And I think both of them feel like regardless of where they start at in the playoffs, if they can get their healthy with their top players, uh, they can make a little march.

Well, like we said when we started the game tonight, it wasn't really about the region championship here tonight, although certainly Cartersville has a chance to clinch it tonight.

It's really about a statement game.

And John said it best.

It's a litmus test.

How good is Dalton and Cartersville.

This is their really this is their biggest test of the season so far.

How good are they.

And Connor Foster when we talked to him this week, he even brought it up.

He said, look, the conversation has been that, you know, we haven't played anybody.

Our schedule has been weak.

And so now that kind of gets rectified here with this game tonight.

1-0 42 time-outs still left here for Dalton.

Caine Woods has been making a lot of plays running the ball.

Yeah being chased.

Crawford getting after him.

He's in trouble back there.

Gets out of the trouble and ends up getting back close to the line of scrimmage.

And now it's going to be third down and the clock is still running.

This down and distance coach Pruitt may just want to let this clock dial down and get to half here.

Just the purple hurricane defense the speed, the job there.

Once again by Athens Davenport tracking down Caine wood.

Third down with the clock running under a half minute left pass in the middle.

Dropped.

That should have been caught, but instead it was dropped.

London Cox, their number two tight end who's really more than a of a wide receiver than a tight end didn't hold on to it.

Now it's going to be fourth down.

Nice job by Woods in the offensive line.

Good protection good delivery right there.

Just dropped the ball.

We've seen a couple of block drops.

Excuse me uh by his receivers here in this first.

At least three.

At least three as it is he's eight of 14 passing 59 yards.

It's been much more effective in the run game than the pass game.

And the kick by Bennett hits at the 20 and rolls out of bounds at about the six with 9 seconds to play in the half.

Just enough time for Cartersville to try.

No.

Right here.

You imagine they're just going to take a knee here and.

Well that's the last thing you want to Dalton.

You can't afford to do that.

When you got Maddox Davis out there I mean you can't you can't afford to take a breath and say oh they're just going to take a knee because Maddox Davis is a guy that as he's already shown you here tonight, can score from anywhere on the field, anywhere.

And hey, what a talent that young man is.

Hey, 50 offers only a junior.

Sky's the limit.

You know.

And when we were here last year, it was Brady Mark Casey.

That was the guy we were talking about.

He's now at Auburn, and Maddox Davis was just coming on the scene.

And now Maddox Davis is on the scene.

And that is the end of the first half as the teams will head to the locker room with Cartersville on top 26 14.

Let's send it down to John Nelson with our Johnny's Pizza halftime interview.

Thank you very much, Matt, here with the coach.

You knew this was going to be a challenge.

They got the big rushing yards up the middle early.

Yeah to steal a possession to get the lead back.

Yeah.

Just a great job by our special teams coordinator.

And um that staff they just put us in a good position with film study and our kids executed.

So proud of them for kind of getting the momentum back.

And good job by both sides, you know, to kind of take their shot and be able to regroup and refocus.

And obviously defensively after that moment, you kind of clamped down on them.

It's a two score game coming up here at the half.

Yeah just they're a really talented team.

We got to just continue to keep our foot on the gas.

Thanks Connor.

Thank you.

Go canes.

Connor Foster head coach.

He's up by two scores.

Come back.

Football Fridays and Georgia.

Halftime show from Wineman Stadium.

Take a tour around the state and let you know what else is going on right here in the great GPB.

Stick and stay.

We will be right back, we promise.

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Learn more at.

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Is your phone really more important than someone's life?

When you take your eyes off the road, you're not just putting your life in danger.

In fact, two out of three people killed in distracted driving crashes in Georgia were not the distracted driver.

It could have been.

This family, this college student, this little girl.

So when you're tempted to scroll, don't pick up.

Think heads up.

You never know whose life you could save.

A message from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

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Welcome back to Weidman Stadium.

Halftime Football Fridays in Georgia.

Cartersville purple hurricanes up by 12 26-14 It has been a fun time as always.

When we come here to Cartersville to see what's going on.

And another edition of Football Fridays.

Where is Dalton when it comes to their turnaround under Chris Pruitt?

And where is Cartersville when it comes to everyone sitting here?

As Matt and Wayne were saying leading into halftime, Connor Foster saying this week, everybody's been looking at our schedule and now we have a team like Dalton coming to town.

We'll see where we stand.

Right now you're up plus 12 here on the halftime show.

A block means we get to catch up with our friends at Georgia EMC.

So much more than electricity and find out about the Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award.

It's been fun to tour the state and find out what this award means to each and every region, each and every part of the state that we've been able to visit so far this year.

This time around, it's a visit to Forsyth to find out what it means to Mary.

Persons.

Central Georgia EMC and 35 other participating Georgia Electric membership cooperatives congratulate Mary Persons High School on winning the GHSA Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award.

This award honors schools that exhibit exemplary sportsmanship during competitive events.

Only one school in each region in each classification is chosen to receive this annual award.

The GHSA takes into consideration all aspects of sportsmanship, making the award a tribute to the entire community.

Georgia's EMCs Central Georgia EMC and Southern Rivers Energy congratulates Mary Persons High School on the Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award for last year's season.

This award not only goes to the the football team, but it goes to every team that Mary Parsons has.

It goes to the parents, the coaches and all the fans.

So congratulations on the award.

Introduced in 2006, this award reinforces the GHSA philosophy that everyone associated with high school activities, from athletes to spectators, should adhere to the fundamental values it represents.

What we always strive to do is to be able to compete and play with class, and I think that's what this, uh, this trophy and recognition actually means to us.

Last year was one of the few years where we were able to actually win the athletic Director's Cup.

And we won the sportsmanship trophy.

So we, we counted that as a as a double win because we were able to accumulate the most points in the region while also being able to do it with the most class.

And so when we win a recognition like this, it actually shows what this community is all about.

I'm glad that we can be a role model to people and the younger generation, and making sure everyone's friends at the end of it.

Um, and I think that's something that's been passed down through generations before.

And we learn from coaches before, and hopefully we continue it on from persons.

Georgia EMC in the 36 participating Georgia Electric membership cooperatives are proud to sponsor the Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award.

Congratulations to the Mary Persons Bulldogs community.

And you see the junior varsity football players there.

I want to go ask Brian Nelson for the tail end of that piece.

So we could have some folks celebrating the junior varsity players.

They were really grinding it out there.

And it's like, Brian, I need to borrow some players for the end of our segment.

So he sent the entire JV squad up there and that's what you got to see.

They got to catch their breath a little bit.

They got to cheer.

Then they had to go back to practice because that's why they were out there at that particular point of the afternoon.

Once again, thanks to our friends at Georgia EMC and the Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award.

Always fun to tour the state and find out what else is going on when it comes to Football Fridays.

Now as we go to break, time to catch you up on our Youth Saving Athlete of the week Carter Blackwell, three star senior tight end at Lee County High down in Leesburg, shown a drive to be the best since he was little talent on the football field.

Even better person off of it.

Whether he's delivering punishing blocks, protecting the backfield like a fullback or making big time catches like a wide receiver.

For head coach Dean Fabrizio, he finds a way to impact the game from every angle.

Clemson University commit is a complete football players versatility, work ethic and determination set him apart.

We'll find out about Carter and his story here.

As Football Fridays rolls on at the Half Lineman Stadium.

We'll be back just a little bit and continue our halftime show here on GPB.

Stick and stay.

We'll learn as we go.

The thing that makes him special is he's so versatile.

You know he's able to line up as an in-line tight end with his hand on the ground next to a tackle and block.

He's able to line up in the backfield like a fullback and kick people out.

He's able to split out like a receiver and run routes like a really good receiver.

Is going on kickoff return and busting his butt to get across the field and make great blocks.

And then do the long snapping duties when you've got one of your best players doing that and playing unselfishly, that's just such a powerful thing.

Is AJ Terrell just want to say congrats to GPB?

Um, on covering all the, you know, high school sports in the inner city all around Georgia.

They definitely are top notch, you know, supported me in a whole bunch of ways.

I remember them coming up to my games and watching me go out there and ball out.

So man, I just want to say salute to GPB for, you know, just being the outlet for Atlanta youth, man.

Just going out here and just putting it on tape and then them displaying it for the whole world to see.

Salute.

Ross Terrell brothers and Avion to hang out with us.

AJ and Avion Terrell once again hanging out with us here at Georgia Public Broadcasting.

We were at their alma mater last week at Westlake, and we got to find out what it's like down there.

16 players in the National Football League from Westlake.

Once again, shout out to the Terrell family and shout out to AJ for recognizing us here in our 30th season.

Now once again, time to catch up with our friends at Cigna and the signature moment.

Obviously, there are a lot of things that our friends from Cigna want to talk about this particular go round.

It's about something that we unfortunately get to see entirely too much and and not just on the football field, but out in other sports as well.

Time to catch up with Hannah Cigna and the word on concussions.

