The Bulldogs cement their home playoff spot, the first in more than a decade, Sports
Bulldogs cement second place spot with Chapel Hill win, will play Pickens County.
The Cedartown Bulldogs finished their regular season big winners over Chapel Hill, cementing their second place spot in Region 5- 4A and will host their first playoff game since the early 2000’s.
The 9-1 Bulldogs (5-1 5-4A) finished off the Panthers in a huge second half with their 47-14 win heading into the playoffs with a big second half after what head coach Doyle Kelley said could have been a better first half.
“We know what kind of team we’ve had all year,” Kelley said. “That was Cedartown football, Bulldog football. We challenged them at halftime, and told them that they had a chance to be 9-1. And they wanted it.”
Chapel Hill didn’t make it easy for the Bulldogs. They scored twice in the first half, first with a 96-yard return on an interception by Malik Leblanc and again with three seconds left in the half as quarterback KJ Burton held onto the ball and rambled in from 23 yards out.
The Bulldogs came back with shockers of their own in the second half, with Zaquan Frazier ran the opening kickoff of the second half back for a 75-yard touchdown.
On the kickoff following, the Bulldogs were able to force a fumble and used the turnover as a chance to score, with quarterback Trevon Wofford getting in from a yard out.
The Bulldogs piled on two more scores from quarterback Wofford and Mathis, with the running back pushing in for a 26-yard score and the quarterback adding another 1- yard punch up the middle to cross into the end zone.
But it was the defense that was challenged more than anyone last Friday night.
“Our defense came back in the second half, and coach Ruark challenged them at halftime. We didn’t make any adjustments, we told them exactly what they were doing,” Kelley said. “We didn’t have any energy at the beginning of the game, but they picked it up. Our defense played unbelievable in the second half, and our offense came alive... Like I keep telling everyone, we have the two best coordinators in the state of Georgia.”
Cedartown held Chapel Hill to just 104 yard on the night as they went into negative yardage in the second half. Burton went 3 for 9 for 45 yards on passing before he was knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury.
The Bulldogs put up 390 total yards of offense on the night, with Trevon Wofford serving under center most of the game for the Bulldogs going 10 for 19 for 134 yards of offense. He combined with Tony Mathis and a squad of other runners for an additional 256 yards on the night for the Bulldogs.
Wofford and Mathis combined served up 6 touchdowns on the night on their own.
Cedartown now heads into the Class 4A playoffs as they host Pickens County following their loss to the Heritage Generals 4921.
They keep their spot since Southeast Whitfield fell to an undefeated Ridgeland Panthers 49-0 on the road.
Kelley said the team will be taking the upcoming playoff game like they have the rest of the season: one game at a time.
“We’ve got to play four quarter,” he said. “The first two quarters we didn’t play well, but we came back in the second half and got the job done.”