The Cedartown Bulldogs can say something they haven’t in 19 years: they are region champions.

With a 34-7 win on Friday the 13th over Central Carroll, the Bulldogs broke a long streak keeping them out of the top spot in the region and the 2020 team secured their spot in school history forever more.

Head Coach Jamie Abrams said he was proud of the effort the team put up on Friday to secure the win, and through a long and difficult season.

“It feels good, but it (isn’t) about me, it’s about all these guys right here,” he said while pausing after Friday’s game to celebrate with Jai Barnes. “These guys have just been resilient with everything that’s going on. I’m just as proud as I can be these guys, and the coaches.”

The game started in bizarre fashion when Cedartown kicked off to Central Carroll, who muffed the return and allowed Cedartown to gain possession on the Lions’ one-yard line and open the first few seconds of the ball game with a touchdown run in by CJ Washington.

After giving the ball back to Central who were unable to move far against the Bulldogs defense with their opening possession, Cedartown found themselves back with the ball in their territory before Washington ran a touchdown back to go up 14-0 with 5:14 left in the quarter.

With two touchdowns under their belt, the offense and defense settled into a back-and-forth with Central, where the Bulldogs scored again in the first quarter when Quarterback Reece Tanner connected with Jayden Johnson for a touchdown pass, though the point after was blocked.

The senior back who has played a variety of roles on the Bulldogs offense over the past years and is heading to the University of South Carolina upon graduation added another touchdown in the third quarter to put his team up 27-0, and Patrick Gardner added his own score on the night thanks to a short push into the end zone to go up 34-0.

Central did get on the board late thanks to a touchdown pass between quarterback Beau Ivy and Korben Waldrop in the corner of the end zone, but that was after younger kids on the Bulldogs sideline were given a chance to come into the game in the fourth quarter as time was ticking away for any chance of a Lions comeback.

Overall, Cedartown put up 443 yards of offense, a lot of that on the ground, securing 242 yards alone before halftime.

With Friday’s win, they secured the 7-AAAA championship in football on the year, and earned their first round home playoff spot. It’s the first win in the region since 2001, when the Bulldogs went on a threepeat that began in 1999.

The championship is also the first under Abrams, hired in as the new head coach of the Bulldogs earlier in the year.

Key Takeaways

A lot of attention has been focused this year on the variety of threats available to the Cedartown Bulldogs on any given play, but the win over Central Carroll gave Jayden Johnson the chance to show off with two touchdowns and several key runs and receptions for the Bulldogs on the night. He also got to show off what he can do on defense as well. He also earned the title of Mr. Bulldog for the year, all while a reporter from the Columbia, South Carolina newspaper The State was watching. I’ll link to that when I find coverage.

No one can seem to figure out the key to stopping the Bulldogs defense from shutting down run defenses, and quarterbacks beware of passing. The Bulldogs had several tries on interceptions on the evening, but Donald Knight came away with the only pick.

The final road game of the season is a long drive back up to Catoosa County next Friday night, and not too far away Rockmart will be playing their final regular season game as well, all but sealing their region championship as well.