We hear about athletes getting concussions, but you may not realize just how common they are in everyday life.

Kirk Erickson, Cigna Healthcare general manager for Georgia and Alabama, is here to share tips on how to prevent and treat a concussion.

Kirk, we're in football season, but how common are concussions?

Well, we love football, but concussions are more common than you think outside of football.

It's not just football players.

It's not just athletes that are prone to get them.

It could be a fall in the shower, a bike accident, a playground mishap.

Our kids are exposed to concussion type opportunities quite often.

Football players wear helmets.

They have pads.

What about everyday people?

How can we protect ourselves?

Well, we don't want to walk around in bubble wrap.

That would be awfully weird, but we want to make sure we're using the proper protective gear and make sure you're using the technology that's the most up to date.

So if you get a concussion, what should you do?

Take time to heal.

So for teens and children, it can take 4-6 weeks or even longer.

Make sure you're in dialog with coaches and with teachers and friends to make sure they know what your child is recovering from, and they can watch for symptoms that might pop back up.

You might think you're healing, and then all of a sudden you take a turn for the worse.

So make sure everybody knows what your child is healing from, and that they can heal over the right amount of time.

Yeah, that rest is so important.

Kirk, thank you so much for being here and sharing this important information.

Thank you.

If you'd like to learn more about concussions, please go to cigna.com.

Thanks to our friends from all season long.

Once again, great friends with us here at Football Fridays.

Now it's time to catch up with our friends at the Governor's Office of Highway Safety and the Heads Up Georgia campaign, where Hannah and I get to learn about one of the new stars when it comes to the Governor's Office of Highway Safety and just how important he is to their future.

It's the introduction to our new friend, distraction Jackson.

And distraction.

Jackson was born.

MM.

Distraction Jackson is pretty cool.

Jackie.

Time for school.

Coming.

I know mom's a good driver, but even good drivers can get distracted.

I've got to keep mom safe.

You buckled?

Yep.

Okay.

Step one.

Put your phone away.

Check.

Let's roll out.

Oh, no.

I've got to stop her from getting distracted.

Hey, mom, do you know that messing with the radio can take your eyes off the road?

Right?

You're absolutely right, sweetie.

Thanks for the reminder.

All right, we're here.

Have a great day at school, honey.

I will, and, mom, remember to drive safely.

I will, sweetie.

Just like distraction.

Jackson.

Okay, mom.

And you can find out more about distraction Jackson at heads up.

Georgia.com.

The heads up Georgia student video contest is back.

If you're a Georgia high school student, we need your help to spread the message.

Make a 32nd PSA about the dangers of distracted driving, and you could win a MacBook Pro.

It's about time.

Boutique big note music and candy.

Apple Customs.

Thank you to our 2026-20.

So if you have not edit, edit, edit because one of these days I'm going to be asking for a job.

And for those of you that have sent in, in years past, when it comes to the Heads Up Georgia campaign, it has been some great work from the students.

And they had a lot more technology than I had when I was a high school student, back when James Oglethorpe and I were buddies back in the late 18th century.

So heads up, Georgia campaign once again.

Contribute to that once again, looking forward to giving the winners at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

When we come back, we're going to make sure that your muscles are all in good shape because we come to tour the state, look at the best here on Football Fridays in Georgia.

Make that kid an offer and the scores.

More from Cartersville coming up in a bit.

Is your phone really more important than someone's life?

When you take your eyes off the road, you're not just putting your life in danger.

In fact, two out of three people killed in distracted driving crashes in Georgia were not the distracted driver.

It could have been this family, this college student, this little girl.

So when you're tempted to scroll, don't pick up.

Think.

Heads up.

You never know whose life you could save.

A message from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

I've been checking food labels for years.

I like to buy local.

And I like to buy healthy for my family.

So I started checking the labels on our clothes, too.

Did you know synthetic fibers like polyester are pretty much made of oil?

No thanks.

I look for cotton now, which grows right here in Georgia, a major source of the world's cotton.

Cotton is natural, renewable, sustainable, and buying cotton supports Georgia farmers.

Good enough for me and my family.

Appling County in the dome to make it to the state championship.

One of my favorites.

Even though I was a freshman at the time.

But we had a guy on the field.

He went by the name of downtown Ronnie Brown, and I remember just how tough that game was.

But just that feeling, there's nothing like high school sports.

There's nothing like making it to the state championship.

I've done a lot of things in the NFL and in college it was still nothing like that day.

Winning against Appling County in the dome.

Andre Fluellen was a bad, bad man.

He still is a bad, bad man just off the field doing some great work.

Now once again, that he is retired from professional football downtown, Ronnie Brown, Andre Fluellen and some guy whose Twitter account has its own, uh, you know, his hair has its own Twitter account.

That's what I was trying to say.

Trevor Lawrence, it's always great to come here to Cartersville and find out what else is going on.

All right?

Make sure that your muscles are limber, that you're ready to go, that you are ready to point to the screen with me.

And we get to showcase some of the best that you might not know about.

We're going to wind up, we're going to point and we're going to sit there and go, it is time for this week's make that kit an offer.

Starting off this week in flag faith, more Chapel Hill all over the offense.

Coming off a standout junior season made all state and all region earlier this year.

G double f c a all star tourney, G ACA All Star girls flag football game hosted by the Falcons and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

Make Faith more an offer.

Next up, Thurmond Dyer Sykes, quarterback and cornerback, 511, 170 throwing for four scores in under 900 yards, rushed for over 900 yards and 12 scores defensive back before making the switch to quarterback.

First team all region honors make Zurcher Sykes an offer.

Next up, Tyler Robinson, flowery branch, two way player, wide receiver and corner, 56, 155 MaxPreps leaderboard.

Most receiving yards, TDs and total return yards in region two rushing scores just under 900 receiving yards and seven scores, 14 tackles, some TFLs and a kickoff return.

Versatile, high powered lands him on the AJC prep, RedZone and other pubs.

As a top receiver in the state.

Two sport athlete, Gold Glove baseball as well, and a 43 GPA wants to major in engineering.

Make Tyler Robinson an offer.

Jalil Rodriguez Douglas Hey Astro fan, he's 63, 195, and he's got just over 1,100 passing yards and 15 scores over 300 yards and four scores on the ground.

Offensive player of the week in the win over Carver.

Atlanta multi-sport athlete on the track and swim teams in a 33 GPA make Julio Rodriguez and offered Isaac and Caleb Decatur to a player 511, one, 75 defensive back and wide receiver, over 450 yards, receiving one rushing touchdown along the way and two picks.

Leads the region receiving in total yards off the field a 3.5 GPA.

Meink Isaac Michael up an offer.

That's it for this week.

If you want to include your favorite student athlete or there's a student athlete that you know that some rival school, what you do, you reach out to us at Georgia Public Broadcasting.

You can reach out to us on social media, shoot us an email at sports at gpb.org.

Reach out to all of us individually, whether it's me or it's Hannah or anyone that's on the staff.

Let us know about what's going on with your favorite student athletes that aren't getting the looks that they need, or not getting looks at all.

Let us know what's going on with make that kid an offer.

Let's go to the scoreboard once again.

Georgia's EMC scoreboard.

So much more than electricity, which means that the first score on the board is going to be the Wintersville classic.

Right now, 147 Lowndes.

That one was an 8:00 start.

Thomas County Central up more than a score on coffee.

That one is at the break.

Heritage.

Conyers on their way.

That's our web game by the way to going from one win to a region championship leading Dunwoody 27-0 That one's in the fourth.

That one's on the web.

Jackson Coe leading Clark central by the score of 7-0 North Oconee and Jefferson Dragons leading that one.

Appling and tombs.

That one is scoreless swamp war Charlton and clinch 2410.

That one's clinch County at home in Homerville Screven and Calvary Day.

It is 357 Screven and that one is at the break.

That's the scores.

That's just a piece of it.

Once again, download the GPB sports app so you can keep track of everything else going on in and around the state.

When we come back to Football Fridays, I get to wander over to the other sideline, find out what Chris Pruitt told his team at the break down 12.

They've got some work to do, and they have to make up for that possession that got stolen in the first quarter.

You saw some running that was getting some big yardage early on.

What do they do to adjust coming up here as we get ready for the third quarter?

That's the halftime show here on Football Fridays in Georgia.

Thanks to everybody here.

Thanks to everybody in Alabama.

Thanks to everybody at 260 14th.

More after this.

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Visit cigna.com to learn how you can support your physical and emotional well-being.

Back at Wyman Stadium, as halftime continues to wrap up here, and it's a 26 14 lead for Cartersville on Dalton at the halfway point of this game.

Matt Stewart, along with Wayne Gandy upstairs.

And Wayne, your thoughts on what was a frenetic, fast paced, especially first quarter out of the gate?

It seemed like both teams were making haymakers.

Yeah, both teams really trying to get the explosive play going there in that first half.

And you saw Caine Woods where Dalton doing big things with his legs.

And on the flip side and putting Dawson there.

