A week after going toe to toe with Calhoun in a physically draining season opener, Dalton was more than happy to accept all the gifts Ridgeland offered up Friday night at Harmon Field.
The host Catamounts were 7-for-7 on first-half drives to give first-year head coach Kit Carpenter his initial win, 49-0. The Panthers (1-1) aided in each of the scoring drives with either poor punts or turnovers (six on the night), making it easy for the Cats, whose longest drive covered just 40 yards.
Tyson Greenwade scored on the game's first play following a 9-yard punt on a 34-yard run and later added touchdown runs of 4 and 27 yards. Journey Boston added two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving, while quarterback Brady Pendley threw for a pair of scores and rushed for one.
"We did a good job of bouncing back and eliminating penalties this week," Carpenter said. "Fortunately we had the opportunity to play a lot of guys tonight and they did a great job of picking up where the starters left off. This was indeed a total team win."
Chase Watkins led Ridgeland, which played without several starters, on the ground with 80 yards on 15 carries.
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night's Chattanooga-area high school football games)
Coahulla Creek 38, Southeast Whitfield 7: The Colts (2-0) won consecutive games for the first time in program history as running back Tyler Locklear had three rushing touchdowns and quarterback Kace Kinnamon ran for a score and threw for another. Payton Gordon scored Coahulla Creek's first touchdown on a 49-yard run after a turnover, with Aiden Patterson later adding a 22-yard touchdown reception.
Gordon Lee 21, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe 0: The Trojans (1-1) allowed only 132 yards in posting the shutout. Penn Askew had 74 yards rushing and a touchdown while Connor Whitman added a touchdown run and 44 yards on the ground and Nate Dunfee had 61 yards rushing and two catches for 42 yards. Montgomery Kephart kicked a pair of field goals.
"We had a better week of practice and rolled a lot of players in on the defensive line to stay fresh," said Gordon Lee coach Josh Groce, whose team lost at Dade County last week. "Offensively, we had long drives that ate a lot of clock and we had the ball for 30 minutes of game time."
The Gordon Lee at LaFayette game has been moved up a day to Thursday next week due to a shortage of officials.
Trion 42, Coosa 7: The Bulldogs won their season opener in Trion as senior running back Rob Brown had 100 yards rushing and touchdown runs of 2, 17 and 6 yards. Quarterback Logan Eller was 13-for-15, including a 22-yard touchdown pass to Conner Deparlier, while Linkin Farrar had 77 yards and a touchdown on three catches, and defensive end Cole Cavin returned an interception 28 yards for a score.
Dade County 51, North Sand Mountain 0: Cayden Cooper had 158 yards and scoring runs of 8, 34 and 18 yards as the Wolverines (2-0) put up 390 rushing yards. Cody Williams added 122 yards and two touchdowns, and Brodie Swader had 73 yards and two scores.
Northwest Whitfield 44, Gordon Central 7: Owen Brooker threw for two touchdowns and added one on the ground as the Bruins evened their record at 1-1 in Tunnel Hill. Brooker hit favorite target Ray Morrison to start the scoring and later in the first quarter made it 13-0 on a short run. Braxton Floyd, Adrian Reyes and Luis Almazon added touchdown runs for the Bruins.
Model 10, LaFayette 6: The Ramblers lost in Rome after having three late drives end in interceptions. Jaylon Ramsey had 81 rushing yards and caught five passes for 48 yards, while Kahlas Finley had a pair of field goals for LaFayette.
Ringgold 35, Gilmer 15: Thursday night in Ellijay, the Tigers used two touchdown runs and a scoring pass from quarterback Mason Parker, two touchdowns and 82 rushing yards and a touchdown from Peyton Williams and 94 rushing yards and a fumble return for touchdown from Kori Dumas to get the nonregion win. Malachi Hill had a touchdown catch and intercepted a pair of passes for a Ringgold defense that allowed just 128 total yards.
* Due to COVID-19 quarantining at Chattooga, the Indians' game against Pickens was canceled.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.