The Woodland Wildcats (0-9, 0-7) went to Cobb County to face off the Kell Longhorns (7-2, 6-1), and while the 42-14 final was discouraging, the Woodland play was inspiring.
The game got off to an inauspicious start when Kell recovered a Wildcats fumble on the opening kickoff. Kell quarterback John Lampley scored on a read option to put the Longhorns up 7-0 in the opening minutes of the game.
Woodland responded with a long drive that ended on a fumble on the Kell 40-yard line. Again the Longhorns capitalized on the mistake when Josiah Futral finished off a 60-yard drive with a 2-yard run to make it 14-0.
Woodland had another time-eating drive that ended in Kell territory when the Wildcats failed to convert on a 4th & 5 on the Longhorns 16-yard line.
John Lampley touchdown passes to Logan Flesher and Michael Luckie to increase the Kell lead to 28-0. Longhorns running back Dre Houston got in on the act with a 62-yard touchdown run to make the score 35-0 going in to halftime.
Most guys playing for a winless team down 35-0 at halftime would phone it in in the second half, Woodland linebacker/tight end Emmanuel Jones is not that guy. Jones recovered a Kell fumble on the first possession of the second half. Brody Williams would punch it in on a quarterback sneak for Woodland’s first score of the night to make it 35-6.
Emmanuel Jones made his presence known on the next Kell possession when he took an interception to the house for the Wildcats, a successful two point conversion would make the score 35-14.
A late touchdown by Kell running back Victor Glover would give us the final score of the game 42-14.
Woodland (0-9) will finish their season at home next week against the Rome Wolves (7-2, 6-1) at 7:30.