Dalton had the chance to beat Cedartown in final seconds of the fourth quarter. Head coach Chris Prewett made one of the worst decisions in high school football history and his team went on to lose in overtime.
It should be classified as malpractice!
I genuinely do not know what the high school football coach thought would happen. Prewett completely blew it.
Cedartown won the high school football game in overtime.
Cedartown High School is located near the border of Georgia and Alabama, approximately 60 miles west of Atlanta. It enrolls ~1,500 students in Grades 9-12. Dalton High School is located near the border of Georgia and Alabama, approximately 90 miles north of Atlanta. It enrolls ~1,900 students in Grades 9-12.
Both high school football programs compete in Class 5A. The former traveled to the latter on Friday night.
Cedartown entered the weekend at 4-1. Dalton entered at 4-0. It was a back-and-forth battle that went right down to the wire.
The game was tied at 7-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The visiting Bulldogs took a 21-7 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the first half. The Catamounts tied it right back up at halftime. Brand new ball game. 21-21.
Dalton took its first lead of the game with five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Cedartown scored a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter. Neither team scored again in regulation. The Georgia high school football game went to overtime tied at 28. The Bulldogs went on to win 43-41 in double overtime.
But it didn’t have to be that way! The Catamounts absolutely blew it.
Dalton head coach Chris Prewett committed malpractice.
Cedartown was driving on offense with the score tied at 28 with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Dalton forced a fumble and recovered the loose ball.
The Catamounts worked their way down to the 10-yard-line with 15 seconds left. A timeout stopped the clock.
Dalton attempted a pass to the end zone on the ensuing play that fell incomplete. It had time to take another shot to the end zone but it did not have any timeouts remaining. To run the ball would be foolish. There was no way to stop the clock.
And yet, that is exactly what head coach Chris Prewett decided to do. He ran the ball up the middle with less than 10 seconds left in a tie game without any timeouts. The ball-carrier was stopped well short of the goal line. The clock expired.
Prewett had three choices. Two were right, one was wrong.
He could either throw a quick pass before time expired and kick a field goal, kick a field goal, or run the ball. A made field goal would’ve won the game. Running the ball led to overtime. The Catamounts went on to lose.
Maybe Prewett does not have any confidence in his kicker or maybe he doesn’t even have a kicker. That would be the only explanation for this horrible coaching malpractice. Three points would’ve resulted in a win. Dalton ran up the middle.