After thwarting a lengthy drive by the Dragons, Cartersville marched 80 yards in nine plays and scored on the three-minute, 26-second drive when Kendall Martinez ran the ball up the gut for an 11-yard touchdown.
Preston Slemp, who made three extra point attempts on the night, had his ensuing try blocked, and the Canes led 6-0 with 16 seconds in the first quarter.
Jordan Shaw's fumble -- which came following his first-down run and was recovered by Aaron Foster -- gave Cartersville the ball back on the Dragons' 30-yard line.
Canes' senior running back Jamie Jackson capped a quick six-play drive -- which melted 1:31 off the clock -- with a 3-yard TD run, putting Cartersville up 13-0 with 9:08 left in the half.
The next possession for the Canes began at their own 10 after Talique Cochran slipped on Daulton Reeves' punt, which allowed Pickens to down the ball well within the 20-yard line.
The deep starting field position only offered Jackson -- who took the first three handoffs of the drive -- an opportunity for more yardage as his 55-yard run brought the ball all the way down to the Dragon 18-yard line.
A couple of plays following that 50-plus-yard run, Tyler Will completed an 8-yard pass to Charles Owens on second-and-nine, which became a first down courtesy of a 5-yard facemask penalty on Pickens.
Martinez then scored from 4 yards out to extend Cartersville's lead to 20-0 with 6:00 in the second quarter.
The Dragons' next possession ended on third down when Cochran returned his second interception of the night 28 yards to the Pickens 14.
Will's quarterback sneak from just outside the goal line gave the Canes a 27-0 lead with 2:23 remaining in the half.
That score stood even after the Canes' Josh Cooper tackled Reeves, who bobbled a punt on fourth-and-11 from his team's 34.
Cartersville elected to kneel out the first-half clock from the 25-yard line.
"Getting 27 points in the first half was big," Canes coach Frank Barden said. "I thought our kids played well."
Barden commended his rushing attack, which included running backs Jackson and Martinez as well as fullback Owens.
"Our receiver's did a good job," he added. "I think our line's doing better, too."
The Cartersville defense withstood its only real test of the first half after Shaw led the Dragons on a 15-play drive on the game's opening possession.
Attempting his only pass of the drive, Shaw didn't quite get the ball high enough as it went through Foster's hands and into the belly of Cochran, who dove for the interception near the front of the end zone.
"They made a good drive," Barden said, "and Talique came up with a big turnover."
The Dragons did wind up scoring in the fourth quarter on a similar drive, as Shaw scored from 10 yards on a naked bootleg to provide the final margin with 3:34 left in the game.
Titus Henderson made the extra point.
For Barden, the trip to Jasper returned him to the county where he got his head coaching start from 1994-96.
"What's special is my kids being able to be here," said the 14th-year Canes coach, whose sons TJ -- a junior lineman -- and Brooks -- a freshman quarterback -- were both young when he coached the Dragons.
"It's a good place with nice people," coach Barden continued. "I have a lot of respect for Pickens County and Jasper."
Cartersville's next game will be a region play-in game, with the second-seeded Canes (8-1, 4-1) taking on LaFayette (5-4, 3-2 Region 7A-AAA), who beat Ringgold, 29-19, Friday to earn the No. 3 seed out of its sub-region.
"It's a big game. It's a game we've been in each year," said Barden, whose team missed the playoffs last year with a loss to Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe in its season finale. "We'll have to go to work (on) Monday.
"I think what this team has learned is our ability to work hard Monday through Thursday."
The Canes will travel to LaFayette for a 7:30 p.m. game Friday.
Cartersville defeated the Ramblers, 28-20, for a home victory Sept. 10, with the Canes scoring 21 fourth-quarter points for the win.
LaFayette, itself, scored all of its points in that wild final quarter.
SCORING BY QUARTERS
1 2 3 4 F
CAR 6 21 0 0 27
PIC 0 0 0 7 7
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Quarter
CAR --Kendall Martinez 11-yd run (kick failed), 0:16
2nd Quarter
CAR -- Jamie Jackson 3-yd run (Preston Slemp kick), 9:08
CAR -- Martinez 4-yd run (Slemp kick), 6:00
CAR -- Tyler Will 1-yd run (Slemp kick), 2:23
4th Quarter
PIC -- Jordan Shaw 10-yd run (Titus Henderson kick), 3:34
TEAM STATS
CAR PIC
1st downs 14 12
Rushes-yds 34-233 46-181
Passing yds 65 0
Comp-Att-Int 6-11-0 0-5-2
Total yds 298 181
Penalties 0-0 4-25
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1
Punts-yds 2-82 2-74
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing -- Cartersville: Jamie Jackson 8-117-1, Kendall Martinez 8-56-2, Charles Owens 6-48, Marcus Jones 7-12, Brooks Barden 1-5, Tyler Will 4-(-5)-1; Pickens: Jordan Shaw 28-166-1, Dustin Nicholson 10-17, Michael Glass 2-4, Justin Hamrick 2-3, Aaron Eubanks 1-2, Team 1-(-1), Daulton Reeves 2-(-10).
Passing -- Cartersville: Will 6-11-65-0-0; Pickens: Shaw 0-4-0-0-2, Tanner Brumby 0-1-0-0-0.
Receiving -- Cartersville: Trey Graves 2-21, Owens 2-16, TJ Turner 1-16, Hayes Linn 1-12.