The Adairsville Tigers (0-1) showed they still had some growing pains that were leftover from the 2016 season when they were downed by the Ridgeland Panthers (1-0) Friday night 48-7. Ridgeland had four different rushers score a touchdown in the first half of play and added a halfback pass for good measure to give the Panthers a 34-0 lead.
Navy commit Jalyn Shelton had one rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown and Kennesaw State commit Markeith Montgomery had two rushing touchdowns and a forced fumble.
Adairsville missed a field goal in the first quarter and would then fumble on its next possession to give Ridgeland extra chances to extend its lead, which it did.
The Tigers did get on the scoreboard in the third quarter as they took the field by storm and marched down the field on a drive that ended on a Mason Boswell one-yard touchdown run. The Tigers would force the Panthers to punt and attempt to sway momentum back in their favor, but a fumble by Burgess would set Ridgeland and Montgomery up for another score to extend its lead to 41-7.
Just a few minutes later, Ridgeland would extend its lead to 48-7 after Desmond Johnson punched in his second score of the game.
The Tigers will look to regroup next week when it hits the road to play an intra-county game against the Cass Colonels (0-0).