ATLANTA — Cartersville coach Joey King wasn’t asking the world of his defense Saturday in the Purple Hurricanes’ Class AAAA state title matchup with defending champion Buford at the Georgia Dome.
The Wolves came into the game averaging a classification-best 45 points a game and over 250 yards rushing.
“We just wanted a little bit of containment,” King said. “Just keep things manageable.”
He got that, and then some.
The Cartersville defense did something no team had done in 87 previous games, shutting out the Wolves in a 10-0 victory to help the Hurricanes capture their first state title since winning the Class AA crown in 1999.
The Purple Hurricanes (15-0) held Buford to just 137 yards rushing and forced a season-high four turnovers while finishing off the first shutout of the Wolves (13-2) since they were blanked by Carver-Columbus 14-0 on Sept. 3, 2010.
“We had a gameplan coming in and the kids did a great job of executing it,” King said. “They felt confident coming into the game that they could compete with Buford. We didn’t expect (a shutout) but we just tried to fight hard on every play. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
“You have to give Cartersville a lot of credit. They are a great team and executed better than we did,” Buford coach Jess Simpson said. “It was just two great defenses going at it.”
Neither offense, despite averaging 87 points a game combined, could mount many sustained drives.
The Hurricanes first score, a 47-yard field goal by backup kicker Jonathan Cruz, came after an 8-play drive stalled at the Buford 30. The only touchdown of the game came on a 5-yard pass from Trevor Lawrence to Miller Forristall two plays after Buford fumbled at its own 10 late in the second quarter.
Four times Buford drove into Cartersville territory only to come away with no points and leave with three turnovers. Mic Roof had three interceptions, but two came in the fourth quarter when the Wolves were trying to generate anything they could get.
“They were good play calls, just poor execution on my part,” Roof said.
Midway through the fourth quarter Roof had guided Buford from its own 14 to the Cartersville 13 going 6-for-6 for 47 yards, including four to Brandon Marsh. But his pass to Marsh in the end zone was picked off by Xavier Coaxum at the Hurricanes 1 with 3:40 left.
Trey Creamer picked off Roof on Buford’s final play of the game.
“(Cartersville) was able to shut down our run game and that created a lot of passing situations we’re not used to doing,” Marsh said. “We got some things working in that one drive but they made a play.”
“We just couldn’t create any momentum,” Simpson said. “Every time we had something going we had a penalty or a missed block or a turnover. But (Cartersville) was mixing up the defenses pretty well. We just couldn’t finish our drives.”
It was destined to be a defensive slugfest from the outset. The Wolves defensive line, led by North Carolina State-commit Shug Frazier, set the tone early, forcing Lawrence to scramble on one play and into an incompletion on the next for a quick three-and-out. On Cartersville’s first two possessions, the Hurricanes had just two first downs, both on Buford penalties.
The Wolves best opportunity of the first half came in the second quarter when they drove 68 yards to the Hurricanes 22. They faced a 4th-and-4 but a false start penalty pushed it to a 4th-and-9 and Roof’s pass to Jake Simpson was incomplete.
The Hurricanes used that as momentum to mount their best drive of the half moving to the Wolves 30. The drive was highlighted by a 36-yard pass from Lawrence to Terrius Callahan to the Buford 35. But the drive stalled and backup kicker Jonathan Cruz booted a 47-yard field goal to give Cartersville a 3-0 lead with 5:17 left.
The teams then traded punts again before Cruz provided the key play of the first half, pinning the Wolves inside their 10 with 1:55 left. On the next play the Canes forced a Buford fumble with Tiamon Pennymon recovering at the Buford 11.
Two plays later Lawrence found Forristall in the front of the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown pass for a 10-0 lead with 1:35 left in the half.
To add injury to insult, Xavier Gantt left the game three plays after that after, clutching his knee following a tackle.
In the first half the Cartersville offense managed just 76 total yards on 24 plays and just 15 yards rushing on 10 carries. Lawrence, who came in averaging over 250 yards and three touchdowns passing a game, was just 5-of-13 for 61 yards with the one touchdown. He finished 11-of-23 for 141 yards for the game.
Buford’s ground game piled up just 105 yards on 28 carries in the first half, with 26 of that coming on one playby TD Roof in the first quarter. The Wolves were held to just 35 yards rushing in the second half.
Buford had just five first downs, Cartersville four (two on penalties), and the two offenses were a combined 5-for-13 on third down conversions in the first half. The Hurricanes had just 16 yards rushing for the game on 28 carries.
Cruz, stepping in for the injured Gabriel Gridley, who was knocked out of the game with an apparent knee injury after a roughing-the-punter call on Buford in the first quarter, played a big factor. Three times he pinned Buford inside the 10 to go along with his field goal.
It was the second consecutive week the Wolves trailed at halftime after not trailing at the half but once all year -- against McEachern. They rallied for 28 unanswered points in last week’s 35-18 win over Woodward Academy.
They could not find the magic Saturday night.
“If we can’t take a little bad with all the good that has come our way over the years, there’s something wrong with us,” Simpson said. “I was proud of how our guys never quit and they lost with class to a better team. This will always be a special team for me. I just wished we could have finished the season better.”
The loss also ended Buford's run of three straight state titles over two classifications. However, it was a state-record ninth consecutive appearance in the finals for the Wolves spanning three classifications.
SCORING SUMMARY
CARTERSVILLE.......0....10....0....0 -- 10
BUFORD...................0.....0.....0....0 -- 0
Second Quarter
C -- Cruz 47 FG 3-0, 5:17
C -- Forristall 6 pass from Lawrence (Cruz kick) 10-0, 1:35
