With a defense as young and inexperienced as Villa Rica’s, the key for the Wildcats this season has been to let the offense take charge early in the game.

Playing in a must-win game to stay in the Region 6-AAA playoff hunt, Villa Rica scored the first three touchdowns Friday night and cruised to a 47-12 victory over Cartersville a† Sam McIntyre Stadium.

The Wildcats picked up 458 total yards of offense, including 282 on the ground. Zae Foster picked up 65 rushing yards on 10 carries and scored four touchdowns.

“This was definitely a shot in the arm,” said Villa Rica coach Rob Cleveland, who returned just four starters on defense this season. “We knew our backs were in the corner and we needed to come out swinging and our kids did that.”

The win moves Villa Rica (5-3, 2-3 Region 6-AAA) into a tie for fifth place with Cartersville (3-4-1, 2-3) and Cass (4-3, 2-3). The Wildcats have defeated both teams and own the tie-breaker against them. Haralson County (6-2, 3-2) and Sandy Creek (5-3, 3-2) — two teams Villa Rica has lost to — are ahead of the Wildcats in the standings.

“We know that right now our playoffs started this week,” Foster said. “Basically, if we lose, we might be out (of the playoffs), so we’ve got to keep going hard as a team and go out there with all we’ve got.”

After fumbling the ball on its first drive, Villa Rica scored on its next four first-half drives beginning with Foster’s 11-yard touchdown run with three minutes left in the first quarter.

The Wildcats opened the second quarter with the ball at their own 30 and after five running plays used a 44-yard pass from quarterback Jae Crowder to Rashad Thomas to move them down to the Cartersville 2. Foster ran the ball into the end zone on the next play and the 2-point conversion pass was good to give Villa Rica a 14-0 lead.

Villa Rica used another long pass — this time a 47-yard reception from Foster — on its next drive to move them into the red zone. After Everette Hickman moved the ball two yards on one of his team-high 17 carries, Johnny Hodges scored on a 13-yard touchdown run that put the Wildcats ahead 21-0.

The Purple Hurricanes answered with a 32-yard touchdown run from quarterback Donavan Tate, but the Wildcats added another touchdown with 14 seconds left in the first half when Crowder connected with Mike Springer for a 23-yard scoring strike.

While Villa Rica, which runs the wing-T, is more apt to run the ball, it picked up 176 passing yards on the night as Crowder went 10-for-12 with one touchdown through the air.

“Offensively, we know we can throw the ball, but we want to be in a situation where we throw it when we want to, not when we have to, and that’s when you’re passing game clicks,” Cleveland said.

Villa Rica’s defense, coming off a poor showing in a 44-41 loss to Haralson County, shut Tate down in the first half. Tate, the son of former University of Georgia and NFL running back Lars Tate, managed eight yards passing on nine attempts and 98 yards rushing, 41 of which came on the final play of the half.

“We obviously tackled a little better this week and of course lot of that (last week) had to do with Haralson County, they made us miss a lot,” Cleveland said.

The Purple Hurricanes got their passing game going in the second half and scored on their first drive with a 16-yard touchdown reception from Morgan Alexander with 4:19 left in the third quarter.

Villa Rica would score three touchdowns in the fourth quarter — two from Foster and one from Jonathan Russell — to cement its first win against Cartersville since 2002.

The Wildcats play at winless Central next week before finishing up the regular season against Carrollton, which currently holds the top spot in Region 6-AAA.

Villa Rica still needs two more wins, with a little help along the way, to secure its first playoff appearance in four years.