An early prep football season full of blowouts was turned on its head Friday night in northwest Georgia.
Two games were decided in the final seconds and one had to go an extra session in a small but dramatic schedule of nonregion games for area teams, headlined by Class AAAAA Dalton's 21-14 overtime win at Class AA's eighth-ranked Rockmart.
The Catamounts moved to 3-0 for just the second time since 2016 and the first time under third-year head coach Kit Carpenter, using a dominating start and a resilient defensive second half to defeat a Rockmart team that put up 63 points on them a year ago.
They won on Ethan Long's 10-yard touchdown pass to Bubba Tanner on the first play of overtime and an interception by RJ Storey to seal the game on Rockmart's possession.
"Our guys really did a good job of staying focused," Carpenter said after the Yellow Jackets (1-2) rallied from a 14-0 deficit in the first three minutes and dominated play after the first quarter. "I'm really proud of the way our guys never let the negative situations affect them. Rockmart has a great team and did a good job of making adjustments."
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night's Chattanooga-area prep football games)
Rockmart was coming off an open date, having lost its season opener 13-12 to Cedartown before winning 24-23 against Cass.
Dalton nearly knocked the hosts out early with a three-play, 75-yard drive that started with a 25-yard run by Adriel Hernandez, continued with Long's 20-yard completion to Jeffson Locke and ended with his 30-yard strike to Tanner in just 50 seconds.
That was followed by an interception by Andy Antegana two plays later at the Rockmart 29, which led to a 4-yard run by Hernandez for a 14-0 lead.
The Cats held Rockmart out of the end zone on the ensuing drive by forcing a fumble at the 10, and the offense went right back to work, with Long completing one pass to Hernandez for 25 yards and another to Tanner for 43 to the Rockmart 11 to end the first quarter. However, the drive stalled at the 7, and a field-goal attempt was missed.
Dalton led 14-3 midway through the second quarter when Long was tackled hard well after going out of bounds on a scramble. A personal foul was called, but the Cats seemed to lose focus for a bit, getting two personal fouls of their own and missing another field-goal attempt to keep the lead at 11 at halftime.
Rockmart got a field on its first second-half possession, forced a three-and-out series by Dalton, then tied the game on a 57-yard Calliyon Thompson pass to Jake Bailey and Nahzir Turner's 2-point run.
Dalton would finally get going offensively in the final moments of regulation, driving to the Rockmart 18, but another field-goal attempt was missed with less than a minute to play, ultimately sending the game to overtime.
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night's Chattanooga-area prep football games)
Northwest Whitfield 38, North Murray 35: The Bruins (3-1), who blew a big lead last week against Ringgold, spotted the Mountaineers 28 points before scoring all 38 of theirs in the final 18 minutes — including JJ Plaza's 36-yard field goal with two seconds left — to win.
North Murray quarterback Skyler Williams, who passed for 252 yards in the opening half, had a pair of touchdown completions to Judson Petty and one to Tyler Henry while also adding a 49-yard scoring run for the 28-0 lead at halftime. He later added a fourth touchdown pass, this one to Hudson Hulett, for a 35-14 lead early in the final quarter.
The Bruins, though, rallied right back after Cameron Collins' second touchdown run of the game cut the deficit to 14 with 8:07 left. After a forced fumble, Gavin Nuckolls hit Hudson Gray with a 69-yard touchdown pass and Dominick Johnson tied the game two plays later by returning an interception for a score.
Another late turnover led to Plaza's winning kick, which just cleared the crossbar.
"The defensive turnovers were possibly the difference, even with how great the offense was," Northwest coach Josh Robinson said. "Caden Ramsey and Myles Mays were men tonight, causing fumbles and making other big plays, and Dominick Johnson had the pick-six to tie it.
"Offensively, Gavin Nuckolls threw the ball where we wanted and played great with his feet, and the receivers were spectacular."
North Murray fell to 2-2.
Chattooga 17, Coahulla Creek 14: Pedro Lopez's 23-yard field goal with three seconds to play in the nonregion game gave first-year coach Roone Gable his first win.
Landon Willingham had touchdown passes to Quarry Gibson and Dan Meyer, the latter giving Chattooga a 14-7 lead midway through the final quarter. However, a turnover gave the Colts (1-2) new life and they responded, tying the game on Chase Ward's 19-yard touchdown pass to Nate Tilley with 3:44 remaining.
Lopez's winning kick came after a long drive by Chattooga (1-2).
Calhoun 35, Cedartown 21: Trey Townsend had a pair of touchdown passes to Emaree Winston and ran for a score as the Yellow Jackets (3-1) downed the 2022 Class AAAA runner-up, avenging last year's 14-point loss to Cedartown (1-3).
Caden Williams had touchdown runs of 10 and 55 yards for Calhoun, which also had an interception and blocked field goal from Justin Beasley.
Sonoraville 41, LaFayette 21: The Phoenix (2-2) used two touchdown runs and a touchdown pass from Jaxon Pate to earn the nonregion win. Chaz Pate had two catches — both touchdowns — and 104 yards, while Jayden Cruze led Sonoraville in rushing with 96 yards and a score.
For LaFayette (1-2), Khalas Finley rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown and Dax Edwards added 68 yards and a touchdown run.
Heritage 28, Ridgeland 7: Brady Chandler had touchdown passes of 51 and 38 yards to Max Owens and a 51-yard touchdown to Cody Bryan as the Generals moved to 3-1 while dropping Ridgeland to 0-3.
Trion 65, Gordon Central 6: Toby Maddux had 10 rushes for 208 yards and two touchdowns while also adding a touchdown catch in just a half of play for the Bulldogs (3-0). Kade Smith had two touchdown runs and a scoring pass, while Zach Camp scored twice as Trion ran up 505 total yards against the Warriors (0-4).
Gilmer 31, Ringgold 7: The Tigers took their first loss after a 2-0 start.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.