North Murray, Coahulla Creek have hopes for region titles

Nov. 4—North Murray hosts Rockmart in region title showdown

The goal is simple for the North Murray High School football team tonight at 7:30 in Chatsworth.

Upend Rockmart and the Mountaineers halt the Yellow Jackets' streak of five consecutive region championships, take this year's Region 7-2A crown and receive a home playoff game.

With a loss North Murray would finish in a tie for second place in the region. A loss would put North Murray in a three-way tie with Model and Fannin County.

North Murray (6-3, 4-1 Region 7-2A) prefers the region title, but to earn that the Mountaineers will have to hand Rockmart (7-2, 5-0 Region 7-2A) its first region loss since 2016.

Rockmart rolled through its first four region games — winning each by at least 34 points and recording three shutouts — and the Yellow Jackets downed Fannin County 21-7 last week.

North Murray was able to rack up 42 points on Fannin, albeit all in the second half in a frantic comeback attempt. The Mountaineers defense, which gave up 68 to Fannin, will have to contend with a Rockmart squad that averages 39.8 points per game.

The powerful rushing attack from Rockmart has accounted for 2,338 yards. Cam Ferguson leads a multitude of dangerous rushers with 475 yards and seven touchdowns, and quarterback J.D. Davis can run or hit big-play passes.

North Murray's Seth Griffin is the Class 2A leader in passing yards with 2,411, and he'll try to keep North Murray in pace with Rockmart in the potential shootout by finding standout receivers Judson Petty and Jadyn Rice, the top two in receiving yards in 2A.

Coahulla Creek aims for win, hopes for help to get region title

In its first winning season in school history, Coahulla Creek heads into the final week of the regular season with a shot at winning the Region 6-3A title.

Coahulla Creek plays at Adairsville tonight at 7:30, when the Colts will hope for a win and some help in the region title race.

With a win over Adairsville (8-1, 6-0 Region 6-3A) and a Ringgold loss to Gordon Lee tonight, Coahulla (7-2, 5-1 Region 6-3A) would be crowned region champions. It's an outside shot, but Gordon Lee gave region-leading Adairsville a scare two weeks ago.

With any other result, Coahulla would be the third seed in the region for the playoffs and have to hit the road for an opening round game. A loss to Adairsville would put Creek at third in the standings, even with a Ringgold loss. Even if Creek downs Adairsville and Ringgold beats Gordon Lee to create a three-way tie atop the region, tiebreakers on point differentials would still put the Colts third.

All Creek can control is its game with Adairsville, and the Colts will need to slow down Adairsville's two 1,000-yard rushers to have a shot.

Ethan Blome (1,108 yards) and Chris Roper (1,095 yards) have powered the Adairsville offense. Roper has 17 rushing touchdowns and Blome has 11.

Creek's passing attack, led by quarterback Kace Kinnamon and wide receiver Manny Dominguez, may have to create big plays to keep up with Adairsville's offense.

Bruins welcome region champion Cedartown to close season

For the first time since 2014, the Northwest Whitfield Bruins aren't using the final game of the regular season to jockey for playoff position.

The Bruins had their streak of seven consecutive playoff appearances end with a loss to Central-Carrollton last week.

Even with an upset win over undefeated and newly-crowned Region 7-4A champion Cedartown (9-0, 4-0) in tonight's home game at 7:30, the Bruins (5-4, 1-3 Region 7-4A) would be on the outside looking in.

Northwest will try for that upset in a game they need to win to avoid the program's first non-winning season since 2014. Northwest started the season 4-0 but has gone 1-4 since as the Bruins collided with tough region opponents.

It'll be the last game for Northwest senior quarterback Owen Brooker, who has led the Bruins to a lot of winning in the last four years. Brooker has started since he was a freshman, helping with the last three of those consecutive playoff appearances and assisting the last two Bruins teams in reaching the second round of the playoffs. Brooker enters the game as the passing leader in Class 4A with 2,147 yards.

Cedartown has done most of its damage on the ground in a season that has seen only a pair of competitive games among blowout wins. Harlem Diamond leads the rushing group with 730 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Murray, Gordon Central battle for first win

Murray County and Gordon Central enter tonight's final game of the season with identical records of 0-9.

After the game at 7:30 in Calhoun, one will end the season win-less, while the other will celebrate the first taste of victory this year.

A win for Murray County would be the first under first-year head coach Kurt Napier.

Napier inherited a Murray County team that finished 1-9 last season and didn't bring back a lot of experience. The Indians have struggled to put up points, but back-to-back games of getting points on the board have Murray headed in the right direction after a trio of consecutive shutout losses.

Gordon Central has been in a similar situation. An early 10-6 loss to Armuchee was the closest the Warriors have come to a win, and Gordon Central hasn't been competitive in region games.

Southeast ends season at home with Sonoraville

Southeast hopes to avoid ending the season on a five-game losing slide when the Raiders (4-5, 0-4 Region 7-4A) host Sonoraville (5-4, 2-2 Region 7-4A) tonight at 7:30.

The Raiders were once 4-1, claiming their best start to a season in five years, but things changed once Southeast began play in a brutally tough Region 7-4A. Southeast skidded to 0-4 in their four region games, but the Raiders can avoid a losing season with a win over Sonoraville.

Sonoraville has a playoff spot locked up, and the Phoenix can improve their seed with a win.

Southeast will hope for a better offensive output to try to keep up with Sonoraville. Southeast's 14 points last week against Cedartown were the most the Raiders have scored in region play, but those came after Cedartown had inserted reserves in the second half.