Drive for the GHSA State Title: Quarterfinals ramp up with Cartersville traveling to Kell for first-ever meeting between storied programs

As storied as the two programs are, the first meeting between the Cartersville Purple Hurricanes (12-0) and the Kell Longhorns (10-2) comes this Friday in the Class 4A Quarterfinals as the two powerhouses take the field for a spot in the semifinals.

Friday’s matchup will be broadcast live on Atlanta News First (Channel 46) and the Peachtree Sports Network (cable and YouTube TV), and streamed live on the Atlanta News First app. From your home, download the free ANF+ app anywhere you stream — FireTV, AppleTV, Roku and YouTubeTV — simply by searching for “Atlanta News First” on those platforms. If you are on the go, you can download Atlanta News First for free in the app store on your Apple or Android device. You can also watch live here on the WANF – Special Events channel.

Led by head coach Conor Foster in his seventh season with the Purple Hurricanes, Cartersville is seeking its first state championship since former head coach Joey King and Trevor Lawrence went 30-0 and won back-to-back state championships in 2015 and 2016.

Foster has won three-straight region championships while compiling a 37-2 record in that time-span.

In his time at Cartersville, Foster has made it to the quarterfinals six of his seven seasons at the helm as the Purple Hurricanes are looking to make it back to the semifinals for the first time since back-to-back trips in 2022 and 2023.

For Cartersville to advance to the semifinals for the third time under Conor Foster, the Purple Hurricanes will have to go up against one of the more well-rounded rosters in the classification.

For the Longhorns, head coach Bobby May is in his fourth year at Kell where he is in the midst of his best run at the school, making it past the second round for the first time in his tenure.

May brought the Longhorns the school's first region championship since 2014 in the 2023 season and took home the Region 6-4A region championship this season after recording an undefeated regional record for the second time in three seasons and is seeking the school's first-ever state championship in their run this season.

To reach the state championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Longhorns will have to go through an elite Cartersville team on the Longhorns home turf.

“At this point we just need to focus on the basics and continue to get better and add any little tweaks based off of what Cartersville does,” said May. “We’re just trying to focus on us, stay healthy and get ready to play a really good Cartersville team.”

The Longhorns are littered with top-recruits on all sides of the ball as playmakers fill-out the roster across the board.

Senior quarterback Kaleb Narcisse has thrown for 1,927 yards and 17 touchdowns while completing 66% of his passes out to his variety of playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. Junior four-star running back Quinterrious “Moonie” Gipson has been outstanding for the Longhorns this season as he has recorded 1,922 all-purpose yards with over 1,700 yards on the ground to go along with 25 total touchdowns on the season as a proven weapon in all facets of the offense.  

Also featured in the Kell offense are pass catchers Donte Grant, Brock Burrus and Nathan Agyemang who have combined for 1,131 yards and seven touchdowns through the air.

Another huge piece of both the Kell offense and defense is four-star Tennessee-commit Brayden Rouse as he has made an impact on both sides of the ball for the Longhorns. Rouse is naturally a linebacker but has been playing tight end this season where he has been a pass-catching threat with 32 receptions for 433 yards and six touchdowns on the year. On the opposite side of the ball, Rouse leads the team with 108 total tackles and is second on the team with 11.5 tackles for loss.

Also on the Longhorns defense, the Kell defensive back room is filled with Division I talent as Jowell Combay (Tennessee-commit), Tony Forney Jr. (Missouri-commit), and Jalen Williams (Arizona State-commit) have been a huge piece to the Longhorns' success this season. The three have combined for 123 tackles and four interceptions this season as they are elite-caliber defensive backs that Kell relies on to shut down the opponent's pass game.

The Kell defense has been strong this season, shutting out opponents in four matchups.

For Cartersville, the Purple Hurricanes have outscored their opponents 117-0 in the first two rounds of the playoffs. This season, the offense has outscored its opponents to an astonishing 575-135 and have let up only seven points in their last four games.

The offense runs through senior quarterback Nate Russell as he has been nothing short of efficient this season with a touchdown/interception ratio of 36 to one. Russell has recorded 2,575 yards through the air on a 76% completion percentage.

Russell has a variety of playmakers to spread the ball around to including Georgia wide receiver-commit Brady Marchese as he has totaled 38 catches for 894 yards and 13 receiving touchdowns, showing out as one of the best pass catchers in the classification. Sophomore Madoxx Davis has been a reliable pass catcher recording 33 receptions for 756 yards and six touchdowns.

“He has been fantastic,” said Foster. “He has been playing his best football in our biggest moments and he's a guy that’s a three-and-a-half year starter and a guy that has gotten better every year.”

The Purple Hurricanes have three players with over 300 rushing yards this season as seniors Braylon Hill and PJ Richards as well as sophomore Tripp Chatmon have combined for 1,413 yards on the ground and 26 touchdowns.

The Cartersville defense has been phenomenal, led by four-star junior linebacker Cole Crawford and three-star sophomore edge rusher Kylen Pope. Crawford has recorded 39 total tackles in 12 games along with three tackles for loss and three QB hurries while Pope has recorded 27 total tackles and a tackle for loss this season.

Senior linebacker Brayden Logan leads the team with 59 total tackles through 12 games.

This Friday, the action will start ahead of the Score Atlanta broadcast of the Cartersville and Kell matchup at 8 p.m. with the Georgia High School Countdown to Kickoff, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Atlanta News First (Channel 46) and the Peachtree Sports Network (cable and YouTube TV) and will be streaming on the Atlanta News First website/app. The pregame show will feature Parkview head football coach Adam Clack, Score Atlanta President I.J. Rosenberg and Landon Knight as they will preview the upcoming matchup with each person picking their winning team, along with interviews from each participating head coach.

After the clock hits zero, stay tuned after the game for the Georgia High School Postgame Show, which will be broadcast live from the Score Atlanta Studio, with Score Atlanta’s Craig Sager II and Hayden Gilbert featured on the program. The postgame show will run from game’s end till midnight every Friday night, with a full breakdown of each game, call-in guests chiming in to voice their opinions, and updates from other top-tier games around the state. The postgame show, like the pregame show, will be broadcast live on Atlanta News First and the Peachtree Sports Network and streamed on Atlanta News First and the NFHS Network.