A BITTER END
♦ Bulldogs fall short of title game after heartbreaking loss in state semifinals
COLUMBUS — Emotions came out as tears and cries of frustrations on the Cedartown sidelines Friday night as the clock ran out on the Bulldogs’ 2021 season.
After reaching the state semifinals for the first time in 20 years and a year after getting to the quarterfinals under first-year head coach Jamie Abrams, Cedartown came up short to Carver-Columbus, 22-21.
A methodical and thrilling fourthquarter drive was halted before the Bulldogs could score, and Carver scored on a 55-yard run by Jaiden Credle before pulling ahead on a run by quarterback Devin Riles on the two-point conversion.
“We had kind of got ourselves in some bad situations in the first half and we had to make some different calls that we normally don’t make and got ourselves off schedule,” Abrams said. “But the kids responded, and we had a drive going in the fourth quarter and just, you know, I told them it’s squarely on me. It’s not on them. They played their behinds off.”
The team went inside the locker room shortly after the final horn.
“I just told them I’m extremely proud of who I’ve watched them become,” Abrams said. “A lot of these seniors have grown up tremendously and to get us to this point and watching them come together was fun to see. We just didn’t pull it out when we needed to.”
The game, played at A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium in Columbus, saw Cedartown build a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on the strength of running back and Georgia commit CJ Washington.
Washington capped off a 10-play, 70-yard opening drive with a 14-yard touchdown run around the left end. He then scored from 8 yards out to end the second Cedartown possession.
Carver came back to tie the game in the second quarter, with quarterback Devin Riles as the catalyst.
The senior turned a pass play into a 12-yard run into the end zone early in the period before a pass attempt on the two-point conversion failed. Riles then got out of trouble on another pass play on the Tigers’ next possession to run 25 yards on third-and-17.
He then passed to a sprinting Kameron Hudson, who was in front of a Cedartown defender and took it into the end zone for a 54-yard touchdown. Riles was on target on the two-point conversion this time, finding William Bonilla on the pass to tie the game at 14-14.
Carver threatened to go ahead just before halftime, but the Tigers ran out of time after converting on fourth-and-6 and getting to the Cedartown 36-yard line.
“They’re a big, physical group of players and a big, fast group of players. We had trouble blocking them sometimes and I mean, that was it. The biggest obstacle is we put ourselves in some of those bad situations. We got ourselves in penalties again,” Abrams said.
Cedartown (11-2) had a 74-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter kept alive by an acrobatic catch by Donald Knight from Reece Tanner on fourth-and-4.
Washington had his biggest run of the game two plays later as he took to the left end and went 33 yards into the end zone. Kicker Mario Maldonado made his third of three extra points to put the Bulldogs ahead 21-14.
Carver (12-1) stopped Cedartown on fourth-and-1 on the Tigers’ 34 to end a Bulldog possession that took 9
minutes and 26 seconds off the clock. It included an offsides call on Carver on fourth-and-2, and a 4-yard run by Washington on fourth-and-1 that kept it going.
The Bulldogs stepped up on defense and forced the Tigers to face fourth-and-1, but running back Jaiden Credle slipped through the middle and found a clear path 55 yards for a touchdown.
Carver quarterback Devin Riles pushed his way over the goal line for the twopoint conversion to make it 22-21 with 2:27 left in the game.
Cedartown went threeand-out on the ending drive after having a solid kickoff return by Khamarion Davis called back because of a penalty, and Carver took three knees to run the clock down to 11 seconds.
A Tiger punt put the Bulldogs back on offense with two seconds left. Tanner attempted a short throw to begin a possible comeback play, but it fell incomplete.
“We didn’t make the plays when it counted, but I mean, that’s a credit to them. They made the plays,” Abrams said. “At the end of the day it’s over and done with. Some of these guys have got football ahead of them, the young guys have got football ahead of them. So you go back and regroup and get ready to go do it again.”
Carver moves on to play Benedictine in the Class 4A state championship game after the Cadets defeated North Oconee 42-32.