The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes advanced into the second round of the GHSA Class 5A football playoffs on Friday night with a 49-6 win over Jackson-Atlanta.
Cartersville, the No. 2 seed from Region 7, took an early lead and never let off the gas in the first quarter. Quante Jennings capped off the opening drive for Cartersville with a 16-yard touchdown run only 53 seconds into the ball game. Before Cartersville could get another possession on offense, Devonte Ross would take a punt 60 yards into the end zone to extend the Cartersville lead. On the next Cartersville drive, Carlos Del Rio-Wilson connected with Collin Fletcher for a 13-yard score to make it a 21-0 lead with still 7:25 to play in the opening quarter.
Ross would catch two more touchdown passes, one from Del Rio-Wilson and the other from Stratton Tripp, to give him three for the game. Del Rio-Wilson threw his third touchdown of the day to Kyler Johnson from 49-yards out to extend the lead to 42-0 with 27 seconds left in the opening half.
Cartersville outscored Jackson-Atlanta 14-6 in the second half with a running clock. Malachi Jeffries scored on a 12-yard run, while Brody Mott had a scoop-and-score for the Cartersville defense.
Cartersville will hit the road next Friday night to play Saint Pius, the No. 1 seed from Region 5.