DALTON 24
LOVEJOY 14
The star: Catamounts senior Ahmaad Tanner ran 29 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns.Up next: Dalton (12-0) will host Coffee County (7-5) in the GHSA AAAAAA quarterfinals next Friday night.
DALTON, Ga. - When opportunity knocked, the Dalton Catamounts were there to answer.
The Cats took advantage of three turnovers and a strong rushing performance by Ahmaad Tanner to win 24-14 Friday night and advance to the GHSA AAAAAA quarterfinals next week.
Dalton (12-0) is the lone unbeaten team in the classification, but win number 12 didn't come easily against the Lovejoy Wildcats (7-5). Dalton coach Matt Land credited his team's preparation for the victory.
"We talked about emotion, because these are the games that are going to be close," Land said. "I felt like tonight, the difference in this game for us tonight was our emotion, and I think ultimately our physicality and our conditioning."
Dalton's defense had a bend-but-don't-break mentality all night long, as the unit gave up 366 total yards but only 14 points. The Cats forced two interceptions and recovered one fumble. Dalton also had a key fourth-down stop and forced a 30-yard field-goal miss on the first two possessions of the second half.
"We just keep grinding," said John Wesley Whiteside, senior defensive lineman. "They're very athletic; they get down the field real quick, but they don't like to pound and stuff, so we had to pound and be physical with them, and that got us the win."
Tanner carried the ball 29 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns. On a night when Dalton struggled throwing the football, the running game helped control the clock and keep Lovejoy's offense off the field.
"My O-line and my fullback Keith (Adams) did real well blocking and getting me into open space," Tanner said. "We came out here and we fought hard tonight."
The Wildcats threw the ball 43 times for 243 yards and had 21 first downs to only 12 for the Cats. However, Dalton rarely gave up a big-yardage play, forcing the Wildcats to have to sustain long drives and convert on third and fourth down.
"That was our basic rule this whole week," Land said. "We're going to give them the 12-yard passes. We're not going to give you the 30-yard passes. We felt like if we could keep them within 10 plays we had a good chance of stopping them and they wouldn't be able to sustain any drives."
A 28-yard pass from quarterback J.P. Tighe to receiver Kyric McGowan in the second quarter gave Dalton a lead it would not relinquish. Tighe finished the game with four completions on 12 attempts with two interceptions.
Dalton moves on to host Coffee County (7-5) in the Elite Eight next Friday.
Contact Kevin Llewallyn at sports@timesfreepress.com