Class AAAA houses the only championship matchup that is pinning two undefeated teams against each other this season, and the flawless records of Cartersville and Blessed Trinity is just one strand of their highly-anticipated showdown.
Here’s a look back at when the team’s met in last year’s second round of the playoffs:
Cartersville carried a 41-game winning streak into the game and had outscored its past nine opponents by a whopping 46.1 points per game. Consequently, second halves with running clocks were much more familiar to the Purple Hurricanes than the 14-3 lead that Blessed Trinity had built itself in the first half. Nonetheless, Cartersville was able to climb its way back and clung to a 17-14 lead with under a minute to play as Blessed Trinity marched into field goal range.
The Titans made it to the Cartersville 26-yard line and felt that they were in position to tie the game with a field goal, but head coach Tim McFarlin saw an opportunity to go for the win instead, and he went for it.
“We felt like we could take a shot and still have time to attempt a field goal,” explained McFarlin. “That was the advantage we had.”
Junior Ryan Davis went out wide as the only receiver on the play. Titans quarterback Jake Smith took the snap and immediately rolled right as a pack of purple jerseys closely followed. Davis used a double-move to separate himself from the coverage and hauled in Smith’s deep ball in the back right corner of the end zone for the game-winning touchdown with 12 seconds left to give Blessed Trinity the 21-17 victory.
Blessed Trinity’s 14-3 lead at the half was built with a pair of Steele Chambers rushing touchdowns and Cartersville had to use a school-record 55-yard field goal to get on the board. Cartersville quarterback Trevor Lawrence found E.J. Turner on a 15-yard touchdown pass to bring the Canes within 14-9 in the third quarter and a Marko Dudley 75-yard punt return touchdown gave Cartersville the 17-14 lead.
Fast forward to 2018: This year’s Blessed Trinity team is an even better version of last year’s group, but Cartersville has strengthened defensively, as well as other departments. Last year’s matchup also saw sloppiness and dropped passes plague Cartersville early on.
The game will kickoff at Mercedes-Benz Stadium at 4:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 12. Here’s my keys for the two opponents.
Cartersville: Beware of Blessed Trinity’s fast starts. The Titans have outscored their opponents 136-15 in the first half of this year’s playoffs. The Titans also have a running back in Steele Chambers, that can use the power run to eat up yardage and clock. This is not the team to play catchup against.
Blessed Trinity: Keep playing your game. Quarterback Jake Smith has thrown just one interception this season and is as good as it gets when it comes to game-planning and maintaining control of the game. Also, if the Titans’ defense avoids giving up the big play, and can disrupt Tee Webb and the Cartersville passing game, not only will it likely lead to a victory, but the state will see why the program has been so successful—especially over the last two seasons.
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