Braden Dawson there helped the Purple Hurricanes.

Let's take a look at the highlights.

Opening drive.

And after a 56 yard run by Caine Woods, he threw the touchdown pass to Akeem Cox.

But Cartersville came right back at him.

Ty Cobb with the big run right there to get in the end zone.

Then the reverse here going to the big play of Ox Davis out in space here.

Just making everybody for Dalton miss as he scores the big huge touchdown.

And that came one play after they had recovered an onside kick.

So they stole a possession and scored immediately and then come back down again.

And that was the touchdown pass to Cole Crawford the tight end.

But here comes woods again.

Woods with the legs once again scoring another touchdown to get his team back in the game.

And then right there CJ McLendon finishing off a drive where he had three consecutive runs.

You take a look at the halftime stats.

What jumps off the page at you.

Well for both teams really when you look at the passing yards only 59 for Dalton 30 for the hurricanes.

But both teams their ability to run the ball has been key.

Pretty even across the board.

The penalties of Cartersville has really hurt them as well.

Took some plays off the board.

Time of possession, headed to Dalton.

They were out on the field a lot, but you just feel like at some point they're going to have to continue to try to get big plays.

Let's send it down to Nelly for our halftime interviews.

Brought to you by Johnny's Pizza.

Thank you very much, Matt, here with Coach Pruitt.

You got the early gashes on him in the running game.

The quarterback, we knew it was going to be a big game, going to have to be a big game.

They kind of shut things down.

What did you think of the first half?

Yeah.

I mean you know some good plays.

Uh both sides.

Um you know we we got to get out of our own way a little bit on offense and defense and special teams.

I think we've, I think each three phase has their help in getting some penalties and putting us in some situations.

Um, and we can't give them many chances and many opportunities to get better field position.

And you know, we're in a fight and, um, we got to see if we can counterpunch here a little bit and get back in it.

But that was what you were expecting coming in.

You were expecting that 15 rounder and this is what you ended up with.

Again, you want to be tested at this point of the year.

Um, let's see what happens in the next little bit.

See what happens.

Thanks, Chris.

Appreciate it.

That is the halftime interview.

Let's send it back upstairs.

He's ready to get back to it.

Down 12.

Matt.

He's got two possessions.

He's got to make up somehow.

And we're gonna have to wait for the band to get off the field.

The band still going on here at halftime.

Matt Stewart Wayne Gandy back upstairs individually.

Wayne.

The big story, big star of the game has been Caine Woods, the quarterback for Dalton.

He's got 59 yards passing, but it's his 110 yards rushing that's been the difference maker for Dalton.

And we figured that if they were going to have any kind of success offensively against this fast physical defense of Cartersville, Caine Woods was going to have to do it with his legs.

I just think that their inability to get anything, especially to their big targets like Sorrells and even their tight end Ashlock, they came in being able to throw the ball.

They have a lot of success, just not in this first half.

They're going to have to get some plays down the field.

Absolutely.

Averaging 255 yards passing per game, and they have just 59 yards passing here at halftime.

And Akeem Cox has three of their catches for 26 yards.

He's been their big play guy at the wide receiver position.

But you mentioned Sirles just one catch for 4 yards.

And Camden London only one catch for 3 yards.

They haven't been able to get either one of those guys going and their 500 yard receivers.

Yeah a couple of drops in the receiving corps.

But they're going to have to do something a little more efficient than rely on Caine Woods to run the ball here.

If they're going to get back into the game.

And then can the defense get some stops, get some chances against the purple hurricanes, who we saw basically feel like they can score each and every time they possess the ball?

Well, the hurricanes are trying to win their fourth consecutive region championship.

They have in their state history four state championships.

They got to the state championship game, most recently in 2020.

25 region titles.

Actually, I count 20-6 because in 2020 it's a long story, but this would be in my mind, their 27th region title.

Overall, they've had 14 straight seasons with ten plus wins.

The amazing stat in my mind is they are 84-1.

Onside kick by Dalton.

Attempt to start the second half, and Dalton and Cartersville was ready for it and recovers it at the 45 yard line.

And that kickoff was brought to you by Heads Up Georgia.

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Trying to catch Cartersville slacking on the return game here.

Just a cluster.

Didn't even wait to spread out.

Really trying to catch them sleeping right there.

Nice job.

Got a little bounce but good job by the recovery team there and great field position to start the second half.

So we've had two onside kick attempts in this game.

One that Cartersville recovered offensively and one that they recovered defensively.

So now they're on offense to start this third quarter.

And the play gets blown dead.

Now the risk with the onside kick.

Offense Five-Yard penalty still.

First is that Wayne if you fail to execute it you give the opponent in this case Cartersville a short field to work with to start the third quarter.

Something Coach Pruitt just said there at halftime interview don't need.

They don't need any help with the short field right there.

But he understands he needs possessions in this game.

And he's trying to create.

And we saw him gamble early going fourth and one on his side of the ball.

Handoff goes to Tiyon Coe and Coe tries the right side and picks up.

First down.

Five yard gain following the mark off.

So Tiyon Coe has been the offensive leader for the Purple Hurricanes.

He's now up to nine carries and that puts him over 80 yards rushing for the game.

He's doing a great job falling forward, finishing runs.

We talked about.

That's what he's been focused on this year.

Being able to be a physical runner.

Maddox Davis has it, puts his foot in the ground and gets up field, gets vertical.

Another spectacular touchdown play by Maddox Davis.

You just can't let him touch the ball right.

We talked about he's just a guy about every four plays.

You need to figure out how to get the ball in his hand.

Here in open space.

A little quick screen.

Great blocking down the field by Jalen Love.

Watch 77 coming to your screen.

Get a little block right there clearing the field.

And then just the speed and the talent.

His ability to navigate traffic is just outstanding.

17th touchdown of the season for Maddox Davis.

And now it's 32-14 The p a t attempt here by Navarre is up.

And it is good.

And a 33 14 lead.

Now for the canes.

In this video style here.

Just a quick swing pass screen.

Get up underneath the block.

And great job there by his receiving corps.

Coe out of the backfield.

Jaylen love there with the block.

Tuck Kaden.

Kent with a block right there.

And I've been around football since I was 12-years-old.

It's almost four decades.

Yeah.

Never seen a guy with half his catches be touchdowns like Ox Davis.

He has about 40 receptions on the season and 17 of them are touchdowns.

Just amazing.

And the amazing thing about that is you just look at the stat.

You see wide receiver.

You think oh wow.

He's he's just burning by people.

There go routes.

Most of those are YAC plays.

He's getting the ball on short passes and turning short passes into touchdowns.

Yeah.

He looks like he's in a return mode.

Punt return kick return mode.

The way he is is so confident in crossing field and making big plays.

And here is the kickoff.

It will be Nonreturnable.

No, they're going to let him return it from the goal line.

And Cam London perhaps should have just let it go on into the end zone as he gets stopped shy of the 20.

He was straddling the goal line and let him return it.

So 17 yard line is where the Catamounts will start their first possession of the third quarter.

And that's this goes back to what I was saying.

Look, when you fail to execute that onside kick, here's what happens.

It turns into a quick touchdown for Cartersville.

And now Dalton is down three scores.

And so much pressure now on Caine Woods in this offense.

Each and every time they possess the ball they're going to have to get in the end zone.

That's how it feels here against this offense here tonight of Cartersville.

So first and ten.

Handoff goes to stallion.

He breaks out of one tackle then crashes up to the 25 yard line.

Kylan Pope finally making the stop.

But a five yard pickup for stallion.

Stallion and boys have had a great job.

Done a great job running the ball.

But where can the verticality come in this passing game?

Stallion again looking for a hole to run through and doesn't find much short gain.

Going to bring up third down and short.

I actually got the first down so it will be a first down.

Stallion was able to pick up the first down with that run right there.

So first and ten from the 29.

Yeah you hit the nail on the head Wayne.

They got to find a way to get vertical in their passing game.

That hasn't happened yet.

Ball goes out to the edge and to Stallion and Stallion.

Short gain runs out of bounds at the 36.

And that's been kind of their most effective play.

The little swing pass here tonight whether it's the stallion or to a Kim Coxon.

That's just kind of been their passing game.

Just the quick screen, the swing pass to the outside.

But Sirles in London really have not been a part of the passing game so far.

Here tonight.

Handoff goes to stallion, shoots through the hole.

Has a first down up close to the 50 yard line.

Brock stallion.

Nice job running between the tackles.

Kind of gets lost in there for a while at 5:07 here.

Just doing a good job staying square, finishing runs, falling forward.

So first and ten play action.

Woods fires.

It's caught in stride.

And that's London.

First time they've been able to unleash him.

And that's a first down at the 30.

Nice job there.

Underneath Ralph their route tree.

Nice job of reading delivering the ball going with a little pace here.

After that big play.

So first and ten ball at the 32 yard line.

Handoff to Mason Demari Mason.

Short gain on the play.

