The Adairsville Tigers (3-2, 1-1) defeated Murray County Indians (2-2, 0-1) on Friday night by a score of 43-30.
Mason Boswell threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Burgess to give the Tigers an early 6-0 lead. The Tigers would recover a Murray County turnover at the Indians 24-yard line but would move in the wrong direction and were forced to punt. After the first quarter, Adairsville held a 6-0 lead.
In the second quarter, a long Adairsville drive would end with a 15-yard touchdown run by Christian Steele to give the Tigers a 13-0 lead in the second quarter, but Adairsville wasn’t quite done. Chance Jones would pick off the Indians quarterback and run it all the way back for a Pick 6 and a 20-0 Adairsville lead.
But like last week, the opposition wasn’t ready to give up.
After connecting on a field goal, Murray County would recover an onside kick. On the very next play, the Indians would score on a 44-yard touchdown pass but miss the PAT to cut into the Tigers lead 20-9. On the ensuing kickoff, the Tigers would muff the kick and Murray County would take over from the Adairsville 24-yard line.
Fortunately, on fourth down, Boswell would intercept the pass in the end zone and Adairsville would take over at its own 20-yard line. Now it would be Adairsville’s turn for a big play.
Travon Branch would take a pass 80 yards into the end zone to give the Tigers a 27-9 lead. But the Indians weren’t done. They would end the half on a 14-0 scoring run and trail Adairsville 27-23 at the half.
The Tigers looked to end Murray County’s 23-7 scoring run in the third quarter and Christian Steele made it happen with a 7-yard touchdown run. Adairsville would convert a 2-point conversion and have a 35-23 lead in the third quarter. Boswell would then throw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Simmons to give the Tigers a 41-23 lead but would miss the PAT.
Murray County was not going away that easily, as they would put another score on the board and trail by 11 with 2:09 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers would show their quick-strike ability as they marched 59 yards in four plays that would be capped with a Steele touchdown run and give the Tigers a 49-30 lead before the fourth quarter could begin.
Both teams would be held scoreless in the fourth quarter, but the damage had been done for the Adairsville Tigers, who played a physical game against the Indians.
Adairsville has a bye week next week and gets ready to host Calhoun in a region and rivalry game on October 6th at 7:30.