Cats, Bruins set for crucial game

By Adam Krohn

The outcome of tonight’s game between rivals Dalton and Northwest Whitfield in Tunnel Hill — a matchup that will award the winner a state playoff berth, the Sub-region 7A-4A title and a spot in the region championship — can’t be predicted, but one thing is sure.

The bleachers on both sides of the stadium will be packed.

“I think they’re expecting over 10,000 people,” Bruins end Nermin Delic said. “And the winner plays in the region championship. It doesn’t get any better.”

Dalton coach Adam Winegarden knows the atmosphere will be lively when kickoff arrives at 7:30 p.m., but said it’s nothing the Catamounts aren’t prepared for.

“It’s a great environment for high school football,” Winegarden said. “We feel like our environment is pretty good too. But this is not the first time we’ve played in a big game and been in front of a big crowd. It’s nothing new for our kids, but it makes it exciting for the fans, both teams and the community.

“This is why any kid — not just a Dalton kid or Northwest kid — plays football, because they want to play in a big game. So it’s going to be a great high school environment.”

The crowd aside, players from both teams will have to remain focused on their on-field performance. Bruins defensive back Luke Woodason has an interesting perspective on Dalton’s offense.

“They probably run more formations than any team we’ve played yet,” he said. “It’s sort of like a final exam for us because we’ve seen each formation throughout the year and they just have all of them. So we’ve seen them before, except this is the big test and it’s going to be a challenge for us.”

The biggest task for Northwest? Finding a way to slow the Cats’ potent rushing attack led by Tre Beck and Shaquon Moore — the area’s top two rushers. Beck was key in last year’s 20-7 Dalton win, rushing for more than 160 yards and a touchdown. Last week against Rome, he piled up 294 yards, including touchdown runs of 95 and 62 yards.

For Beck, who has rushed for 1,168 yards and 10 touchdowns this season, the reason behind his success is simple.

“My blockers block good and we’re just going out there blood in, blood out as teammates and playing hard together,” he said.

Moore, who has 878 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground, believes it’s going to be a back-and-forth type game.

“If we score, they’re going to score,” he said. “It’s going to be like that. It’s going to be a close game.”

Though Northwest has successfully slowed some of the sub-region’s best running backs — it held Sequoyah’s Dominique Swope and Dalton Trevino and Rome’s Reggie Whatley and Deonte Dennis to one total touchdown — Bruins coach Mike Falleur believes Dalton’s running game will be the Bruins’ toughest challenge yet.

“Obviously, they probably have the best running game in the region,” Falleur said. “They’ll be the best we’ve seen and the biggest challenge of the year for our defense. We have done a good job of slowing other people’s backs down, so hopefully we’ll be able to do that this time. But it’s going to be tough.”

After a slow start, Northwest’s offense has made strides, especially on the ground, with quarterback Chad Keeter excelling. He rushed for more than 150 yards and two touchdowns against Rome. Running backs Lance Andrews and Jordan Darnell have provided a collective backfield punch, too.

Cats linebacker Mitch Townsend said Northwest’s running backs are part of his defensive unit’s concerns.

“They have a really good blocking scheme,” he said. “Sprayberry ran the same sort of spread offense and we saw (the Bruins) use it last year. We’ve just got to be fundamentally sound, play hard and have everyone do their job as one.”

Winegarden and Falleur said Thursday that their teams are healthy for tonight’s showdown.

“We’re good to go unless somebody gets hurt between now and game time,” Winegarden said.

Said Falleur, “My big toe hurts. But everybody else is fine.”

Sequoyah at Murray

Murray County linebacker Jake White is a guy that sees the glass half-filled.

“We hung with Northwest Whitfield,” he said. “If I’m not mistaken, Northwest beat Sequoyah. Since we hung with Northwest and played a pretty good game, we can just as easily pull an upset against Sequoyah.”

What is White’s formula for victory against the Chiefs (5-3, 4-1) — who are still in the postseason playoff picture — at 7:30 tonight in a Sub-region 7A-4A game at Murray Field in Chatsworth?

“We know they are a physical team,” said White, the Indians’ third-leading tackler with 50 stops. “We have to get right in there with them and play more physical than they play. That’s the only way we’re going to win. If all our players play to the best of their ability and have their minds where they need to be, I think we can win this game.”

The Indians (1-7, 0-5) are coming off a disappointing performance last week in a 34-10 loss to Cass.

“We were disappointed and mad at ourselves,” White said. “That motivated us this week and helped us prepare harder to play Sequoyah.”

The Chiefs, who had scored 80 points in two games leading up to last week’s 14-3 loss to Northwest Whitfield, got an offensive boost when talented running back Dominique Swope came off a seven-week suspension to play against the Bruins. He rushed for 138 yards on 19 carries, but the Chiefs were still frustrated in the red zone.

“We did everything we wanted between the 20s against Northwest Whitfield, but just couldn’t get it in the end zone,” Sequoyah coach James Teter said. “Every drive we had was 10 or more plays. We were at the 20 six times and inside the 20 four times. Penalties hurt us every time down there and one time we fumbled a snap. We have to find a way to fix our dilemma in the red zone.”

Indians coach John Zeigler knows that Swope will “be a factor tonight, but he’s not the only weapon the Chiefs have in their backfield.”

“That fullback Tim Swanny is a very good back,” Zeigler said. “Kirk Medas is a very quick, good running back. While the kid they got back last week is good, they’ve got numerous backs that are effective. But (Swope) is a great back and you have to always be thinking about him. He’s definitely a factor.”

Swope rushed for 138 yards on 19 carries in the loss to Northwest, and the Chiefs finished with 206 yards on the ground. Sequoyah was without Dalton Trevino, who has been the team’s top rusher this season, for most of the night due to an ankle injury.

“They threw the ball a good bit against Northwest,” Zeigler said. “The wing-T is a system in itself, and what they do depends on what you’re doing defensively. It’s an ‘If we do this, they do that-type thing.’ We’ve seen that offense a few times this season and it’s always a chess match.”

Sports editor Larry Fleming contributed to this story