Published: October 05, 2008 11:32 pm            

Cats fall, Bruins in charge

With Dalton’s 38-14 loss to Sequoyah in Canton, the Bruins (5-1, 3-0) are now in the driver’s seat (along with Rome) in Division “A” of Region 7-4A after a 35-7 win over Cass in Tunnel Hill. The Catamounts (5-1, 2-1) will look to rebound next week when they face Cass in CSS’s “Comcast High School Football Game of the Week.” In 6-3A play, the Southeast Raiders (1-5, 0-1) dropped their region opener to Ringgold, 48-0, in Dalton.

Dalton

THUMBS UP: The punting game. Toombs Norman did his best to put the Chiefs on their heels in the field position game, with three punts for a 33.5-yard average. Norman’s highlight was a 45-yard punt in the third quarter.

THUMBS DOWN: Turnovers and missed tackles. The Chiefs were clearly the more physical football team on the field and might have beat the Cats despite Dalton turning the ball over five times. But the turnovers gave the Chiefs all the breathing room they needed. Dalton muffed two kickoffs, threw two interceptions and lost a fumble, and Sequoyah capitalized, converting the turnovers into 25 points.

On defense, the Cats did a decent job of getting to running back Dominique Swope, but couldn’t bring him down when they got to him. On several plays, Swope dragged Dalton defenders for yards at a time and in a few instances, resorted to grabbing the back of Swope’s jersey and stretching it to his kneecaps while he high stepped for more yards.

— Adam Krohn

Northwest Whitfield

THUMBS UP: Passing the physical. One thing football coaches never tire of seeing is players who are willing to lay the big hit on a ball carrier to make the stop or lower their shoulder to bowl over a defender. And the Bruins were doing it on both sides of the line all night in last Friday’s 35-7 win against Cass.

Drew Smith dragged a whole crowd of Colonels defenders for what seemed like at least 2/3 of his 26-yard gain on a screen pass from Dean Haynes in the third quarter that helped set up a Romeo Williams touchdown run. Receiver Clayton Geary looked like a punishing fullback as he cleared territory for a 9-yard run for back Mike Martin in the first quarter. Yet another Northwest receiver, Jordan Darnell, showed a gritty second effort after the catch one play before Haynes put the Bruins on the scoreboard for the first time with a short touchdown run.

The offensive line protected Haynes, giving him time to turn out an efficient passing performance in which he completed eight of his first 10 attempts, and pushed forward for Martin, Chito Chibuye and others who piled up 261 rushing yards. And the defenders who added to the crunch factor are too numerous to name, though senior linemen Adam Wilkins and Justin Adams seemed to be particularly ferocious beasts against the Colonels.

Preparing perfectly. Another thing coaches don’t mind, especially this time of year, is a team that shows up well and puts into motion the prepared gameplan — and the Bruins did that, too.

They knew containing Cass’ scrambling quarterback would be important and managed to do that quite well, holding him to just 3 yards rushing in the first half and just 39 passing as he was hurried from the pocket by coverage and pressure. Seniors Zac Baker, a linebacker, and Nermin Delic, a defensive end, paid junior running back Lance Andrews a big compliment for the job he did as the scout team quarterback last week. Andrews’ quickness and speed was put to good use as he simulated Owens’ skills in practice.

THUMBS DOWN: Here and there. There weren’t many glaring miscues for the Bruins, but at least three first downs were wiped out by penalties, including a 31-yard run by Smith knocked out by a holding penalty away from the action. What looked to be a sure touchdown pass was dropped inside the 5-yard line after an amazing effort by Haynes to get free and heave it from the 36 on the run near the end of the first half. And the Bruins nearly gave Cass a tiny foothold in the third quarter — the defense looked a little flat on the Colonels’ opening drive of the second half before Williams returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown that blew things open; the offense was forced out after four plays on one of its only two possessions of that period, although, to be fair, the other one was a four-play touchdown drive that illustrated the Bruins’ dominance on this night.

— Marty Kirkland

Southeast

THUMBS UP: Fumble recoveries and taking a stand. The Raiders’ Zach Sneed, Josh Wilson and Alex Keener had fumble recoveries. Carmelo Apodaca had a touchdown-saving tackle on Ringgold’s first possession, although the Tigers eventually scored.

THUMBS DOWN: The Raiders’ defense has to stop somebody. In six games, opponents have averaged 37.2 points against Southeast. Northwest scored 53 in the season opener and Haralson County and Ringgold put up 49 and 48 points, respectively, in the last two games.

Ringgold amassed 415 yards of total offense.

Quarterback Tanner McCutcheon completed six passes, but threw five interceptions.

Apodaca and Jeremy Bishop each lost a fumble and dropped a sure touchdown pass, but those plays were just part of a formula for the Raiders being shut out for the second time this season. In those two games, the Raiders were outscored 101-0.

— Larry Fleming

        

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