Decatur 26, Arabia Mountain 14

A 48-14 thumping of perennial playoff team Greater Atlanta Christian last week, led to Decatur winning various Team of the Week awards and head coach William Felton winning a Coach of the Week award. Combine that with this being Homecoming Week, and distractions were aplenty for the Bulldogs.

“We had a lot distractions, and also I think we were so hyped to come out here and play well in front of the crowd,” Felton said. “I think we were overplaying, trying to do too much. When we settled down, we were fine.”

After Arabia Mountain tied the game at 14-14 late in the third quarter on a 1-yard run by senior quarterback Christopher Barnes, the Bulldogs scored the game’s next 12 points to claim the win.

First, Decatur answered the Rams’ touchdown with one of their own, marching 73 yards in just seven plays. Junior quarterback Harrison Hannah led the way, rushing twice for 11 yards and completing all three of his passes on the drive for 40 yards, including a 17-yarder to junior Kedric Lackey for a touchdown to put the Bulldogs up to stay, 21-14 after Isaac Kone’s third successful point after kick. Lackey caught a quick out from Hannah and made three Ram defenders miss on his way into the end zone with a little more than a minute left in the third quarter.

Kone’s kickoff into the end zone forced Arabia Mountain to start from its 20-yard line. Two fumbled snaps and an illegal procedure penalty helped push the Rams back to their 3-yard line and the ensuing punt travelled just 22 yards. From there, a 22-yard pass from Hannah to senior Curran Bryant moved the ball to the Arabia Mountain 2-yard line. Decatur eventually settled for a 22-yard field goal by Kone, and a 24-14 lead, which essentially put the game away with just 2:30 left in regulation.

Another touchback by Kone penned the Rams at their 20-yard line for a final attempt at a miraculous comeback. But three consecutive sacks by seniors Chapman Smith (his fifth of the night), Jacob Rachell (his second) and the final one for a safety Cameron Wingo, ended the scoring and sent the homecoming crowd home happy.

“We were resilient tonight,” Felton said. “We learned that you can’t underestimate any team that you play.”

Already leading 7-0 after the first quarter, the Bulldogs went up 14-0 on a 1-yard run by Smith, followed by Kone’s second successful point after kick of the half. The score came two plays after a 40-yard pass play from Hannah to junior receiver Kenric Lanier set Decatur up at the 1-yard line.

Arabia Mountain failed to sustain another drive on its next possession, but the Rams’ punt flipped the field with a 59-yard boot that rolled to the Decatur 11-yard line. The Bulldog offense sputtered with two tackles for loss, an incompletion and a delay-of-game penalty. The ensuing punt traveled to just the Bulldog 31-yard line.

From there, Barnes took over at quarterback and put the offense on his back. Two consecutive zone read runs netted 23 yards to the Decatur eight-yard line. Two plays after he was tackled for a 5-yard loss, the result of a bad snap, Barnes dropped back to pass, saw an opening up the middle and darted 10 yards for a touchdown. Andre Teague’s point after kick was good to trim the lead to 14-7 late in the second quarter.

Arabia Mountain took that momentum into the second half. The Rams’ defense gave up a 44-yard pass from senior quarterback Sean Mitchell to senior Curran Brant, but eventually forced a turnover on downs at their own 43-yard line. From there the Arabia Mountain offensive line bowed up and led the way on an eight-play 57-yard drive, punctuated by a 1-yard touchdown run by Barnes to pull the Rams even at 14.

But the Bulldogs took over from there.

“When you’re trying to do what we’re trying to do, which is go 10-0 and then 5-0, you’re going to face some adversity,” Felton said. “When that happens, are you going to fold or are you going to keep pushing? We showed tonight that we’re going to keep pushing.”