Allatoona, the No. 5-ranked team in Class AAAAAA, has lost four consecutive season-opening games and will take on the team that handed it three of those losses when it kicks off the new year at home Friday night.
Cartersville, No. 2 in Class AAAA, has beaten Allatoona in three consecutive seasons, each time with a larger margin of victory than the year before. In 2015, Allatoona lost its opener against East Paulding 17-10 but responded with 14 consecutive victories on the way to its first state title.
Allatoona must replace the top three rushers – Daniel Parsons (1,129 yards), Cameron Moore (431) and T.J. Carr (337) – from an offense that got 76.7 percent of its yardage from the running game in 2018. Senior Alex Wilson, who ran for 256 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries last season, appears first in line to take over as the feature back. Dante Marshall is the returning starter at quarterback. He was 48-of-98 passing for 818 yards and three touchdowns last season.
The game will be the first as a head coach for Cartersville’s Conor Foster, who was promoted from defensive coordinator after Joey King left to become the wide receivers coach at Coastal Carolina. King compiled a record of 67-4 with two state championships and five region titles in his five seasons with the Purple Hurricanes. Foster will have the luxury of working with returning quarterback Tee Webb, who was 188-of-321 passing for 2,726 yards and 35 touchdowns in 2018.
"This place is special,” Foster, a Cartersville alum, told the Daily Tribune News. “I love it with my whole heart. Just so blessed and humbled by the opportunity to lead this program.”
Here are some of the other top games involving Class AAAAAA teams on the opening weekend of the season (all games are Friday unless noted):
*Banneker at Lovejoy: At the time, Banneker's 40-16 victory over Lovejoy in the teams' opener last season was shocking. However, the loss didn't look so bad for the Wildcats after Banneker finished with a 9-2 record and won the first region champion in program history. Lovejoy rebounded with three wins in its next four games but finished the regular-season 6-4 for the third consecutive year.
*Centennial at Northside-Warner Robins: Centennial has been a region runner-up the past three seasons, but the Knights enter this year as the Region 7 favorites, slightly ahead of Alpharetta, according to the computer Maxwell Ratings. Centennial has a new head coach in Shane Sams, the former offensive coordinator at Warner Robins. Northside won last year 38-14 and was the state runner-up.
*Mays vs. Kell (Saturday, Mercedes-Benz Stadium): Mays will take on Class AAAAA Kell in the Corky Kell Classic after losing to AAAAAAA Norcross 42-26 in its first-ever appearance in the event last season. The Raiders went on to finish 6-5, ending a streak of four consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins. Mays finished in third place in 5-AAAAAA and lost to Lanier in the first round.
*Tucker vs. Archer (Coolray Field): Tucker's season got off to a rough start last year when it lost to Buford 40-14 in the Corky Kell Classic and Grayson 48-7 the following week. The task won't get any easier this year, meeting Class AAAAAAA No. 4 Archer Friday in the Corky Kell and No. 5 Grayson next week. Last year, Tucker responded with seven consecutive victories after the 0-2 start.
*Westlake at Creekside: Creekside entered the 2018 season on a 10-game losing streak, and prospects looked bleak when the Seminoles lost to Westlake (49-13) and Dutchtown (16-0) in their first two games. But Creekside won seven of its final eight regular-season games to win the Region 5 championship and advanced to the second round of the playoffs, where it lost to Sequoyah 50-49.
