TUNNEL HILL — Coming off of their first loss of the season last week to Heritage in Ringgold, a motivated Northwest Whitfield team looked ready to bounce back with an emphatic win against LaFayette Friday night during their Homecoming celebration.
By the end of the second quarter, that win was all but assured thanks to seven touchdowns that helped send the Bruins (6-1, 2-1 Region 7-3A) over the winless Ramblers (0-7, 0-3 Region 7-3A) 48-21.
That first score came on the Bruins’ second play on offense, courtesy of a 33-yard Cameron Collins rushing TD. A successful Nery Martinez PAT put Northwest in the lead early and set the tone for the remainder of the game.
Three more Bruins touchdowns would follow in the first quarter, including a second one from Collins — this time a 3-yard rushing TD with 5:17 left — and a Gavin Nuckolls-Akendris Douglas connection for a 29-yard passing TD with 3:13 left.
The following Ramblers possession would ended with a Kade Parker interception, and Parker ran it into the end zone for a 37-yard TD, extending the score to 28-0.
Caden Ramsey then scored a 2-yard rushing touchdown to make the score 34-0.
The Ramblers would show spurts of life in the first half, including a 67-yard rushing TD from Khalas Finley to put LaFayette on the board deep into the first half.
Any positive momentum for the Ramblers would soon be quashed, however, thanks to Nuckolls finding Cal Manning for a 49-yard passing TD. Following another Bruin interception — this time from Kyle Cummings — on the first play of LaFayette’s next possession, the Bruins were once again in familiar Ramblers territory.
That would lead to a 9-yard Logan Stafford receiving TD with 6:20 to go in the first half, bringing the Bruins to 48 points. Northwest’s Tony Burnecke would jump on the ensuing kick to place the Bruins back in possession on the Rambler 27 yard line, but an unsuccessful field goal attempt from Martinez would keep the score at 48-7.
“Tonight, we didn’t have a lot of mistakes,” said Bruins head coach Josh Robinson. “So, that’s a really good thing to build on. We’re just going to have to keep improving. We’ve been preaching that to our kids. Just be the best version of yourself and be better than you were last week, and then things will usually turn out in your favor.”
The slower-paced second half would see sophomores Max Harrison and Zirous Davison take turns at quarterback for the Bruins with a running clock.
LaFayette would find themselves in the end zone twice more late in the bout to soften the score.
The win against the Ramblers looked to bring the Bruins back to form in 2024, where Northwest picked up five straight wins before dropping to Heritage 31-21 last week.
“Our kids saw what happened on film and we know how good we can be,” said Robinson. “And we had a not-very-good performance (against Heritage). The guys weren’t happy and we were wondering all week how the boys were going to respond. We may have had our best week of practice.”
Northwest will take on three more teams in Region 7-3A play, including a stop in Calhoun to take on the Yellow Jackets next week at 7:30 p.m. before facing off against Adairsville and Ridgeland.