After losing to Cedartown 45-7 in its region opener last week, Allatoona was already facing a must-win game against Dalton to keep alive its chances of returning to the playoffs after missing out last year for the first time in 14 years.
Junior running backs Xavier Rucker and Ethan Corpus made sure the Buccaneers got that first victory in loaded Region 7-4A, rushing for a combined 426 yards and five touchdowns to lead Allatoona to a 42-29 victory Friday in Acworth.
Rucker ran for 243 yards on 18 carries and had touchdown runs of 42 and 25 yards. He ran for 162 yards on 10 carries in the second half to help Allatoona pull away. Corpus had 183 yards on 12 carries and scored on runs of 35, 13 and 39 yards.
“I think the biggest thing for us is we’ve gone back to what Allatoona football’s been built on, and that’s ground and pound,” Allatoona coach Brad Smith said. “We’ve got, I think, two of the best backs in the state. [Rucker] is as real as they get, and if they try to stop him you’ve got [Corpus] running the ball too. We challenged them at halftime. We felt like if we could get the ball going, they couldn’t really stop us. And we were able to come out here and put the foot down on them.”
Despite being unable to stop Allatoona’s running game, Dalton was still within seven points after Caine Woods’ 80-yard touchdown pass to Kendrix London on the third play of the fourth quarter cut the Buccaneers’ lead to 28-21.
Allatoona (3-3, 1-1) responded quickly. Rucker went 28 yards on the first play of the ensuing drive to move the ball into Dalton territory, and Corpus followed with an 18-yard run and a 39-yard touchdown run to restore the lead back to 14 points with 10:07 remaining.
Rucker’s 25-yard touchdown run with 5:38 to play gave Allatoona a 42-21 lead and put the game away.
The pivotal point of the game came when Allatoona scored two touchdowns in less than a minute midway through the third quarter that turned a 14-14 game into a 28-14 Allatoona lead.
Allatoona took possession at the Dalton 25 after tackling the Catamounts’ punter when he was unable to get control of a low snap. Rucker went 12 and 13 yards on the next two plays to make it 21-14. On the third play of Dalton’s next possession, John Arnold intercepted a pass and returned it 31 yards for a 28-14 lead with 6:12 to play in the quarter.
Dalton (0-6, 0-2), a young team that started a freshman at quarterback and running back, was tied 14-14 at halftime, with a little help from the Buccaneers. The Catamounts recovered a fumble on Allatoona’s second offensive play. Dalton then drove 63 yards in 10 plays, aided by two Allatoona penalties for 20 yards and converting a fourth-and-8 when punter Adrian Gongora threw 24 yards to London to keep the drive alive. The Catamounts cashed in when Ashton Parker recovered a fumble in the end zone.
After giving up two touchdown runs, Dalton tied the game on a 17-yard pass from Woods to Nash Smith with 1:29 to play in the half.
Woods was 15-of-27 passing for 263 yards, and London finished with five receptions for 152 yards.
Allatoona was penalized seven times for 65 yards in the first half and eight times for 120 yards in the game.
“I don’t feel good about all the penalties,” Smith said. “We’ve got to fix that. That’s the first thing, we’ve got to fix that right now. But I was extremely proud of the resiliency they showed, and they just continued to execute. Even when we were down, we were still able to run the football.”
Dalton - 7-7-0-15 - 29
Allatoona - 0-14-14-14 - 42
First quarter
D - Ashton Parker recovers fumble in end zone (Adrian Gongora kick), 3:10
Second quarter
A - Xavier Rucker 42 run (Wilson Perry kick), 11:49
A - Ethan Corpus 35 run (Perry kick), 3:56
D - Nash Smith 17 pass from Caine Woods (Gongora kick), 1:29
Third quarter
A - Corpus 13 run (Perry kick), 7:10
A - John Arnold 31 interception return (Perry kick), 6:12
Fourth quarter
D - Kendrix London 80 pass from Woods (Gongora kick), 11:35
A - Corpus 39 run (Perry kick), 10:07
A - Rucker 25 run (Perry kick), 5:38
D - Woods 8 run (Elijah Long run), 0:49
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