DALTON, Ga. — Sometimes stats can tell a lie.
Take, for instance, the first half of Heritage’s 55-12 win at Southeast Whitfield in the GHSA Region 7-AAAA football opener for both teams Thursday night.
The Generals (6-0) led by 23 points at halftime, yet had run only nine offensive plays to 42 by the Raiders (4-2) and were outgained 205 yards to 147. However, when a team gets touchdowns on a fumble recovery in the end zone and a kickoff return in addition to adding 21 points off a pair of other takeaways, plays and yards don’t mean much.
“It was fun. It was a different kind of feel when you have two defensive touchdowns and a special teams touchdown,” Heritage coach E.K. Slaughter said. “I bet we didn’t run 20 offensive plays with our starters all game, but it was fun.
“On the other hand, we struggled a little bit defensively in the first half. They do a lot of stuff offensively, and I was impressed with their staff.”
Leading the big-play barrage for Heritage was senior receiver and defensive back Tyler Cheatwood, who had a 70-yard kickoff return for touchdown, caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from Kaden Swope and later returned an interception 100 yards.
“Tyler is a good kid who works hard,” Slaughter said. “He just made some good plays. Coach (Chris) Hight does a good job with our special teams, and we had some good blocks on that kickoff return and Tyler did a great job of reading them. On the pick-six it wasn’t really his play, but he just read the ball and made a play on it.
“That has to be a school record to score on offense, defense and special teams.”
The Generals started things with Paxton McCrary’s 13-yard run one play after Max Owens intercepted a Brayden Miles pass, barely a minute into the game. Heritage’s longest “drive” of the half was four plays, with Landon Cansler going 61 yards around right end for a 14-0 lead.
The Raiders used the hard running and two third-down completions from Miles to get inside the Heritage 20, where Miles scored on a 12-yard keeper.
That momentum lasted about eight seconds as Cheatwood took the short kickoff and raced 70 yards for a 21-6 edge. Later in the second quarter, two plays after a Southeast fumble, Swope scored on a 26-yard keeper.
Moments later Miles was trapped for a 20-yard loss and fumbled in the end zone, with Heritage’s Tanner Hall recovering for a 35-6 lead. Southeast made it interesting with a long drive that ended with Miles hitting Matthew Brock for a 6-yard touchdown with three seconds left on the clock.
The Generals put any remaining drama to bed with Swope’s touchdown pass to Cheatwood and, six minutes later, Cheatwood’s lengthy interception return.
“I think we’re doing some really good things,” Slaughter said. “I’m really proud of these guys. They are a fun team to coach, but we are definitely struggling in some areas. We’ve come quite a way, but we have a long way to go to get where we want.”
Dalton 52, Hiram 45: Tyson Greenwade had 374 rushing yards and four touchdowns as the Catamounts (3-3, 1-0 Region 7-AAAAA) generated 545 total yards. After falling behind 24-7, Dalton scored 31 second-quarter points to take control before having to hold off a wild rally by Hiram (3-3, 0-1).
Greenwade had touchdown runs of 22, 23 and 7 yards in the big second quarter, which also included Ethan Long’s 46-yard touchdown pass to R.J. Storey. Long was 11-of-12 passing for 171 yards, including a 48-yard touchdown to Warner Ross. Adriel Hernandez had a 75-yard touchdown run, which turned out to be the winning points as the Hornets got two touchdown passes from Sam Wylie in the fourth quarter.
Other area scores:
Haralson County 42, Gordon Central 12
Armuchee 54, Chattooga 21
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.