The Osborne football team has reached a lot of milestones in coach Luqman Salam’s three seasons at the school, but the Cardinals probably achieved their biggest accomplishment yet Friday night in Marietta.
The Cardinals improved to 7-0 for the first time since 1994 and 2-0 in Region 5-7A with a 28-7 victory over Cherokee that puts them within reach of their first state playoff appearance in the program’s 66-year history.
Osborne’s defense, which came into the game allowing a Class 7A-best six points per game, turned in another solid performance, scoring two touchdowns of its own and limiting Cherokee to 119 total yards (64 passing, 55 rushing).
Ian Williams opened the scoring when he wrestled the ball away from a Cherokee receiver on a short pass and went 22 yards for a touchdown and an 8-0 lead with 10:44 remaining in the first half. Aiden Williams added the final points of the night on a 68-yard fumble return after Cherokee quarterback Tanner Savasir was had the ball knocked away from him while he was scrambling.
“You can’t say enough about [the defense],” Salam said. “What we ask those kids to do, the way we ask them to play, they just respond, all 11 or 12 or 13 guys that play every Friday night, they just play good, hard-nosed football. I’m just so grateful that we have the type of kids that we have.”
Although Osborne hasn’t mathematically clinched a playoff berth, it would take an unlikely set of circumstances, including a couple of major upsets elsewhere in the region, to keep the Cardinals out of the postseason. A victory against Wheeler next week would get them there. A victory by Wheeler against Kennesaw Mountain on Oct. 27 would do it, as well.
Osborne’s only previous postseason experience came in a couple of region playoff games in 1993 and 1994, before the GHSA expanded the state playoffs to 32 teams in each class in 1996.
“I think they’re very excited,” Salam said of the Osborne community. “Obviously our turnout was a little sparse today, but it’s the rain and all those different things. But this is a long time coming, and it’s a special moment to be a part of, and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.”
Licori Humphrey, who rushed for 99 yards on 18 carries, gave Osborne a 14-0 lead with a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:18 to play before halftime.
Cherokee’s first drive of the game was its best of the first half, taking the ball from its 21 to the Osborne 49 in nine plays before being forced to punt. The Warriors didn’t get a first down on any of their other five first-half possessions and went into halftime with just 23 total yards.
The Warriors (1-6, 0-2) finally got on the scoreboard on their first drive of the second half when Savasir scored on a 9-yard run, but Osborne pushed the lead back to 20-7 on its next possession, driving 80 yards in six plays, with Dayton Wilson scoring on a 7-yard pass from Edward Burr. Aiden Williams’ fumble return three minutes later put the game away.
Burr was 9-of-11 passing for 102 yards and rushed for 57 yards on six carries.
Osborne beat Kennesaw Mountain 35-3 last week to end a 46-game losing streak in region games that dated to 2011 and a 71-game losing streak against fellow Cobb County schools that dated to 2004. The Cardinals have seven wins for just the fifth time in school history. Salam is 13-13 in his two-plus seasons (12-5 in 2022 and 2023) at a school that was 13-83 in the 10 years before his arrival.
“It’s not even one week at a time, it’s one play at a time,” Salam said. “It’s one moment at a time, putting one foot in front of the other, and be better the next moment than you were the last moment. You put those little pieces together and accept who you are.”
Cherokee - 0-0-7-0 - 7
Osborne - 0-14-6-8- 28
Second quarter
O - Ian Williams 22 fumble return (Julian Kenderick run), 10:44
O - Licori Humphrey 3 run (kick blocked), 2:18
Third quarter
C - Tanner Savasir 9 run (Reed Chandley kick), 2:33
O - Dayton Wilson 7 pass from Edward Burr (kick failed), 2:33
Fourth quarter
O - Aiden Williams 68 fumble return (Tyree Cook pass from Burr), 11:58
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