The Carrollton High School football team, which has its highest ranking - No. 8 - since it went off No. 5 in the AP preseason Class AAA poll, visits rival Cartersville tonight at 7:30, a game that will be broadcast on KISS 102.7 FM.

“Cartersville is always a great rivalry with us. The last three years basically it’s come down to whoever had the ball last won the game,” Carrollton coach Rayvan Teague said. “They are loaded with probably the best skill level that they’ve had in quite some time.”

The Purple Hurricanes feature two Division I prospects in safety/quarterback Donavan Tate and running back Morgan Alexander. Tate has offers from Georgia, Florida, Southern California and Texas, among others, according to scout.com. Alexander is considering N.C. State, Louisville and Arkansas, according to scout.com.

“Their backfield, they’re pretty quick,” Trojans wide receiver and defensive back J.R. Freeland said.

Teague knows his team will have its hands full going against such players as Tate and Alexander.

“Both of those kids are three and four-year starters and have been scoring touchdowns against us for the last four years,” Teague said. “So it’ll be quite a challenge for our defense to stop them.”

It will be the third time in four seasons that the Trojans (4-1) have made the trip to Cartersville (4-1). Last season, though, Carrollton won 35-24 at home against the Purple Hurricanes. Overall, the Trojans have won three of their last five contests against Cartersville.

“Last year they were kind of out of it when they came down here, and we won the game. But the other three times, it’s been top-ranked teams playing each other. And it’s always been at their place, and they’ve made a lot of money off of us,” Teague said. “So we’d like for it to be here, but unfortunately we’ve got to go there.”

Heading into today’s road game, though, Teague is liking the progress of his team.

“We’ve got five games under our belt. We’re still not extremely athletic. We won’t be extremely athletic this year or next year, but we out-program people most of the time. I mean, these kids are dedicated. They’ve worked hard,” Teague said. “They’ve been in successful situations before, and so we’re just finding ways to win.”

Carrollton’s lone loss this season was a 24-7 defeat at Westminster in its Aug. 29 season-opener. Westminster is also the only team to beat Cartersville this season, doing so by a 48-21 score in a home game for the Purple Hurricanes two weeks ago.



And as the two Region 6B-AAA foes prepare for tonight’s contest, Teague has seen improvement across the board from his players.

“Our offensive line continues to get better. We’re holding onto the football with our running backs. We’ve reduced our turnovers and reduced our penalties somewhat,” he said. “Defensively, we seem to be hustling and playing (with) a little bit better technique every week, which makes up for our lack of speed sometimes - our pursuit angles and not giving up the big play.”

While it’s a different year, Teague thinks this game against Cartersville will pit two teams who still play to their traditional strengths. He wouldn’t be surprised, either, if the game comes down to the end again.

“They’ve always been the big-play team. We’ve always been the ball-control team, and that’s basically where we’re at again this year,” Teague said. “We don’t have quite the speed they have or the big-play potential, but we seem to be more consistent and thorough and maybe a little bit more hard-nosed than they are.”

He thinks the battle in the trenches could be the difference between victory and defeat.

“Hopefully we can control the line of scrimmage, and we’re going to have to,” Teague said. “And we’re going to have to score points on offense to be able to stay in the game with them.”

And for Freeland, the formula for coming out with a win tonight is simple.

“Just practice hard, practice hard. Go down there. Don’t be scared. Don’t be nervous or anything,” Freeland said. “Just go out there and do it the best (we) can.”