Warmack coming up from his safety spot to help on that tackle.

Now it's going to be second down.

But they got about five on the play.

That's a nice game.

Nice job.

Once again offensive line doing a good job here tonight.

It's really not been uh an offense that has struggled as far as running the ball.

Just can they get enough out of this passing game to try to get back in this game.

So second down and five.

Handoff goes to Mason.

Cuts back against the grain and he gets knocked down after a short gain.

Two yard pickup on the play.

Still would like to see a little more pace.

I know it's early but it's early but late.

When you're playing against this kind of offense.

When you're down three touchdowns for sure.

So third down, big third down conversion opportunity right here.

Pressures coming at Woods.

He's going to try to run away from it.

And he does.

Makes a man miss then slips and falls down at the 24.

He's going to be shy of the first down.

Great job getting out of the pressure off the corner.

There.

He talked about his ability to scramble Callan Pope.

Kharg Island Pope off the edge, outrunning the legs of Davenport.

Magic, toughness that coach talked about here in Woods.

Defense to declare and to speed up this process.

Taking time off the clock here on this fourth down.

Pass is thrown and broken up on fourth down.

Big time play right here.

As they tried to get the ball to Cox.

That's a super play out there on the edge by Jordan Adkins the cornerback.

Nice job right there.

Breaking that pass up right.

I don't know that he would have had enough even if he had caught the ball.

And the Catamounts come up empty on fourth down.

When we come back purple hurricanes will have the ball.

In 2018, two months after Hurricane Michael devastated their hometown, the Bainbridge Bearcats revived community spirit with an historical mid-season turnaround.

The Bearcats had a 3-5 record after a 38-0 loss to Warner Robins.

But in a rematch with the demons in the state finals, Bainbridge jumped out to a four touchdown lead.

From to the air intercepted at the 30 1 yard line.

This is going to be a pick six touchdown, Bainbridge right up the middle.

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33 14 Cartersville, the lead here in the third quarter as they go back on offense.

Hope you enjoyed tonight's memorable moment brought to you by Georgia Memory Net.

Your partner in Georgia Memory Care.

And boy was that a memory from back in 2017 when Bainbridge survived a hurricane early in the season and then rallied to win the state championship in triple overtime over one.

Robbins, one of the greatest state championship games in Georgia high school football history and certainly Cartersville, would like to get back to that state championship game.

They haven't been since 2020 and trying to get to 9-0 here this season.

They open this possession with a pass out here on the near sideline going to Caden Kent.

And a short gain for the purple Hurricanes.

Short side of the field.

Just getting the ball out of his hand there as Harrison Turner.

Nowhere really to make anything happen for Kent.

And when you look at this game right now and Dalton you got to start creating three and outs and get the ball back.

Short field for your offense.

Fakes the handoff.

Know they do.

Hand it off to McClendon and McClendon.

Battles back to the original line of scrimmage.

Brings up third down.

So maybe they got a chance to get that three and out that you were talking about.

Third and long here.

And that's one of the keys.

When you get a high powered offense into a third and long situation, it's on the defense to get themselves off the field and not let this offense continue to play here.

So watch the pressure here.

Try to dial up some pressure on Turner.

Third down ball is fumbled and scooped.

Up by Turner.

He's going to try to run for it and get tripped up in the air and get close to the first down.

Wow.

Turner did a great job.

To get close to the first down, let's see if he got it.

Just missed the snap there.

Kept his cool.

Got out in the open field.

Tried to create.

And now here.

You see I thought it was third down going on the fourth.

It's supposed to be fourth down.

Now it is fourth down and they are going for it.

The yard marker hasn't changed so it is fourth down right here.

Fourth down and about a yard less than a yard.

And they lined up to go for it.

I think they're just going to try to pull him offsides.

So the yard marker was creating some confusion.

Cartersville the first time out of the second half.

And Cartersville calls a time-out.

You have to wonder in this.

Let's check in with Nelly.

Spent some time listening to Greg Blue with what he wanted to have his defense do going into this possession.

Basically two things.

Don't panic and just go ahead and make a play.

If you make a play on this possession and as Greg said, take it to the crib.

Then it's once again that much closer to being a two possession game.

So you're seeing Dalton once again taking those words from Greg Blue, trying to apply it here to get that possession back that we were talking about with Coach Pruitt.

So the question now comes Wayne.

It's fourth and a yard less than a yard.

Does Cartersville after calling this time-out still go for it or do they punt it away right here.

And do you think they were confused about what down it was?

You have to imagine that they had to consider to keep this drive alive.

Try to keep some clock going.

Looks like they've changed their mind here.

But when you have guys playing both ways, guys like Coe Crawford, you have to keep your eye on them trying.

So fourth down, let's see if they go for it.

Let's see if they fake it here.

They got Kaden Kent as one of the protectors.

So like they were going to snap it directly to him.

But now he flips out to the side and they will punt it.

And the kick is going to be fair.

Caught fair caught at the 34 yard line.

And so Dalton does get the three down stop.

Big three and out right there to get their team.

Another possession here quickly in this third quarter.

Only down three scores.

But we've seen the explosiveness that Cartersville can do offensively.

And now it starts to become how many more possessions will you have to even try to get back into this game.

Still not able to create anything vertically down the field.

You imagine with a guy like Sirles, at some point you just got to maybe give him a chance, uh, on a, on a go route to post route and let his talent take over.

So we're down to 18 minutes of regulation left and you're down three scores.

So you're almost in a spot where you can't give the ball back.

I mean, if you're facing a fourth and short or fourth of anything, you're probably going to have to go for.

It, especially once you hit the 50 yard line.

If you move this ball, get a first down.

You got to start thinking we're in four down territory.

Setting up a screen pass and ball is out.

It's recovered by Cartersville.

They're going to rule that an incomplete pass.

Big hit right there by Cole Crawford right there.

Reading the screen there is a flag.

Personal foul hit on the offensive receiver against the defense.

15 yard penalty.

First down.

Uh not sure where.

Right here.

A little screen shoulder.

No helmet no face mask.

Just looks like a big hit.

I don't know, I don't know the nuances of the rule, but I mean he's in the he's in the process of trying to catch the ball.

I thought that was kind of the goal is you tackle the guy trying to break up the pass and you see Connor Foster.

That was it's a first down.

So they get the first down out of it.

Typically you have that hit on a defensive player when they're not actually part of the receiving of the ball.

And.

Not when they're trying to catch the ball.

He's inside the tackle box.

Uh, he's at the line of scrimmage.

Tough call right there on Cole Crawford in here.

Another penalty flag on the field.

Illegal motion on the offense.

Five yard penalty still first down.

That's the kind of hit that gets you a helmet sticker not a penalty.

Right.

I couldn't see.

The big hit can take the big hit can take place legally.

I think sometimes I'm not sure where he didn't hit him in the head.

He's just above the shoulders.

It's tough call right there.

On that.

I think it is.

I mean it looks like a nice legal play to me.

But again I'm maybe the nuances of the high school football rulebook are escaping me on that play.

So first and ten and Woods fires to the outside and it's complete.

And that's going to be close to a first down as the ball goes to the tight end.

Cox with the catch.

London Cox and that will be second down.

Didn't quite get the line to gain.

Good job handling the pressure in his face.

Delivering the ball down the field to Cox.

Kind of a tweener tight end receiver.

Woods is going to run it looking for a lane to run through, and picks up the first down inside the 40 yard line.

And good decision.

Once again, the patience.

He's reading the defenses when he starts seeing the back of jerseys, he's taking off with the ball.

Going to have to maybe try to have a spy as, uh, the this game this quarter continues and spy on uh Woods.

So now the clock is played as well.

Way down below 5.5 to play here in the third quarter.

So now you really are in four down territory in my mind.

Hand off.

Goes to stallion scoots to the outside stallion out of bounds around the 30 yard line.

Really like the way stallion has been able to run the ball, run through tackles right there, absorb the hit, bounce it outside.

All seemed like positive plays.

When he has the ball here tonight.

Mixing up the coverages.

Showing pressure once again as Cartersville.

Woods on the rollout, throwing off the hands.

That was for Sirles third.

Down ball just behind Sirles right there trying to throw on the run.

Threw the ball behind Sirles.

You got to be able to give him a chance right there.

If you Caine Woods.

Quarterback run has been effective in this down and distance.

And as you mentioned Mack definitely at this point in the field point in the game four down territory.

Third down and five.

Woods fires batted down at the line of scrimmage.

Once again great timing.

Coe Crawford there.

Late dog coming late off of that.

Left off of that right side coming into your screen and just getting that hand up.

Just a finger knocking that ball down.

So now it is fourth down and they will be going for it.

Line to gain is the 28 ball sitting on the 33.

Pass lobbed out there.

Complete the stallion.

Got the first down.

Got tackled forward and picks up the first down.

Nice job by stallion getting out of this tackle.

Kaden Kent comes up off the edge.

The ability to sidestep is what got him that first down right there.

