Coming off a bitter loss to North Cobb last Friday, the Cartersville Purple Hurricanes traveled to Paulding County to play the North Paulding Wolfpack. The Canes got the scoring started in the first half, but it wasn’t because of the offense. Following defensive pressure from Cartersville, Xavier Coaxum had an interception that he returned for a touchdown. The first half was filled with defense and penalties, but the second half brought a different story.
Cartersville’s Tymon Pennymon scored the first offensive touchdown for either team in the game, and gave Cartersville a 13-0 lead after the PAT was successful. North Paulding showed signs of life, however, and promptly returned with a score of their own, cutting the Cartersville lead to 13-7. Kalin Heath helped seal the game with two touchdown runs to close out the game and helped Cartersville beat North Paulding 26-7.
Coach Joey King joined the Harry Daniel Postgame Pary with Alan Sanders and Kevin Pate to talk about his team’s victory. “Our kids are playing really hard right now and playing the game is on the line regardless of the score.” He credited his defense on their excepetional defense, and gave a special shout out to Coaxum on his pick-six. King said most of their penalties were effort penalties and the team will focus on the mental penalties in practice. He said the team started without two of their offensive linemen and the fill-ins did well. He said they would fix what they could and move on to the next. Cartersville’s next opponent will be an away game against Gilmer on September the 26th with a 7:30 start.