A week after a loss to the last-place team in Region 6-6A took a bit of the luster off of Kennesaw Mountain’s school-best 6-0 start, the Mustangs football team is back in the driver’s seat.
Quarterback Cayman Prangley ran five yards for a touchdown and passed 40 yards to Jailen Taylor for another in the third quarter Friday night as Kennesaw Mountain rallied from a 17-7 halftime deficit for a 21-17 victory over visiting Pope.
Kennesaw Mountain (7-1, 5-1), Pope (5-2, 4-1) and defending region champion Allatoona (3-3, 3-1) have one loss each at the top of the standings, but Kennesaw Mountain holds the tiebreaker after beating both teams. The Mustangs can win the first region title in school history with victories in their last two games, against Wheeler and Osborne, who have a combined region record of 1-9.
Last week, Kennesaw Mountain was upset 17-15 by South Cobb, which was 0-4 in the region at the time. The Mustangs had been projected as 40-point favorites by the computer Maxwell Ratings.
“That loss last week was the kick in the butt that we needed, I think,” Mustangs coach Caleb Carmean said. “We’ve got to understand that complacency is a killer. I’m not saying that we were completely complacent, but you’ve got to play week in and week out in this region. Everybody can beat you, so we’ve got to finish strong.”
Pope outgained the Mustangs 165-61 in the first half in building its 10-point lead, but Kennesaw Mountain flipped the script in the second half. On their first drive of the third quarter, the Mustangs essentially drove 69 yards in 15 plays, aided greatly by the recovery of a punt that hit a Pope blocker in the back, and pulled within 17-14 on Prangley’s touchdown run.
After forcing a Pope punt, the Mustangs drove 49 yards in four plays, taking the lead for good on Prangley’s touchdown pass to Taylor with eight seconds remaining in the quarter.
Pope appeared to answer on the ensuing kickoff, which Phil Sims Jr. fielded at the 10 and took 90 yards to the end zone, but a holding penalty brought the ball all the way back to the Pope 12-yard line. The Greyhounds gained one yard in three plays and were forced to punt. Pope ran just eight plays for no yards in the quarter.
Pope got the ball one more time in the fourth period and drove from its 12 to the Kennesaw Mountain 12, but a pass went incomplete on fourth-and-7, and the ball turned over on downs with 3:52 remaining. Kennesaw Mountain was able to run out the clock.
Pope made life difficult on Prangley most of the night, sacking him five times and holding him to minus-1 yard rushing on 19 carries. But Prangley completed 10-of-14 passes for 129 yards and accounted for all three of his team’s touchdowns.
“Cayman’s a great football player,” Carmean said. “The first half was uncharacteristic of Cayman. He held onto the ball a little too long, and he made some mistakes because he was being way too conservative and got out of his style of play. The second half he just cut it loose and played his style of football and the style that we know he’s capable of.”
Kennesaw Mountain led 7-6 after each team scored on its first possession. Kennesaw Mountain got a 24-yard touchdown pass from Prangley to Savion Riley, and Pope answered with an 82-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Lowe to Cam Bleshoy but missed the extra-point attempt.
Pope took advantage of good field position the rest of the half. The Greyhounds started three of their final four drives of the half in Kennesaw Mountain territory and began the other one just short of midfield. They scored on two of those drives, getting a 4-yard run from Sims, plus a 2-point conversion, and a 29-yard field goal by Brock Standfest.
“It’s tough, because I feel like we played well enough for the majority of the game to win the game,” Pope coach Tab Griffin said. “I told the kids this one’s gonna sting. I feel bad for them. It wasn’t in the cards tonight. We didn’t get the breaks.”
Pope - 6-11-0-0 - 17
Kennesaw Mountain - 7-0-14-0 - 21
First quarter
K - Savion Riley 24 pass from Cayman Prangley (Ty Roldan kick), 8:21
P - Cam Bleshoy 82 pass from Patrick Lowe (kick failed), 6:42
Second quarter
P - Phil Sims Jr. 4 run (Daniel Ward pass from Lowe), 7:33
P - Brock Standfest 29 field goal, 0:31
Third quarter
K - Prangley 5 run (Roldan kick), 4:08
K - Jailen Taylor 40 pass from Prangley (Roldan kick), 0:08
