Bulldogs shutout New Manchester 24-0 for Jamie Abrams’ first win
A complete team effort secured Cedartown’s first victory of the 2020 campaign on Friday night as the Bulldogs downed New Manchester 24-0 in Douglasville.
“I saw a lot of good things,” head coach Jamie Abrams said after his first victory at Cedartown. “They’ve responded and they keep getting better. We’re still young in some areas, but we had some young guys step up and play some valuable minutes.”
Abrams was exactly right in saying that the young guys performed well in Douglas County. Sophomores accounted for each Bulldog touchdown. Scoring was opened four-and-a-half minutes into the game as kicker Gio Jacobo remained perfect on the season by converting a 35-yard field goal to give Cedartown a 3-0 advantage.
The Bulldogs (1-2) scored again early in the second quarter when Harlem Diamond scored on a 9-yard touchdown run to make it 10-0, which would be the score at halftime.
Cedartown led a strong drive to start the second half, punching it into the end zone on a 24-yard burst from Patrick “Juice” Gardner. The efforts of the Rockmart transfer helped make it a threepossession ballgame, which would stand for much of the second half.
An exclamation point was added by Xavier Hargrove as the second-year Bulldog rumbled in from
14-yards out with 5:29 remaining in the contest. His touchdown made it 24-0 Cedartown, a mark that would stand as the game’s final score.
“I’m very proud of the offense. I thought that the defense did an excellent job, especially right before the half,” Abrams said. “It was big right before the half, when they’re down inside the 20yard line and we don’t give up points right before the half and give them momentum I thought was huge. I thought that was a big part in the game and a big turning point.”
New Manchester (2-2) had an electrifying offense to start the season. The Jaguars defeated Hiram 46-13 the week before hosting Cedartown after a 395-yard, six-touchdown performance from quarterback Deandre Houston. However, against the Bulldog defense, New Manchester yielded only 62 passing yards and minus-5 rushing yards. The Bulldog defense intercepted two passes and recovered a New Manchester fumble on Friday.
“They put up a ton of points last week and I thought they were very dangerous, so going in we knew we’d have to tackle in space,” Abrams said. “I thought (we) did a good job of containing them for the most part, but they’re a very athletic football team.”
Cedartown was 0-for-3 passing and did all their offensive damage through the ground game. They tallied 204 rushing yards in the win, including 152 of those yards coming in the second half.
“We’re still not full-speed, and I guess that’s the disheartening thing,” Abrams said in postgame. “Hopefully they can get better as we progress through the weeks and see if we can get everybody back healthy.”
The Bulldogs return home this Friday to host Heard County ( 4- 0) in their final non-region tune-up before taking on Region 7-4A teams. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Cedartown High School.