Just get out of that tackle.

Create that first down for his offense.

So first and ten for the Catamounts.

Woods wants to throw again.

Now he wants to run it trying to bounce it outside.

Now he goes back behind the line of scrimmage and throws it out of bounds.

Did he cross the line of scrimmage?

Very close.

I thought he crossed the line of scrimmage, then went back, but no flag was dropped.

So now it's going to be second down.

No flags.

Just playing off schedule trying to make something happen for his team.

And he's shown that all night long right here.

Stepping up in the pocket as he looks down the line and sees that he is not beyond the line of scrimmage, and then kind of throws the ball away.

Second down and ten.

Woods fires off the hands of his target.

That was intended for Clayton Thompson.

Big hit on that back line by chance.

Brown.

Nice job just coming up.

Getting that hand in there by Brown to knock that ball down.

Third down and ten.

We've seen pressure by the linebackers here.

Pope Crawford Davenport all can rush the passer.

Ball caught by Thompson in stride.

And he's got it inside the 20 yard line or close to the 20 yard line.

Down to the 22.

Not going to be enough for the first down.

So now it's going to be fourth down.

Nice read.

Linebacker taken away the first swing route to the outside.

Nice find there as Thompson cut underneath by Woods.

Fourth down and five.

This is a huge play.

And what's going to happen in the rest of this game.

Dalton can pick up the first down.

We got a game of Cartersville gets the stop.

They might be getting ready to put this one on ice.

Woods fires in the middle.

Oh off the hands of his tight end.

Ashlock would have been a first down and first and goal to go, but instead they don't come up with it.

Another drop by the Dalton wide receivers.

That's the tight end Ashland.

Everything working on this play except the catch protection.

Nice find by woods and just a drop by.

Sure handed tight end Aiden Ashley Ashlock.

Cartersville has the ball when we get back.

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404 to play here in the third quarter.

Cartersville gets the stop on defense and now they go back on offense.

And Wayne I'm guessing they're going to be looking to kill some time here.

They run the pitch to Kent Caden Kent looking for a cut back.

Lane still dancing and finally brought down by Shawn Blue.

Kaden Kent to his two K explosive with the ball in his hand.

And you imagine this is a great time to get Braden Dawson as well.

You want to keep the ball on the ground.

We've seen him as a quarterback be able to to run the ball, make production.

Do have a player down here.

Yeah, that is the rush in Jacoby Bierlein laying flat on his back at the 30 1 yard line.

As coach Chris Pruitt makes his way out there to check on him.

Well they tend to Berlin.

Let's take a look at the top five prospects for the Cartersville Purple Hurricanes 24 stars 63 stars 13 total players with college offers starting with Maddox Davis, the four star Cole Crawford, the four star inside linebacker committed to Georgia Tech.

Then you got Kylan Pope.

He's a junior, Caden Kent, he's a junior.

He's a three star corner.

Although you've been watching him here on offense and Athens Davenport a three star sophomore who's got four offers, including Georgia Tech.

Definitely.

The scary part is four out of that, five will be returning next season for for Coach Foster.

So they get Bierlein off the field.

And now it's second down.

Dawson now in their quarterback.

As you mentioned Wayne and Doss gets run to the edge and slung out of bounds.

Good pursuit by the Dalton defense to string him out.

Christian Blue Shawn Blue's brother made the tackle.

RPO right here.

Get to the edge.

Bounce to the outside.

Just a great weapon when you're trying to kill the clock or quarterback.

That's basically just a great athlete and a good running back.

Third down and one.

Doss on the run, and Doss leans forward and picks up the first down.

So that'll keep the drive going for Cartersville.

And we'll be under 3 minutes to play here in the third quarter.

When they snap it again.

Harris Turner coming back into the game as we talked about this has just been a smooth operation between those two going in and out of the game.

As you mentioned you got to keep your eye on which quarterback is in.

Turner on a drop back, fires and it's caught and then leveled.

Right.

Atangana making the tackle after the catch was made by Maddox Davis.

Well that's one way to keep him from getting YAC is to smother him as soon as he touches the ball.

Got to get to him early.

Can't give him any wiggle room.

He's working that underneath route.

Atangana with the big hit.

Talk about underclassmen.

Only a junior.

The four star.

So much talent.

Yeah both these teams.

Both these teams are very young.

Handoff goes to McLendon.

That's a sophomore off to the races.

And McClendon dragged down from behind the 30 1 yard line.

Shaw McKinnon in that first half with the touchdown here.

Getting out of that initial tackle right there in the backfield showing you the speed and the possibility as a sophomore what he will become.

So first and ten for the purple hurricanes.

Trying to put this game on ice with another score here.

McLendon goes in motion.

Heavy rush.

Turner steps up and throws to the end zone.

Caught.

Touchdown Cartersville.

What a catch.

Lance Tippett on Senior Day hauls it in for the score.

And it's 39-14 Beautiful job operation in the pocket by Harris Turner.

Watch how he steps up moving the pocket.

Delivers a dime to tip it down there.

Who stretches out for the touchdown.

What a great job there.

Only six receptions on the season.

What a big one for his seven.

Yeah tremendous catch by Tippett on Senior day.

Saw him out here in the Senior Day festivities.

They bobbled the snap on the p a t the throw to the end zone.

And it is broken up.

So that's the third p a t that they have kind of botched here tonight.

Got.

Got to have something to practice on Monday right there as coach Alston with a great operation by Turner working the pocket.

And then a beautiful throw.

Can't throw that any better to his receiver.

Nice job getting those arms under it.

Lance Tippett the senior.

Sideline for.

Sponsoring our sub.

So Tippett score puts Cartersville up by four scores.

It's 39-14 With 1-43 to play here in the third quarter.

Cartersville trying to go to 9-0 on the season.

A win here tonight clinches the region seven championship as they would be 5-0 with a victory.

Currently their third in the PSR which means they would be at home through the quarterfinals in the state playoffs.

And they have outscored opponents coming into tonight an amazing four 20-35 So many weapons, two quarterback system, a tenacious defense with brilliant athletes.

And oxidase and Ox Davis.

And you got to tag it with an ox Davis.

And there's the kick.

It's going to kick out of bounds.

And so let's see if Dalton elects to take the ball at the 35 yard line.

So the question now becomes what does Dalton have left.

They've you know they came out swinging.

It was tight early.

And now they're down 25 points with a buck 43 left in the third quarter.

Let's go.

For the.

Illegal kick.

Out of bounds on the kicking team.

Ball 35 yards.

First down.

Dalton.

Two things so far in this game is Dalton's inability to get anything vertically offensively and defensively.

Just the missed tackles uh especially on Ox Davis.

It's just been glaring for the big plays they've given up.

And I think some drop passes too.

I think they've had probably at least four drop passes, if not more in critical situations, including on their last possession that would have, if not scored them, the touchdown would have given them first and goal to go.

Yeah, they're three star Middle Tennessee State tight end Aiden Ashlock dropping that ball.

Down.

But the confidence that Caine Woods has continually show he's feeding the ball.

He's working through his progressions trying to make plays.

Tough kid there at the quarterback position for Dalton.

Scrambling is Woods.

Woods going to run out of bounds at the 40 yard line.

Picked up a couple of yards on the play.

Showing good speed.

I mean when you watch him he breaks the pocket.

He's very dangerous.

And the coach said he's around for six.

I'm not sure when somebody's chasing him.

He's not in the Lowe for five.

But a great job once again getting outside the pocket, creating for his offense.

Caine Woods.

So third down, third down and five line to gain is the 45.

In the pocket throwing incomplete.

Threw it behind Sirles.

They just have not been able to get him going at all tonight.

That's a 39 catch wide receiver over 500 yards.

And he has not had an impact at all.

Yeah he's their big play over the top guy.

The catch radius that he possesses at that height of 65.

And just not able to find a scheme, a way to get him free.

Now he's going up against a great secondary.

They obviously, you know, circled this guy.

Don't let this guy beat you.

So fourth down punting situation here for Dalton.

And let's see as a time -out been called time-out.

Dalton first time out the second.

Half interesting.

They call the time-out with 58 seconds.

Maybe it's a personnel issue.

They didn't have the right guys on the field.

Or maybe they're rethinking going for it right here.

Gentlemen excuse me.

Definitely a consideration when you talk about opportunities to try to get in this game, you're here.

You've had a quarterback that can make something happen with his feet.

It really no negative in trying to go for it on fourth down.

Well I think it comes down to the conversation.

What did you come here to do.

Did you come here to try to win the game.

Or did you come here to try to play it close.

Because the safe thing to do here is to punt it, go back on defense, you know, kill some of the clock in the fourth quarter.

And then you you walk out of here with a respectable loss, considering what some people thought the score would be.

Is that what you're here to do or are you trying to win the game?

So you go for it, right?

But they're not.

They're going to punt.

I mean, I mean, it'd be a difficult thing to go for it right here at the 40 yard line on fourth and five.

But.

