The Cartersville football program continues to be one of the gold standards for football in Georgia.
The No. 2-ranked Purple Hurricanes beat No. 5 Cedartown last week 19-14 and improved to 9-0. Cartersville can win another region championship on Thursday with a win at home against Hiram. The Hornets are tied with Cdartown for second in Region 7.
The Canes can also secure another undefeated regular season – although that’s been the norm around there since 2012. Since then Cartersville has gone 116-3 during the regular season, losing only to Calhoun, Cherokee and North Cobb.
Cartersville went 20-0 in its final two seasons under coach Frank Barden, 49-1 in five seasons under Joey King, and is 47-2 in five seasons under Conor Foster. The program is 70-1 in region games since 2012.
If Cartersville wins the region title, it will be the 11th since 2012. The Canes came up short during the 2020 COVID year when they tied for first against Blessed Trinity but lost the tiebreaker, and in 2022 when they lost to Calhoun in a triple-overtime classic that was shown on GPB-TV.
And while region championships are nice, the Canes’ main goal is to add another state championship to the four already on their resume. Cartersville has been to the semifinal round the last two years.
In the win over Cedartown, quarterback Nate Russell completed 7 of 14 for 142 yards and threw a 38-yard touchdown to Brady Marchese for the go-ahead sore in the third quarter. The Canes ran for 204 yards, 77 of them by Baylon Long. The Cartersville defense came up big, too, by twice stopping Cedartown on downs inside the 40 in the second half.
Top performances
Blessed Trinity’s Brooks Goodman completed 16 of 23 passes for 193 yards and one touchdown in a 26-0 win over Westminster. … Payton Shaw completed 13 of 17 passese for 225 yards and four touchdowns in a 42-7 win over East Forsyth. … Tae Harris ran for 95 yards and two touchdowns and threw a 17-yard pass in a 19-14 loss to Cartersville. … Blake Turner ran 14 times for 110 yards and two touchdowns in a 36-6 win over Northside Columbus. … Perry’s Kory Pettigrew caught 14 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-21 win over Ware County. … Luke Hooks completed 22 of 42 passes for 306 yards and one touchdown in a 31-21 loss to Perry. … Omari Burse complete 12 of 17 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns to lead Benedictine to a 40-0 win over Wayne County.
Moonie Gipson of Kell ran 31 times for 326 yards and six touchdowns in a 61-49 win over Centennial. … Tucker’s Jace German completed 19 of 36 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 78 yards and one touchdown in a 33-9 win over North Springs. … Benedictine’s Jack Ganem caught five passes sfor 156 yards and one touchdown in a 40-0 win over Wayne County. … Tighe Williams of Creekside had six solo tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks and forced a fumble in a 63-7 win over Drew. … Ryland Garrison, a freshman from Flowery Branch, had 11 solo tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks and five assists in a 20-17 win over Walnut Grove. … Druid Hills’ defensive back Mike Ware scored on a 94-yard pick-six to help the Red Devils beat Northview 28-12. … Tristan Parks of Hampton completed 23 of 31 passes for 380 yards and five touchdowns in a 37-7 win over Woodland. …
About the Author
