By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CENTRE – Cherokee County High School football coach Jacob Kelley said the Warriors flirted with disaster in their Class 4A Region 6 battle with Anniston on Friday. They had an interception, a missed field goal, lost a fumble, and had a few costly penalties.
But even with all those miscues, third-ranked Cherokee County improved to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in region play with a hard-fought 14-0 victory over the Bulldogs.
The Warriors have their defense to thank for Friday’s win. The unit posted its third shutout in the past four weeks, and they’ve given up just 12 points in the past five weeks.
But on Friday night, Anniston (2-4, 2-2) made the Warriors sweat it out.
“We flirted with disaster a little bit, but the name of the game is winning, and when you can win the ugly ones, that says a lot about the fight in the kids,” Kelley said. “I feel like for the first time in a while we faced a little bit of adversity, maybe more than normal. Hat’s off to Anniston. I feel like their kids played their tails off. They wanted to get back in this region hunt. And hat’s off to that coaching staff too. I thought they did a great job of getting them prepared.
“I feel like we were on defense the entire second half. We couldn’t really get off the field, but then when they got in the red zone or moved it a little bit, I feel like we did a good job of stopping them.”
The Bulldogs had their best opportunity to put points on the board against the Warriors with 10:16 to go in the fourth quarter. They marched all the way down to the Warrior 2-yard line, but on a fourth-and-goal, Damon Pope was stuffed for no gain to turn the ball over on downs.
“That fourth-down stop and that was huge,” Kelley said. “If it goes 14-7, it might be a different ball game. We’re banged up a little bit, but we played our tails off.”
Anniston head coach Rico Jackson gave credit to the Warrior ‘D’ for its performance.
“They fly around,” Jackson said. “We had our chances. We got down to the goal line and we just couldn’t get in. You’ve got to keep working.
“It is frustrating. That’s two weeks we’ve been held without scoring. That’s something we’re going to get corrected. It’s just a want-to, and we’re going keep working to make sure it happens.”
The Warriors scored the only touchdowns in the game in the first half. Tae Diamond took a first-quarter handoff 72 yards for the first score. Ben Frampton’s extra point provided the Warriors’ a 7-0 lead with 7:14 remaining in the opening quarter.
Tristan Brown accounted for the other Warrior touchdown on a 26-yard run with 7:28 remaining in the first half.
The Warrior defense made those two scores stand. Not only did the unit make a goal-line stand in the fourth quarter, but senior defensive lineman Caleb Harbour recovered a fumble on Anniston’s first drive of the game. Fellow senior lineman Tae Diamond forced a fumble and senior linebacker Tyson Wood recovered it on Anniston’s final drive of the first half to preserve the lead.
Diamond also led the Warrior offense with 145 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown. Brown delivered 39 yards on seven totes with a touchdown.
“It was a good defensive battle on both sides,” Diamond said. “At the end of the day, we did what we needed to do to come out with the win. We had some pretty good drives on offense. They weren’t the best, but we got into scoring position. We did what we needed to do on (two of those) drives, and it worked out for us.”
Both Diamond and Kelley also gave credit to Pope for his elusiveness. He split the quarterback duties on Friday with Jamorris Young. Pope completed 8 of 15 pass attempts for 86 yards. He also accumulated 39 yards on 14 carries.
“When we broke them down (on film), we saw what 17 (Young) brings to the table and what 2 (Pope) brings to the table,” Kelley said. “We were able to get to 17 early on. They probably thought 2 would give them a little bit more time, and he did.
“By the end of the fourth quarter, we were gassed. It was hard to get pressure. It was hard to get them down. He did a great job of evading.”
“It was hard to keep him in the pocket, contain him in the pocket, and also to bring him down,” Diamond said. “He’s just a good athlete. He knows how to escape pressure. He’s good with pressure.”
But so too were the Warriors.
Cherokee County travels to Hokes Bluff on Friday for a huge region showdown. Anniston hosts Etowah.
NOTE: There was a scary moment late in the game. Anniston senior receiver Nicholas Warren caught a pass with 2:33 remaining in the game and was hit hard on the play. He lay motionless for a few minutes while medical officials tended him and was taken off the field on a stretcher.
Jackson said he felt Warren would be fine.
“He took a hard hit. I thought it was targeting but they didn’t call it. He hit his head on the turf,” Jackson said.