I don't know that this helps you win the game or have an opportunity to.

That ball is on the ground and it's going to be recovered by Cartersville.

Maddox Davis Hawks Davis.

One of the few mistakes he's made here in the game tonight.

Nearly left it on the turf.

He wants to feel this ball.

He wants an opportunity to score again right there.

He's got to call a fair catch and let that ball bounce.

It came up short.

So now Cartersville gets the ball.

50s left here in the third quarter.

I mean if they score a touchdown we get a running clock in the fourth quarter.

It doesn't seem like it's been a running clock kind of game.

It's you know it's been a very competitive game.

But they're in position to do that.

They could throw a knockout punch right here.

Let's see what they do.

Braden Doss back in there at quarterback.

Doss going to run it to the near side looking for a place to run.

Bounces outside.

Doss out of bounds across the 40.

Right there.

Able to bounce off his own guard.

Pulling.

Saw some space to the outside as he tries to go up inside.

You can see him run right into the back of his guard and then has the bounce to the outside.

Hand off goes to Coe quickly picks up a two yard gain that might have been the final play of the third quarter.

So that answers the question.

They don't go for the knockout shot right here, at least in terms of a running clock.

Looks like the offense.

Yeah that's it.

The third quarter.

Aggressive move.

They're calling it to the sideline.

Let the clock run out.

And that will be the end of the third quarter here in Cartersville with the purple hurricanes one quarter away from another region championship.

They lead this 130 9-14 here at Wineman Stadium.

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It saves lives as we head to the fourth quarter here at Wineman Stadium and Cartersville on top.

Now say comfortably at 39-14 as we head to the final 12 minutes.

So hurricanes with the ball as we start the fourth quarter and Turner drops it off, setting up a screen pass.

Cole Crawford battling for yardage, going to be about 2 yards shy of the first down.

Going to bring up third down.

Seems like Ox Davis has fueled everybody to start looking for the big play right there.

You can see Coe Crawford kind of looking over his shoulder.

Can I get back into that.

Cutback lane to try to make a bigger play.

But right here you just want to continue to eat up the clock, make first downs, try to take as much time off the clock as you can here in the fourth.

Third down and short.

From the 48.

Handoff to Coe first down across the 50.

Great job there by that offensive line.

Cagle Bailey McKellen there on that left side.

Just pushing the white jerseys down the field.

Easy.

First down pick up there by Ty Coe.

Coe getting close to a 100 yard 90s now up over 90 yards rushing.

Gets the ball again following his blockers.

Comes out of the pile.

Spins out of a tackle.

Coe inside the ten.

And he is out of bounds at the three yard line.

Ty Jon Coe nearly busted one for a touchdown.

Now over 100 yards rushing for the night.

Just great individual.

Great individual effort.

Just gets up into the bodies.

No one can find him and squirts out the backside.

Back to live action and Coe takes the handoff inside the 1 yard line.

Brings up second down and goal to go.

Very interesting.

Cartersville not milking the clock.

Not taking their time back to the line of scrimmage.

Trying to get into the end zone.

Coe gets stopped shy of the end zone.

And did he fumble the ball?

He fumbled the ball there.

Looks like an offensive lineman.

Looks like it rolled right to an offensive lineman.

Fortunately for Cartersville.

Ben Cagle, the center ends up recovering the fumble.

Yeah big hit there by Elijah Long knocking that ball out.

And Cagle able to get on it.

So third down and goal.

Power formation here.

Doss is going to take the run and put it in.

Braden Doss with the touchdown run.

Nice execution up front.

Heavy package.

Good block and a walk in there for Doss.

All that was started and created by Ty Cole with the with the big long run right here.

Just easy work right there.

Offensive line tight ends pushing their way into the end zone.

45-14 And now the horses out of the barn as they like to say.

And it looks like Cartersville is going to win their fourth consecutive region championship.

Their 14th in 15 years.

To have a player down.

Looks like Bo Green, the free safety right there.

Here's the run that set up the touchdown.

Where is he?

There he is.

I mean he he went into that pile and then came out the other side.

And Ty Coe right there just getting lost in that wave of big bodies.

There's a number 22 for the Dallas Cowboys back in the day that used to do that a lot.

Get lost in that wave of bodies.

Florida, Georgia tomorrow.

Speaking of that, that team, that rivalry here in Atlanta.

But here's a phase and probably the most interesting part of the night for Cartersville Pats and field goals has been very interesting.

Uh, not well executed.

Where it is not going to be very consequential to the score here tonight.

They do get the kick up and good this time.

And it's 46-14 That's something they're going to be concerned about in the playoffs.

Cartersville heading towards another region title.

As they got this game in hand.

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Back at Wineman Stadium with 927 to play in this one, and Cartersville leading Dalton 46 14.

Let's check in with Nelly down on the field.

It's my weekly question about learning about offensive linemen with Wayne.

Why you're never going to be an offensive lineman.

No.

But no.

But the trenches have always been something, you know, when it comes to discipline.

And that's where the game can be won sometimes.

I mean, we saw Dalton early on making the large holes for a quarterback and getting the yards and being competitive in the first quarter.

I just wanted to ask Wayne about having to condition your brain with two separate quarterbacks who come in and shuttle, who have different skill sets.

And what's that like for an offensive lineman trying to sit there and go, oh, it's this guy, oh, it's this guy, and have to work in that mindset?

Well, it's definitely something that you have to focus on and everybody has to be aware of in the huddle.

Uh, very seldom as you go up and in the pro level, does that ever happen.

But the mindset is being aware of who's in there, the running quarterback typically is someone who's going to find you in a holding situation.

Just kicking team power play is a 35 yard line.

First down.

Here locally.

When I was with the Falcons, we had Michael Vick and then Matt Schuab would come in, but not on a drive like this.

It was just.

Well, that.

Was different quarterbacks.

It was different quarterbacks.

And that running game that Matt Schaub had behind center, that was great.

He was speedy.

A good question there.

Nelly.

Do you have another one?

Well, I mean, I just want to know when we're looking at Dalton here and you know how young they are and what we've seen from Chris Pruitt.

You know I just wanted to look at 30 juniors, 24 ninth graders with this group.

What we've seen from Chris Pruitt and what you guys thought about what we've seen from them tonight.

Well, I think they're getting better.

Obviously they're not as they used to call the Saturday night night, Saturday Night Live crew.

They're not ready for prime time players.

You know Cartersville they're the prime time players.

Dalton they're not there yet.

Yeah I see just a different athlete.

Cartersville athlete has a little more power a little more explosion to them especially offensively.

Uh that Dalton is going to have to adjust to and grow into.

But they've shown a lot of positive play, especially the way that their quarterback has played here tonight.

Yeah, I love their quarterback.

Caine Woods.

I think he's a dynamic talent and they're only going to get better with him.

They got another year with him.

He'll be a senior next year.

And you mentioned it Nellie.

They got 34 juniors.

They got a lot of talent.

But Cartersville has created a Mount Everest in this region.

It's hard to scale.

Third down.

Woods looking to the opposite side and throws it out of bounds.

Just not on the same page there.

Once again with Haven Searles, his big receiver.

There, bringing pressure.

And that's the one thing that this offense has struggled when they bring pressure not able to deliver the ball.

Yeah I think that's maybe been one of the major disappointments for Dalton tonight is their inability to get Searles involved in the offense.

You're talking about a guy with 30-9 catches, 508 yards, six touchdowns on the season.

And you know unfortunately they just you know they have not been able to do that.

And you got to give credit to the Cartersville defense.

They've had a big role in that.

Bennett bombs it away.

And on the hop it's going to be fielded by Davis.

I mean the ball is always live for Davis.

Hobbs no no problem.

I'll take it.

Uh so Cartersville back on offense when we get back they lead this 140 6-14 Football Fridays in Georgia celebrates 30 years of Friday Night Lights.

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All right.

What do you think, Jasper?

Honestly, I think that polyester shirts affecting your game.

What?

I think cotton would have been a better choice.

Cotton?

Yeah, it's come a long way.

You know, nowadays, cotton breeze and wicks moisture.

Great.

Plus, buying cotton means supporting Georgia farmers.

I think that's wonderful.

Okay, sure.

But what do you think about the putt?

Oh, it's really hadn't thought about it.

8 minutes left in this one here at Wineman Stadium.

And while you're sitting there at home watching this game, go ahead and scan that QR code.

Download the GPB sports app and keep up with all the scores as they are pouring in on this next to last Friday night, the high school football regular season got a barn burner going on in the Wintersville classic down in Valdosta right now.

You can keep up with the score on the GPB sports app.

Cartersville back on offense.

Looking to go ahead and drain this clock out and get out of here with another region championship victory.

AJ Townsend in there at running back.

Brady Wendt carries on the season two touchdowns.

Still playing with more pace than I would think.

Not going deep into the play clock is Cartersville.

They're up to the line calling plays.

DOS with the handoff.

Fighting for it now.

