The Cedartown Bulldogs took a trip to Franklin, Georgia in a rematch of last year’s big win at home against the Heard County Braves. The trip down Highway 27 was no different in the 42-0 shutout win for Cedartown on Friday night.

Harlem Diamond and Reece Tanner both scored twice – Diamond on the ground, and Tanner in the air – along with CJ Washington, Khamarion Davis, Donald Knight, and Jordan Johnson to help the Bulldogs go 3-0 on the year.

Bulldogs fans who made the trip watched as the offense got rolling first thing and took two minutes to drive down the field for a CJ Washington touchdown, and added two more scores in the first quarter to carry a 21-0 lead into the second.

The Braves were able to slow down the Bulldogs in the second quarter, but ultimately found themselves on the wrong side of the Bulldogs offense as both Tanner’s second touchdown throw of the night and Diamond’s run into the end zone put the Bulldogs up to 35-0 going into halftime.

Diamond, injured as he went across the goal line when Heard County cornerback LJ Green pulled him down from behind awkwardly and Diamond landed on his left shoulder, was out for the rest of the game. PolkSportsWire can report that Diamond’s injury is not a break, but it is unknown whether he’ll be able to play against Calhoun in the Thursday night road trip to Gordon County.

In the third quarter before a running clock started, Davis took a misdirection handoff from Washington to put up the final touchdown of the night, and got to the end zone thanks to late blocking help from Tanner heading just ahead of him downfield.

Just as much as Cedartown’s offense rolled to a big win, the defense took their share of the credit against Heard County, coming up with big sacks to keep Braves quarterback Marice Fench off balance and from any kind of ground game to get going. Additional credit to special teams as kicker Mario Maldanado pinned Heard County on kickoffs down close to their own goal line, and remained consistent on the night in extra point kicking duties as well.

Here’s this week’s Top Highlights reel from the trip to Heard County:

Cedartown Head Coach Jamie Abrams said he knew the game would be physical coming into the contest, and that the pride the Braves faithful take in watching their home team made the victory all the more important for the Bulldogs on Friday.

“I have a lot of respect for those guys,” he said. “I think our kids did a good job of responding and taking the bus ride down.”

He also noted positives in the game: a greater amount of passing compared to the New Manchester contest, and the effectiveness of the offense overall as they improve from their first week game against Denmark, which was a 7-3 victory on the road to open the season all the way back in August.

“We’ve shown some resiliency at times,” he said. “I think we’ve got a better understanding this year than we did last year because we had a full summer and all that kind of stuff. I think the resiliency and the little better execution…. I’m proud of this bunch, and I’m proud of our bunch of seniors.”

With the victory and the move to 3-0, the Bulldogs are back in action this coming Thursday night with a rescheduled game with the Calhoun Yellow Jackets. The 3-1 Jackets are coming off a Friday night victory against Woodstock.

Following the second road trip in a row, Cedartown keeps rolling away from home in their region 7-AAAA opener against the Pickens County Dragons on October 1.

Check back for more on the upcoming Calhoun game at the start of the week.