By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

Troup was knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 21-18 loss to Cedartown Bulldogs on Friday night.

In a back-and-forth game, it was Troup taking an 18-13 lead on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Montez Crowe to Kobe Hudson with 7:29 to play.

Cedartown answered with a touchdown and a two-point conversion to take a 21-18 lead with less than four minutes to play.

An interception on Troup’s ensuing possession gave the ball back to Cedartown, and it was able to nearly run out the clock before punting.

Troup took over on its own 29-yard line with 14 seconds left, and it was unable to move the ball, and Cedartown had the big win.

Troup (7-1 overall) fell to 3-1 in Region 5-AAAA, while Cedartown (7-1) improved to 3-1, and it has the tie-breaker edge between those teams.

Cartersville (9-0) is 5-0 in the region, and it will visit Troup on Nov. 3 in the regular-season finale.

In the first half, Cedartown struck first with a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead, and Troup answered with a 23-yard scoring pass from Crowe to Jamari Thrash with 4:10 to play in the half.

The extra point was missed, and Cedartown led 7-6, which was the score at the break.

In the third quarter, Troup took its first lead of the game when Crowe hooked up with Thrash for a 76-yard touchdown.

Troup went for two and was unsuccessful, so the lead was 12-7 with 2:51 left in the third quarter.

Cedartown reclaimed the lead with 9:13 to play to build a 13-12 lead, but Troup answered less than two minutes later on the 20-yard scoring pass from Crowe to Hudson.

Once again the two-point attempt was unsuccessful, so Troup led 18-13 with 7:29 remaining.

Back came Cedartown with a touchdown and a two-point conversion to go on top 21-18, and that’s the way it ended.

Troup will hosts Central-Carroll on Friday for homecoming.