Finally a whistle after he picks up the first down at the 39 yard line.

I think what happens a lot of times you see teams shotgun, high tempo offenses in particular, and they have trouble transitioning into a throttle down that into the four minute offense.

And a lot of times you hear coaches say, well, that's just not who we are, but sometimes that's who you have to be.

You've got to be able to pull back and you can shorten this game much more than they are doing by just slowing up the pace.

There's the run by Doss and that'll be another first down for them at the 48 yard line.

And we got another man down.

Looks like that's going to be Juwan Javon Julius there defensive tackle.

Are only senior on that Dalton defense senior starter that is.

And he's down on the field at the 40 yard line.

So Dalton has one game remaining and that will be next Friday night.

They'll be right back here in Bartow County to take on Cass.

And that will just be for seeding purposes because they will not be able to win the region championship.

Carter's going to nail that down here tonight.

But right now there are a number five seed in the PSR, the the five a P SR, which means they're going to get a first round home playoff game right now.

If the playoffs started today, based on the current seedings, which of course are not final, they would be hosting Warner Robins in the first round of the state playoffs.

Has been a uncharacteristic season for Warner Robins, but they would be on the road at Dalton in the first round.

As of right now in the P sr seedings, keeper by DOS will be a first down at the 50 yard line.

Cartersville would be at home in the first round as well, so they close out their season on the road at woodland here in Cartersville next week.

That's a road game for them.

Their next home game will be the first round of the state playoffs against an opponent to be determined.

Right now that would be Villa Rica, but that's subject to change if you study the PSR at all, you know that it changes every week.

Sometimes multiple times during the week.

Maddux Davis flag out as he crosses the 50, gets the 49 yard line.

Possible block in the back here by Coe Crawford on this receiver screen to Maddox Davis still playing with pace.

Still having the starters out there offensively.

Blindside block on the offense.

15 yard penalty.

First down.

So that blindside block is going to back him up.

Who would you do.

You have a comparable in your mind with Maddox Davis.

The type of wide receiver that he is a very physical rocked up wide receiver not a guy that's beating you deep but getting you and beating you with the act.

The yards after catch.

Jamaar chase, I would say.

Yeah, that's not a bad comparison.

Yeah, as far as when he has the ball in his hands, you he's just that dynamic guy that can take it from anywhere.

I was thinking kind of like a Randall Cobb.

Definitely bigger Randall Cobb, uh, than than was, uh, at green Bay or at Dallas.

But in that framework can work out of the slot.

Here's the carry.

Gets him up to the 40 yard line as the clock goes under 6 minutes to play in regulation.

Make you feel like you're.

Still playing with pace, still switching in the.

Which foster is keeping his team locked in here tonight.

All 11 starters still out, still functioning.

This will be their 85th win in the region.

Since 2012, they've had only one loss during that time.

And we were here for that.

That was the, uh the triple overtime loss they had to Calhoun a couple of years ago.

Back in 2022, we actually won an Emmy Award for our coverage of the game that night.

Uh, it tells you what kind of game it was.

And, uh, but that's the only time they've lost in over a decade in region play.

And they won't lose here tonight.

Third down.

Up top, they go incomplete inside the 30 yard line.

So going for a home run ball to Caden Kent right there.

And it's going to be fourth down.

Just couldn't come.

Couldn't find him deep down the field right there.

Harrison Turner wants that one back.

Try to connect with his the big play junior receiver Tuck Kaden Kent.

So fourth down punt situation for Cartersville.

Rush gets in there.

He gets it out of there.

And ball is dropped.

Recovered by Cartersville 32.

So the purple hurricanes going to keep the ball.

That was Clayton Thompson who came up to field that punt had it bounced right off his chest.

Good job.

Where the ball just got up on him right there.

Dropped right hit him in the midsection uh and fell on the ground.

Good coverage by the coverage team there.

So first and ten from the 32.

Cartersville keeps the ball now under 5:00 to go.

Maddox Davis he's still out there.

The starters still out there.

Davis.

Coe Crawford.

Starting offensive line.

Going to dump it off to Cole.

Crawford Crawford gets around the edge.

Hurdles out of bounds inside the 20 yard line.

Coe Crawford just a great athlete and has just been a great purple hurricane.

Really set the standard.

Young man both sides of the ball.

The ability to affect the game and produce for his team.

The captain out here, the alpha of the group.

Yeah, he was playing in that game back in 2023 when they lost to Calhoun.

He's been playing that long ball is dropped.

That's an incomplete pass.

He's now a senior.

And he dropped the ball right here.

Or rather he was a senior and he was a freshman on that 2023 team.

Let's check in with Nelly.

You were talking about PSR Matt and Warner Robins specifically.

So I wanted to see what the demons were up to.

Jones County 51 14 over Warner Robins with a minute to go, AJ Alexander was 517.

AJ Alexander scored to make it 51 14.

So Jones County might be sending Warner Robins further and further down the.

The PSR math.

Yeah.

As you go.

And last score that we had on Wintersville classic.

Once again it was just it's been back and forth.

I'm shocked that it's a back and forth game when it comes to the Wintersville classic, but 28 25 was the last one we had for for that one.

Fitzgerald a winner tonight and Thomas County Central over coffee 267.

But yeah.

Valdosta 28 25 over.

Lowndes was the last score that we had.

The thing that's going to be interesting about that Valdosta Lowndes thing is that, you know, they're right there in the PSR.

Valdosta is number one in seven a there's a good opportunity that they're going to have to play each other to get to the state championship game.

They might be meeting the quarterfinals.

They might be meeting in the semifinals against each.

Other.

It's all going to be about that draw and about the seeding.

That's going to be really interesting.

That final night of the regular season, which is, by the way, next Friday night.

So by the next day, Saturday morning, we should have an idea.

It's not going to be like in the past where on Friday night, you could kind of look at it and know, but you're going to really have to wait until Saturday morning when the calculations are done to figure out, and hopefully they're done by Saturday morning.

And you can figure out, you know, where are you going to play the playoffs?

Pushing the pile.

And that is a touchdown for Cartersville.

Braden Doss.

We've talked about this young man and his ability to run the ball here.

Just read the end get up field right here.

And then this becomes about watch his linemen pull him to the end zone.

Jordan Bailey right there.

They're just ushering him to the end zone for the touchdown.

He never stopped moving his legs.

And it's 52-14 And the kick is good.

53 14 Cartersville going to win the region championship in emphatic fashion tonight.

Braden Doss would not be denied purple hurricanes about to be 9-0 on the season.

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53 14 big congratulations to Carter Lipstick.

We talked about him earlier.

He's a big young man and coach Connor Foster said.

He's kind of like a big St.

Bernard puppy.

He's just really enjoying himself.

He's a little bit behind in the recruiting.

He was playing at Mount Perrin, a smaller school.

He was in a four point stance playing at Mount, so he's just really starting to, you know, play the game like a college offensive lineman will play it.

So he's a little bit of a developmental project.

But at 6′5″, 315 Wayne someone's going to sign him.

Yeah.

Just into this region.

And the talent that it provides to play against.

But six, five, 315 big body loves to have fun right there.

Helping his running mate.

Uh, Braden Doss get into the end zone.

You saw the whole lineup there.

Bailey McKellen really dragging him into the end zone.

But what a big prospect he is.

You talk about that kind of size and mobility that he brings.

Six, five, 315.

That'll get you up.

It definitely is.

I mean, I don't know where they're growing them, but they're growing them big here in Cartersville.

And this.

Kick will be Nonreturnable.

So I mean, one of the interesting things about what's happened in college football, and of course, there's been a lot of negatives spoken about in I, L and the transfer portal.

But one of the things that has opened up for those high school players that up, up, you know, a player like her lipstick is he's not quite ready yet.

So he can go to a lower level, play a couple of years, get some seasoning, get ready and move up the ladder.

You're seeing that happen a lot.

Yeah.

With college.

Football with the n I l it allows you to start in a small region anywhere you want to go and get that development that you might need two years to find, and then find yourself at a big program, especially now that is five years, uh, that you have an eligibility to play, which plays a big part as well.

Because the big programs aren't in the development game anymore.

They don't have to be.

They don't have to develop players because they can go and get ready made players out of the portal now.

So the development now is falling on, you know, the group of six programs, the D-2 programs, the FCS programs.

And so that's one of the interesting byproducts of what's happened in college football.

That actually is a positive.

I think.

Don't tell that to those lure coaches though.

They're no.

They don't like it.

They don't really like it.

Of course not.

I mean, they're developing players and losing.

Them, then losing them.

So it's not a fun game for them, but it's good for the.

Player but great for the player.

Definitely great for the players.

Under 3:00 to go.

Celebratory night here at Wineman Stadium.

They've seen so many region championships.

They're about to see another one here this evening.

Woods to the outside it goes.

And that's Thompson with the catch and run.

And he will be close to the first down.

So.

Cartersville is.

Who we thought Cartersville was.

They're a dominant team.

