Hurricane causes scheduling havoc: Northwest goes for victory 301 on Saturday, Dalton, Christian Heritage continue region play

Published 8:00 am Friday, September 27, 2024

With Hurricane Helene set to make landfall and lead to heavy rains across the southeastern United States, high school football games featuring several local schools have been postponed or rescheduled.

Southeast Whitfield’s game at Decatur’s Towers scheduled for Thursday has been postponed until Monday at 5 p.m. The game will be played at Hallford Stadium in Clarkston.

Northwest Whitfield’s road game against Ringgold’s Heritage has been moved to Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and will be played either at Heritage or at Ringgold High School, depending on field conditions. Dalton High School’s homecoming game against Hiram scheduled for Friday has been moved to Saturday at noon.

Christian Heritage’s road region game at Coosa was still on as scheduled for Friday night at 7:30.

Northwest Whitfield tries to stay unbeaten, goes for victory No. 301 at Heritage

Northwest Whitfield got victory No. 300 as a program last week when the Bruins shut down Gilmer 38-10.

Northwest goes for 301 Saturday — and hopes to maintain its undefeated record — at Ringgold’s Heritage.

The Bruins (5-0, 1-0 Region 7-3A) play Region 7-3A opponent Heritage (3-2, 1-0 Region 7-3A) Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Northwest’s all-time record is now at 300-222-1, with the Bruins in their 50th season of football. Head coach Josh Robinson, who has helmed the Bruins since 2011, is the school’s all-time wins leader at 93.

For Northwest to stay unbeaten and get win program win 301 and Robinson win 94, the Bruins will have to handle a Heritage that’s been a regular region rival of the Bruins.

The two have shared a region since 2012, and Heritage holds a 7-6 series lead, and the Generals have been especially adept at causing Northwest some trouble in recent years.

Heritage has claimed two in a row over Northwest and has won five of the last seven matchups. Northwest took games in 2020 and 2021.

The undefeated and fourth-ranked Bruins haven’t given up more than 12 points in any of its five games, and the offense has put together its best two scoring outputs of the season in the last two games, scoring 43 against Southeast and 38 against Gilmer.

The Generals come in with a 3-2 record and a little bit of an up-and-down start. Heritage cruised 42-17 to begin the season over a Christian Heritage team that is undefeated since. Heritage also has close losses to strong teams in Ringgold and Gordon Lee, but the Generals scraped past 1-3 LFO 28-21 and escaped with a 24-21 over winless Ridgeland last week.

Northwest is looking to keep its region record unblemished as the Bruins pursue just their second region title as a program. The lone region championship came after a 9-1 season in 2000.

Dalton hosts Hiram hoping to pay off progress with victory

The last two games for Dalton have shown how far the Catamounts have come in every way but the scoreboard.

To start region play in a tough Region 7-4A schedule, Dalton’s had its back-to-back best offensive performances of the year in road losses to Cartersville (43-13) and Allatoona (42-29).

Now, the 0-6 Catamounts will aim to make good on that progress and turn it into a win.

Dalton (0-6, 0-2 Region 7-4A) hosts Hiram (2-3, 1-0 Region 7-4A) Saturday at noon at Harmon Field in Dalton.

It’s the first home game in more than a month for Dalton, which has played four consecutive road games since a game against North Oconee on Aug. 23.

They’ll host a Hiram team that has three losses, but those three losses came against a trio of teams that have just two losses between them in Eastside, Central-Carrollton and East Paulding. Hiram beat Paulding County 48-41 to start the season and opened region play last week with a 41-28 win over Cass.

Last week, Dalton got its offense going against Allatoona and led 7-0 after a quarter and tied the game 14-14 at half, but the Catamount defense couldn’t slow down the rushing attack of Allatoona, especially in the second half. Allatoona totaled 413 rushing yards, and scored two long touchdown runs in the second half to pull away for the 42-29 win.

Christian Heritage takes 2-0 region start to Coosa

After a loss to start the season, the Christian Heritage Lions are rolling.

Christian Heritage has won four straight, and that streak has rolled into the start of Region 7-A DI play with a pair of wins.

The Lions (4-1, 2-0 Region 7-A DI) aim for five straight and a 3-0 start to region play in a game at Coosa (2-3, 0-2 Region 7-A DI) that is scheduled for Friday night at 7:30.

The Lions have rolled up 38 and 35 points in their first two region games, and quarterback Carter Triplett is leading the way. After four passing touchdowns in a win over Dade County and three rushing and two passing scores against Gordon Lee, Triplett has 1,478 total yards and 19 total touchdowns through five games.

The Lion offense has put up big numbers to keep Christian Heritage ahead. Christian Heritage’s opponents are scoring an average of 24.4 points per game.

The Christian Heritage defense could have a better night against a Coosa team that has been shutout in back-to-back games.

It’s the first road game for the Lions since a season-opening game at Heritage. The last four games for Christian Heritage have all been at home.

Murray County, North Murray, Coahulla Creek on bye

A trio of local coverage area teams won’t have schedules affected by the weather due to a pre-scheduled bye week.

Murray County is off this week and will return to action Oct. 4 at North Cobb Christian. Coahulla Creek will next play Oct. 4 at home against Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe. North Murray is next in action Oct. 4 at Sonoraville.