The Cartersville Hurricanes started off their season with a 35-0 home victory against the Allatoona Buccaneers. Head Coach Joey King was pleased with the Canes’ win in game one of the 2018 season.

When asked about a Canes’ team with many first-time starters, Coach King said he felt “experience is in the eye of the beholder.” However, he added, “We prepare our kids to be starters from the day they enter this program.”

Entering the season there were many questions about how Tee Webb would handle stepping into the starting role. In replacing 5-star QB Trevor Lawrence, it became evident that Webb is ready to step into his starting role after a big win in week one. King praised the way the junior gets his teammates involved. “Good quarterbacks trust their teammates, so that allows him not to feel like he has to make every play by himself.”

Losing star receivers TJ Horton and EJ Turner forced Coach King to make a decision. Against Allatoona, Cartersville switched between Marquail Coaxum and Marko Dudley at outside receiver. A definite third starting receiver won’t be announced this season.

“We’ll roll both those guys,” King said. “Both are great athletes and good leaders for us. Their priority is obviously gonna be on the defensive side of the ball, but there’ll be situations when you’ll see ‘em on the field at the same time.”

Five newcomers on the offensive line had brought concern about how well they could do against the 8th ranked 6-A school. However, the offensive line improved drastically from the scrimmage against Dalton the week before. King said he felt there were still many improvements to be made technically, but loved the effort his guys put in.

Due to running back Marcus Gary’s impressive performance, star receivers Kaleb Chatmon and Jackson Lowe were barely targeted. King took what Allatoona’s defense gave him. “My big thing play-calling wise is to take what the defense gives you unless something changes. Nothing really changed so we kept taking what they were giving us. That’s what we try to get the kids to believe in, taking what the defense gives you and trusting that the big plays will come.”

Cartersville struggled in the red zone against Allatoona, scoring one of three times. “We wanna be more productive than that,” King said. “The scrimmage wasn’t good, and we went with our heavy package and didn’t come away with points.” Expect the Canes to improve their red zone efficiency.

The Canes had a great start and hope to come away with another state championship this season.