The question mark becomes how far can this team go in the playoffs.

And as we were talking with Connor Foster with the P sr, I mean the last two years they've gotten to the quarterfinals and been beaten on the road.

They lost at North Oconee, the eventual state champions, a couple of years ago.

Last year it was Kell.

So with the PSR and currently at the number three spot, they you know, if they can stay there or go higher, of course, stay within the top four, that means they're going to get a home game in the quarterfinals.

And that typically historically has been a recipe of success for Cartersville.

Get that quarterfinal game at home.

They typically win that game.

And here's the freshman getting the carry.

Lovelace.

And he is a good looking player right here.

This is a this is a ninth grader right here.

Junior Lovelace at six foot 175.

He looks pretty down on the football field.

But.

Let's check in with now.

Fourth and goal from the one.

Johnson breaks the plane for Lowndes.

They take the lead 32-31 2:28 to go and I'll use the R word regulation back upstairs.

All right.

Thank you Nelly Thompson with the catch and out of bounds inside the 45 yard line.

Caine Woods is definitely impressed here.

Tonight.

Oh yeah.

In the loss.

His uh his ability to extend plays run the ball and his arm strength.

As we talked about.

Not a lot of looks down deep downfield, but you could see the hash mark he's throwing from gets the ball out quick.

Deliver it to the receivers.

Lovelace with the carry down to the 43.

Brings up third down.

Now we're under a minute to go.

Yeah I like what we've seen from Caine Woods tonight.

Uh I see a big future for him at Dalton.

And then going forward beyond that is he continues to develop.

He's just a big, strong dude.

He can run the ball and he's got a strong arm.

What not to like about that.

Third down pass is caught.

There's Searles finally gets on the board and Searles sidesteps a man and gets out of bounds at the 20 yard line.

Just the third catch of the night for Searles.

They've done a really good job of taking him out of the game.

All right.

Here's why he's so highly rated.

His height and his arm strength catch radius right there.

Being able to elude the tacklers.

Up top, they go for the end zone.

Incomplete.

Searles was the target.

And that was Akins, I believe, who had him locked up.

They've just done a really good job with their corners.

Akins.

And of course you know Kent gets a lot of the publicity because he's a three star.

But Akins is a 61 corner.

He does a good job.

Too long.

Rangy, great ball skills.

Just kind of gets overlooked.

But Kent on the other side and all those big stars at linebacker as well.

Ball goes to Searles and Searles dragged down at the 18 yard line.

And Mike I I, I thought it was Akins on the coverage.

Actually it looks like it's tippet 11 who's out there playing the corner spot right now.

And of course he had the touchdown catch earlier in the game as well.

So Lance Tippet the senior in there playing some cornerback too.

He's Akins backup at that position.

Last play of the game.

And the handoff goes to Lovelace.

And that will end it here tonight at Whiteman Stadium.

And Cartersville has won another region championship.

It is their fourth in a row and their 14th in 15 years.

Just a dominant performance here tonight from the beginning.

Being able to take that body blow of Dalton who got the ball first and went down and scored.

And then once they got the ball uh, it was lights out across the board.

Everybody getting into the action.

The smooth rotation at that quarterback position between Turner and Doss and then Ox Davis, ball in hand, could be a touchdown.

That's just really how that young man possesses the ball.

Uh, lived up to any and everything they have said about him, the coaches, the media.

What a dynamic player he is.

And the production that he brings to the field.

So Dalton improves to 9-0 on the season.

They clinch the region championship with their fifth region victory of the season.

They've got one final game left in the regular season that will be on the road at, Cartersville.

Rival Woodland next Friday night before the playoffs start two weeks from tonight.

Dalton has one game, one game left and that will be right back here in Cartersville next week when they take on Cass.

And that'll just be for p r p SR seating.

There will be nothing else beyond that on the line.

So let's check in with Nelly with our Johnny's Pizza postgame interview.

Thank you very much, Matt.

We're going to do a hot tag.

We're going to go nearest first, and then we're going to do our Georgia Cotton Commission Player of the game.

End of the night.

It's 39 points.

You put another night north of 50.

Defense answered the call in the second half.

Yeah.

Proud of the way our kids responded.

You know they landed some shots early.

I thought our kids did a great job of regrouping, refocusing and finishing the fight.

Obviously it's another region championship, but once again, you're this close to getting to the postseason.

Where do you think you are right now as a team?

I'll have to go back and watch the film tonight.

I like that we're getting better every week.

Hopefully we got through pretty healthy.

There he goes.

That's, uh, well done.

Sir.

Always.

Always a man of few words.

Good to see you, Connor.

All right, hot tag.

Here we go.

Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game.

Georgia Cotton Commission.

The natural choice for Georgia.

Our natural choice is an ox.

So that means the hat is yours.

I appreciate that.

So.

And then also what it means is, is that the towel is his.

And this is always where I have my problem is trying to figure out how to drape the towel appropriately.

And it's like you take the end and Brunswick and you sit there and it's like, okay, here's how you do it.

I'd like to see Matt try this, by the way.

So there we go.

Close enough.

There it is.

Logo right there.

Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game.

Ox.

What was it like out there tonight?

I mean it's what we do every week man.

It's a team effort.

It's a great feeling to be out there with my guys.

Early on.

It was a lot of back and forth.

You had to steal that possession to get points back on the board.

When that offensive line is humming for you and the rest of this offense, what is it like out there?

I mean, it's all credit to them.

I mean, I couldn't be here without them.

You know I make sure to congratulate them whenever I score.

Get back.

It's the first thing I do.

Got to congratulate my teammates.

But with the back and forth, Coach Foster early in the week told us to stay ready.

It's going to be a battle.

And we responded, well.

What do you talk to you about at the half?

Um, he was telling us that this is how it's going to be from here on out the rest of the season going to be in battles and we have to just rise above and beyond.

And obviously we're looking at your runs right now.

You know, when that hole opens up for you.

What's it like to just see Green SpaceX with what they've done?

You know obviously you got to thank your linemen when you get over there.

What's it like to just see Green SpaceX open up man.

Ain't no feeling like it.

Every time I see that green space I know it's six.

A couple of games left.

What do you think you need to work on?

What, as a team?

What are you looking at?

What do you think is left out there to get to 100% and get to full song?

Um, I think during the week in practice we can be a little better.

You know, we do work very hard in practice, but there are some times where a bit off task.

As for me, I need to work a little bit better on my route running.

It wasn't it wasn't very good today.

I need to work better on my pacing, but we're going to be good.

Well done with the dress tonight.

Congratulations on being our Georgia Cotton Commission Player of the game.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

It's an ox that gets player of the game.

I'm trying not to step on the ice that's wrapped around his right side.

So I'm staying on the left hand side.

This is what happens when you run a lot and you run a lot of positive yards.

One shoe on, one shoe off.

Wynn on the board.

That's all that matters.

Max, thanks for hanging out.

Go hang out with your team.

Matt.

Another dominant night for Cartersville.

Another region championship and hanging right up to the top of the PSR.

And they're not even ranked nationally top 75 in any poll.

Yeah.

Well it's probably a mistake.

So I would say big win here tonight over a Dalton team that had lost only one time all season long.

Wayne we see a dominant performance by Cartersville.

We've come to expect that Maddox Davis is a guy that takes them to the next level.

Don't you think?

Yeah.

When you watch him, only things wrong is route running was not on point tonight.

I mean, other than that, don't you think?

Uh.

The self-evaluation.

I love it.

He gave Nelly an answer.

Right, I love it, Maddox.

What a great job of.

What a difference maker in that kind of player is.

What can get you to the bench.

Absolutely.

Fabulous night for Ox Davis, Maddox Davis and the Cartersville Purple Hurricanes as they win the region.

Seven 5-A championship emphatically with a 53 14 victory over Dalton.

Be sure to join us next Friday night at 7:30 for a great region seven 6-A showdown as the Milton Eagles host the Roswell Hornets that will decide the region championship.

That's next Friday night at 730 right here on GPB and our stream game of the week will be a region five 5-A battle between the Tucker Tigers and the Mays Raiders.

That two will decide a region championship.

So two region championships here on GPB next Friday night.

If you missed portions of tonight's game or just want to see it again, you can catch a full replay 30 minutes from now.

Or coming in this coming week at gpb.org slash sports on demand.

And now for Wayne Gandy John Nelson, our executive producer of football, Kevin Gerkey, our game producer Steve Graham, and director Russ Aaron, I'm Matt Stewart once again, the final 53 14 and congratulations to Cartersville.

They win the region championship again.

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The thing that makes him special is he's so versatile, you know, he's able to line up as an in-line tight end with his hand on the ground next to a tackle and block.

He's able to line up in the backfield like a fullback and kick people out.

He's able to split out like a receiver and run routes like a really good receiver.

Is going on kickoff return and busting his butt to get across the field and make great blocks.

And then do the long snapping duties when you've got one of your best players doing that and playing unselfishly, that's just such a powerful thing.