Friday Night Rewind: Picks hurt Dalton, but Cats pull it out

One thing that almost doomed the Catamounts in their dramatic 28-21 overtime win against Gilmer was turnovers.

In particular, quarterback Cole Calfee’s interceptions certainly were a point swing against Dalton, but they led to a most thrilling finish as the Dalton defense was there to rescue the offense in the end.

In Friday’s other games, Christian Heritage beat Fellowship Christian 48-0, Coahulla Creek topped Sonoraville 26-14, Murray County fell to Armuchee 45-7, Cartersville ran past North Murray 40-22 and Northwest Whitfield lost to Cass 25-17.

In this week’s games, all seven of the area’s football teams will be in action. Christian Heritage plays host to Mt. Zion-Carroll, Dalton welcomes Cass, Northwest travels to Cherokee County take on River Ridge, Coahulla Creek hosts Cartersville, Murray County visits Chattooga, North Murray heads south to Sonoraville and Southeast Whitfield comes off of a bye week to travel to Cedartown.

In the game in Ellijay, with 1:15 left in the first half and the score tied at 7, Calfee threw an interception to Bobcats linebacker Colt Henderson and watched as it was returned more than 50 yards for a score. Less than a minute later and with the Catamounts driving and hoping for a score right before halftime, Calfee threw another interception when Gilmer’s Connor Webber stepped in front of a wheel route and preserved a 14-7 halftime lead.

After a second missed field goal by Gilmer, Dalton had the ball with less than two minutes left in regulation and the score tied at 21. After two runs totaling 19 yards by Kelvis Rhodes, Calfee was looking for tight end Will Erwin on a seam route but Webber again made a huge play and picked it off with around one minute to play.

“We’ve got lots of reasons to improve,” Dalton coach Matt Land said. “Interceptions are a part of the game. When you throw the ball, three things may happen and two of those won’t be good.”

• CHRISTIAN HERITAGE: Expectations for Christian Heritage are definitely on the rise.

The Lions (3-1) opened their first season in the Georgia High School Association in the bottom of Class A's private schools by Maxpreps.com. Other websites predicted the team might win one game this year.

Even with three wins in its first four games, including a 48-0 Region 6-A crossover win at Fellowship Christian on Friday, coach Preston Poag is not ready to call this a successful season with the sub-region schedule starting this Friday.

“I won’t be happy if we finish 3-7,” Poag said.

The running game and passing game each have more than 600 yards this season led by Jake Stokes (371) and Austin Lowe (283) on the ground. Trevor Brown has steered the air attack at quarterback, including a 10-for-11 night Friday for 199 yards and three scores.

“We just have to keep working just hard — work extra hard in practice,” Brown said.

Poag said the building on the confidence his team has gained so far is the key to adding to the success.

“Our mindset is go make plays on defense and execute on offense,” Poag said. “We don’t have a lot of numbers. We have to stay healthy and play the way we need to against Darlington, Gordon Lee and Trion. Those are the teams we’re going to have to beat to make it to the playoffs.”

• COAHULLA CREEK: The Colts finally discovered their running game.

After rushing for just 444 yards in its first three games, Coahulla Creek had its best rushing performance of the year to ruin Sonoraville’s homecoming festivities in Calhoun and win its Region 5-3A opener over the Phoenix.

The Colts (2-2, 1-0) had 220 yard rushing with Cameron Burton getting his first 100-yard game of the season, finishing with 107 yards on 26 carries.

“The key was that we got our running game going and we really did a good job running the football and being physical up front,” Coahulla Creek coach Jared Hamlin said. “That really allowed us to run some clock off and keep their offense off the field and keep our defense fresh.

“That’s what really helped us out. The offensive line came around and got physical tonight and got after it.”

• MURRAY COUNTY: In a battle of winless teams and the Region 7-2A opener for both schools, Armuchee took advantage of Murray County mistakes to get its first win of the year in a meeting of Indians.

Murray County (0-4, 0-1) committed four turnovers, including a pair of interceptions and a fumble return for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Despite being down 24-0 at the half, Murray County had a strong third quarter with quarterback Bracy Todd scoring on an 80-yard run and Miguel Barajas picking off an Armuchee pass.

“We’ve just got to understand that you’ve got to play four quarters,” Murray County coach John Hammond said.

• NORTH MURRAY: On the bright side of the loss to the Purple Hurricanes, North Murray is off to the first 3-1 start in school history.

The Moutaineers hung tough with a talented and still undefeated Cartersville team for the first half. But Cartersville established a strong running game in the second half and turned in an impressive win.

After the loss, North Murray coach David Gann didn't hang his head. He credited his team with playing through the entire game and not quitting when Cartersville went up big late.

The Mountaineers scored late in the fourth quarter on the Cartersville substitutes for a more respectable score.

North Murray has a chance for the school's first 4-1 start when they take on Adairsville Friday night.

• NORTHWEST WHITFIELD: Bruins’ kicker Miguel Villa is one of the area’s best placekickers, earning an All-Area selection last season as a sophomore for Northwest.

But Friday night, Villa was out with a thigh injury, and the Bruins had to turn to a different set of legs — younger brother Bryan Villa. Seems like the kicking gene is strong in the Villa household.

A sophomore, the younger Villa was more than capable in handling the Bruins’ kickoff and placekicking duties. All of his kickoffs were inside of the 10-yard line, and he was perfect on extra points.

He also hit a 38-yard field goal with plenty of distance to spare.

“Not bad, huh,” Northwest coach Josh Robinson said. “We didn’t have to look far when Miguel got hurt.”

Villa was also set to attempt a 29-yard field goal that would have given the Bruins (2-1) an 11-point lead, but Cass’ Kadeem Buford blocked the attempt and raced 81 yards for the score when the ball ricocheted off of the ground directly into his stomach.

The Colonels (3-1) tied the game on a two-point conversion pass and would later win the game on a 31-yard scoring run from quarterback Brandon Etheridge.

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Friday Night Rewind: Picks hurt Dalton, but Cats pull it out

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