The Walton football team felt good but not overly comfortable with a 14-point halftime lead in its game Friday night at east Cobb rival Pope.
However, Wendell Gregory quickly provided all the breathing room the Raiders needed. On the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, the defensive back grabbed a fumble out of midair and ran 15 yards for a touchdown to make it a 21-0 game.
Gregory’s touchdown opened the door to a 20-point third quarter, and the Raiders (2-0), ranked No. 4 in Class 7A, went on to a 34-7 victory.
“It was absolutely huge,” Walton coach Daniel Brunner said of the play. “We made some personnel changes [at halftime], and the guy we put on the field, Wendell Gregory, he’s been kinda working on both sides of the ball and ends up with a scoop-and-score touchdown. Pretty cool.”
Quarterbacks Zak Rozsman and Jeremy Hecklinski were able to hurt Pope with the deep ball, particularly early. Roszman opened the scoring on the Raiders’ second drive of the game with a 67-yard touchdown pass to Mustafa Hefner, who had gotten several yards behind the Pope defenders.
Hecklinski took his turn on the Raiders’ next possession, throwing a 50-yard pass to Sutton Smith that put the ball at the Pope 8-yard line, then tossing a 6-yard touchdown pass to Sutton Smith two plays later on the first play of the second quarter for a 14-0 lead.
Hecklinski teamed up with Hefner for a 40-yard pass midway through the third quarter, leading to a 2-yard touchdown run by A.J. Brown that gave the Raiders a 28-0 lead.
Austin Williams added a 1-yard touchdown run to make it a 34-0 game with 1:37 remaining in the third quarter.
Rozsman was 3-of-5 for 91 yards, and Hecklinski was 3-of-5 for 106 yards for the game.
“We felt like we could run the ball on them effectively, and we were, but we weren’t getting any big chunk plays,” Brunner said. “They did a great job tackling us, and it opened up some deep shots for us. And we hit on them. That’s what we’ve got to do if we’re going to be a good offense.”
Pope’s only score came on a 1-yard run by Kristopher Hayes in the fourth quarter, which was played with a running clock.
The Class 6A Greyhounds (1-1) had opportunities in the first half, crossing into Walton territory on two of their four drives and reaching their own 49-yard line on the other two, but they were able to get no closer than the Walton 35, where they turned the ball over on downs.
“We felt good at halftime,” Pope coach Tab Griffin said. “We just came out and that first play, that fumble return, just took the sails out. The third quarter kinda got away from us, but I felt like three of the four quarters we played well. But against a team like that, you’ve got to play all four quarters well. You can’t have the mistakes we made in the third quarter.”
Walton - 7-7-20-0 - 34
Pope - 0-0-0-7 - 7
First quarter
W - Mustafa Hefner 67 pass from Zak Rozsman (Lucien Michelin kick)
Second quarter
W - Marcus Allen 6 pass from Jeremy Hecklinski (Michelin kick)
Third quarter
W - Wendell Gregory 15 fumble return (Michelin kick)
W - A.J. Brown 2 run (Michelin kick)
W - Austin Williams 1 run (kick failed)
Fourth quarter
P - Kristopher Hayes 1 run (Andrew Nelms kick)
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