Published: November 07, 2009 12:53 am      

Southeast cuts down Cedartown

CEDARTOWN — Call it the curse, call it the streak, call it the drought.

Now you can call the Southeast Raiders’ 16-year run of losing football seasons something else.

History.

Riding the legs of quarterback Tanner McCutchen and his three rushing touchdowns, coupled with running back Coty Burch’s 179 yards on the ground, Southeast beat the Cedartown Bulldogs, 27-14, on Friday and earned the embattled Raider football program its first non-losing season since 1992.

The Raiders missed the Class 3A state playoffs, but finished 5-5 and believe they laid a positive foundation for 2010. The postgame scene was festive. Fans and parents joined players in the celebration on the field. Players danced while proud parents snapped picture after picture. A group of seniors posed for one last shot before leaving. Some people even wept.

“The biggest win in 16 years,” linebacker Mickey Guerrero said. “The biggest win in 16 years. It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever been through. To break a 16-year curse playing my first year here, we’ve started a new chapter at Southeast.”

But after a scoreless first half, the streak appeared to have life. A fumbled snap by Southeast gave Cedartown the ball at the Raiders 21 early in the third quarter. Five plays later, Chan Borders scored from 4 yards out with 7:21 left in the third.

Instead of sulking, the Southeast offense roared back with an answer. On second-and-17 on the Raiders 40, McCutchen hit Burch with a short screen pass. The speedy, gritty Burch did the rest of the work and rambled 60 yards down the sideline for the touchdown. The game was tied at 7.

McCutchen would add touchdown runs of 1 (on fourth-and-goal), 7 and 2 yards (to ice the game late in the fourth quarter).

Senior linebacker Tanner Phipps said the win “meant a lot to me and a lot of other people.” Phipps said the difference in the second half was an aggressive defensive game plan.

“We started blitzing more and sending more people,” Phipps said. “We shut down the pass.”

Southeast coach David Crane said he is excited about the direction of the program. On Friday night, Southeast started freshmen at nose tackle and left tackle. Through the season about 10 sophomores started. And the talent coming from Eastbrook and Valley Point middle schools is strong, he said.

“It’s huge for us, just coming off last week’s disappointment (losing to Lakeview Fort Oglethorpe and missing a chance at the state playoffs),“ Crane said. “Our kids have heard so much about the losing streak. They hear that all the time. I hope this goes to show that No. 1, that streak is broken, and No. 2, we do have some good football players and Southeast. They’re not all at Dalton and Northwest.”

The first half was sloppy for both teams. Cedartown’s veer offense had trouble holding onto the ball, putting the ball on the ground three times but only losing one fumble. That one miscue was extremely costly. Early in the second quarter, running back Dishon Glanton ripped off a 46 yard run to the Raiders’ 29. After an incomplete pass, an errant pitch by quarterback Hayden Privett was recovered by Southeast’s defensive tackle Cristian Perez, killing the Bulldogs’ drive.

The Raiders had two scoring chances in the first half. In the first quarter, Southeast’s drive covering 56 yards ended with a missed 29-yard field goal by Carlos Ojeda. Late in the second quarter, a 52-yard drive set the Raiders up for another 29-yard field goal, but the snap was mishandled and the teams went into halftime locked in a scoreless tie.

Southeast 27, Cedartown 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Southeast 0 0 14 13 27

Cedartown 0 0 7 7 14

SCORIING SUMMARY

First quarter

None

Second quarter

None

Third quarter

CED - Chan Borders 4 run (Jorge Jacobo kick) 7:21

SE - Tanner McCutchen 60 pass to Coty Burch (Carlos Ojeda kick) 6:17

SE - McCutchen 1 run (Ojeda kick)

Fourth quarter

SE - McCutchen 7 run (Ojeda kick failed) 8:45

CED - Hayden Privett 44 pass to Devin Watkins (Jacobo kick) 7:17

SE - McCutchen 2 run (Ojeda kick) 2:28

YARDSTICK

SE CED

First downs 19 9

Rushes-Yards 46-264 29-160

Com-Att-Int 8-19-1 2-11-0

Passing yards 160 53

Fumbles-lost 2-1 4-2

Punts-Avg. 2-34 6-26

Penalties-yards 5-38 1-10

Turnovers 2 2

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Southeast: Coty Burch 26-179; Tanner McCutchen 18-90; team 2 - minus 5. Cedartown: Dishon Glanton 9-86; Rodman Battle 5-46; Brooklyn Cotton 8-21; Chan Borders 2-10; Privett 13-7; team 2-mnus 10.

PASSING - Southeast: McCutchen 8-18-160-1; Trey Parris 0-1-0-0.

Cedartown: Hayden Privett 2-11-53-1.

RECEIVING - Southeast: Burch 3-85; Jeremy Bishop 3-45; David Rayborn 2-30. Cedartown: Devin Watkins 1-44; Marquis Thomas 1-9.