Scrimmages to start the season went well for both Cedartown and Rockmart.
Cedartown is going into their season opener on Friday in Alabama along with Rockmart to play Piedmont and Cherokee County.
A win on Aug. 12 over Model proved just to be what the Bulldogs had hoped would come of the home game, that though doesn’t count on the schedule does give Cedartown an idea of where it is working well, and what isn’t at all.
Dublin scored on a 5-yard run on Model’s first offensive play, followed by a second-quarter pass between Eldridge and Evan Burger for a 14-yard touchdown.
Cedartown scored late on a pass between Trevon Wofford and Tyrone Martin for a 45-yard touchdown. CJ Robinson scored the first of two secondhalf touchdowns on a 3-yard run, following a fourth quarter 30-yard pass between Dawson Sanders and Zahquan Frazier.
No matter how the game ended, the effort put forth by the Bulldogs had Cedartown head coach Scott Hendrix happy about the way the team is shaping up heading over to their first regular season game against Piedmont, Ala., on Friday.
“We got off to a slow start, but after the first five or six minutes I thought we did well,” Hendrix said. “It was a good preparation for next week. Model is a good team, and has a lot of talent at quarterback and running back and on defense as well.”
Head coach Gordon Powers said he was impressed by his team’s first half play, where quarterback Kyler Eldridge and Chris Dublin dominated on offense and combined for two first half touchdowns.
“I was happy for the first group that came out, but I’m not happy with turnovers and not finishing off drives,” Powers said. “The thing I wanted to do was to see if my kids would play hard and with enthusiasm, and go full speed and get after the ball. Win or lose, that’s what I wanted to see. We
can have a good team if we start from that point.”
The Blue Devils meanwhile have two weeks to prepare for the start of their season, facing off against Sonoraville on Aug. 26. Powers said his squad will be ready for another game playing up in classification.
“We’ll probably work two or three days on what we need to do, because Cedartown exposed a few weaknesses that we have,” Powers said. “We’ve got to get better on the fundamentals and playing good ball.”
Rockmart wins opening round scrimmage
A rough first quarter provided Darlington head coach Tommy Atha with some new insight into his team as the Tigers faced Rockmart in a preseason scrimmage on Aug. 12.
The Yellow Jackets put up three touchdowns against Darlington in the first quarter. The first was off a pass from Dylan Bailey to Morgan Sims, followed by an 80-yard interception by Zabrion Whatley for a touchdown, and another score by Marcus Smith.
“We made a lot of mistakes. We’ve got to make better decisions in the passing game, and maintain our blocks. All those things that you know you’ll have to do better after a scrimmage,” Atha said.
Rockmart head coach Biff Parson said he was happy with the outcome, but there is plenty of work to do as they move forward and prepare for their opener next week against Cherokee County, Alabama.
“There’s a lot of good and a lot of bad, and that’s why we get to do the scrimmage,” Parson said. “We’ve got to work on cutting down on our mistakes … probably the most disappointing thing is how we had to punt twice when we came out in the third quarter.”
Cam Jones also got a score for Rockmart, along with junior varsity player Luc Culver.
Atha said Rockmart played at a higher tempo than they have been able to replicate in practice.
“I think that first quarter was certainly an eyeopener for us,” Atha said. “We had to make some adjustments to the speed of the game, and we haven’t blocked anyone. Rockmart has great size and speed.”
Though pleased with second half performance, Atha said the team still has plenty of work to do following a rusty outing for the Tigers.