Cats, Bruins to state

Week 11 saw area GHSA teams in the region playoffs. Dalton lost to Hiram, 17-14, in the Region 7-4A title game and will enter the state playoffs as a No. 2 seed and host No. 3-seeded Tucker. Northwest Whitfield won a play-in game to earn a state playoff berth and will travel to No. 1-seeded Southwest DeKalb as a No. 4 seed. Murray County beat Allatoona, 35-14, and in 6-3A, Southeast defeated Cedartown, 27-14.

Dalton

• THUMBS UP: To the Catamounts for making big plays to position themselves to win. Trae Washington’s interception on the game’s first play from scrimmage set the tone for Dalton early on. In the second quarter, running back Tre Beck appeared to be trapped in the backfield for a loss, but used his elusiveness to get to the outside and avoid would-be tacklers, sprinting to the outside for a 45-yard touchdown run, helping Dalton to regain momentum after surrendering a game-tying touchdown. Shaquon Moore — who has been consistent all season — ran steadily for 121 yards on 20 carries and his first-quarter rushing touchdown gave the Cats an early lead.

When punter Toombs Norman left the game with a leg injury on a special teams play, quarterback Stryker Brown filled in adequately for Norman, punting twice for an average of 36.5 yards. On the year, Norman punted 14 times for an average of 35.6 yards. Brown will continue to punt in Norman’s absence.

• THUMBS DOWN: As coach Adam Winegarden said after the game, Dalton beat itself. A missed field goal, a dropped pass and nine penalties for 70 yards allowed Hiram’s offense time to gain confidence and momentum after the Cats defense limited the Hornets to just three first downs in the first half.

Murray County

• THUMBS UP: Playing their best game of the season in the finale, the Indians achieved their best record (2-8) since 2005.

The motivation of senior night and black jerseys for the first time this season helped produce such a decisive win. Revenge came against a school that posted a resounding victory last year.

Not only did those hard-working 21 seniors bow out with such good feeling, but their devoted hardcore fans who supported them through thick and thin weren’t let down in the final game.

Junior quarterback Taylor Patterson leads a returning nucleus which aspires to get the program back on the winning track. In the last conquest, he accounted for four touchdowns, two throwing and two running.

Patterson’s spark enabled Murray to easily score its most points of the season. The high had been 14.

A big key was no turnovers for Murray as compared to Allatoona’s four.

• THUMBS DOWN: Not much down. Indians followers must wonder why it took their team so long to play like they did in the finale.

Murray suffered 110 yards on 10 penalties. It could have hurt, except the Indians otherwise hit on all cylinders.

Northwest Whitfield

• THUMBS UP: The Bruins didn’t get the type of game many expected for them against Paulding County, but they adjusted.

They figured out a way to make their pass rush effective enough just in time. They haven’t needed to score often to win games this year, but when that clearly became part of the game plan, senior running back Lance Andrews — who gave his own thumbs up to the offensive line after the victory — didn’t disappoint with a 193-yard, five-touchdown effort.

The bigger adjustment might have happened on Northwest’s sideline. Bruins coach Mike Falleur and players acknowledged things felt a bit flat early in the game, but somewhere along the way they created their own energy and it no doubt played a part in their ability to keep up in the shootout.

The biggest thumb, though, goes to finding a way to win to secure another state playoff berth. Of Northwest’s 12 postseason appearances in 35 years of football — that includes the era when the first two rounds of the postseason were played against region opponents — four have come in Falleur’s eight years as coach. Obviously, he and his staff have found a way to establish some consistency in making the playoffs a reasonable goal each season.

• THUMBS DOWN: As mentioned earlier, Northwest eventually found a way to challenge Paulding County’s passing game. But the Bruins had trouble covering the Patriots receivers from start to finish and that — along with two untimely Northwest turnovers — helped keep the game close.

Falleur also acknowledged what he believed was his own mistake in getting, as he put it, “greedy.” Just before halftime, with a 22-12 lead, the Bruins stopped the Patriots on fourth-and-three, dropping quarterback Zach Munoz for a 2-yard loss at the Northwest 30. But rather than kneel to run out the clock and head to the locker room with the game’s biggest lead for either side to that point, the Bruins tried to move the ball and got put into a fourth-and-two situation, then fumbled. Paulding County worked quickly and scored five plays later, trimming Northwest’s edge to a field goal.

Southeast

• THUMBS UP: Second-half intensity. After a first half that included two missed field goals, a handful of penalties and zero points, the Raiders responded with a completely different attitude in the second half.

The duo of Coty Burch and Tanner McCutchen accounted for all Southeast’s 264 yards rushing. That grinding ground game wore down the thin Cedartown defense and, more importantly gave the Raiders an advantage in time of possession. The Southeast defense swarmed the Bulldogs receivers and quarterback, allowing only two completions on the night.

Southeast may have been eliminated from the playoffs the week before, but the team still had something to play for: its first non-losing season in 17 years. The team seemed to rally around that goal as the game neared its end.

• THUMBS DOWN: Mental lapses. There wasn’t one glaring aspect of offense, defense or special teams. There were five penalties, a lost fumble that led to Cedartown’s first touchdown, a failed fake punt and a bad field goal snap. But in this case, the small mistakes did not cost the Raiders the game.

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