Friday night storylines: Murray and Southeast meet up, battle for first win

Published 6:01 pm Thursday, August 29, 2024

Outside of a renewed rivalry matchup between Dalton and Northwest Whitfield, there are several other intriguing local games on the slate for Friday night, including a game between Murray County and Southeast Whitfield.

Murray, Southeast face off for first win

With both Murray County and Southeast Whitfield coming into Friday night’s matchup at 0-2, a much-needed win is on the table for both sides.

Which team will take it?

Indians and Raiders meet Friday night at 7:30 at Murray Field to see which team breaks its losing skid and gets a win on the books.

Through two games apiece, Murray and Southeast have been outscored by a combined 184-21. The Raiders have yet to get on the scoreboard in its two losses — 62-0 to Gordon Central and 32-0 to Coosa — while Murray was down big in both its games — a 42-14 loss to Towns County and a 48-7 loss to Ringgold — before scoring.

Whichever team can get some offense going early could have a leg up in this matchup.

Murray has had some success moving the ball, led by Jagger Reed in the run game, but turnovers have harmed the Indians.

Southeast, meanwhile, has struggled to score, but a Murray defense that has allowed at least 28 points by halftime in each game could provide an opportunity for the Raiders to get moving.

Murray leads the all-time series between the two programs 24-13, and the Indians have won the last three games in a row, including a 35-34 classic the last time the two teams played in 2021. Southeast’s last win over Murray came in 2018.

The game is the third straight home game to start the year for Murray, and also the final non-region game of the season. This week marks a break after its Region 7-2A opener against Ringgold last year, but it’s all region games the rest of the way for the Indians, starting next week at Union County.

Southeast, which is playing a non-region schedule this year, returns home next week to play Armuchee.

Christian Heritage hosts Pepperell for final non-region game

After a lopsided loss to Heritage to start the season, Christian Heritage got back to .500 last week with a 49-20 thrashing of Cherokee Christian.

Friday night, Christian Heritage faces its final non-region game before launching into Region 7-A DI action.

The Lions host the Pepperell Dragons Friday night at 7:30.

Pepperell comes in at 0-2, having lost a shootout 31-28 at Pickens to start the year before a 31-14 loss to Adairsville last week. The Dragons led 14-7 over Adairsville at the half before giving up 24 unanswered in the second half.

Christian Heritage’s offense, behind QB Carter Triplett, looked sharp as they trounced Cherokee Christian, with Triplett totaling six total touchdowns, including three passing scores to tight end Benji Michmerhuizen and two to wideout Dontae Crowder. Running back Thailan Christopher also busted some big runs on his way to 160 rushing yards.

Against a Pepperell defense that has given up 31 points each game, Christian Heritage hopes their offense more resembles the one that hung 28 first-quarter points on Cherokee Christian instead of the one that fell behind 42-3 to Heritage to start the season.

The game is the first meeting on the field between Pepperell and Christian Heritage.

Coahulla Creek opens region play at North Cobb Christian

For a Coahulla Creek offense that has shown some improvement but yet to get the ball into the end zone through two games, the challenge doesn’t get much easier Friday night.

As the Colts open Region 7-2A play, they’ll face a North Cobb Christian defense that has allowed just seven total points all year.

Coahulla Creek (0-2) plays at North Cobb Christian (2-0) in Kennesaw Friday at 7:30 p.m.

After failing to get much of anything going offensively in a season-opening loss to Northwest Whitfield, the Colts fared better in last week’s 28-0 loss to Chattooga.

QB Waelyn Baliles connected on 15 of his 25 attempts for 103 yards — including 50 to Wyatt Mann — as the Colt offense began to string some drives together, but some key turnovers helped keep Creek from putting up points again. The Colts hope to break the barrier against an NCC team that beat Providence Christian 14-0 and Darlington 14-7.

If the Colt defense can limit North Cobb Christian to its season average of 14 point and the Creek offense can get going, the Colts could build a recipe for success.

The game is the first in school history for Coahulla Creek against its new region mate.

North Murray off this week after 1-1 start

After going 1-1 against two Whitfield County non-region rivals — beating Dalton 22-9 and falling to Northwest Whitfield 29-12 — North Murray gets a week off to recover before starting its region schedule.

North Murray hosts Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m. to kick off an 8-game Region 7-2A slate.