DALTON, Ga. – If coach Matt Land was trying to find an identity for his Dalton High School football team, he couldn’t have scripted Friday night’s 21-17 win over Allatoona any better.
The Catamounts (3-1) drove 61 yards in the final two minutes to win, with fullback Matt Cobb scoring the deciding touchdown from 2 yards out with 19 seconds to play. After a first-down incomplete pass, Dalton did all of its damage on the ground, led by junior running back Tre Beck, who despite an injured ankle amassed 32 of his game-high 137 yards on the 10-play drive.
“It means a lot to win a game that way,” Land said. “It symbolizes a lot more than a victory. It was a victory that included hardship and adversity, things we consider we can’t do to win, and we still won.”
The Buccaneers (3-1), who came in ninth-ranked among Class AAA teams, dominated the early going behind the short passing game of senior quarterback Jared Harris and the hard running of junior running back Miles Jones. The two led a 50-yard drive that resulted in a field goal on the team’s first possession, then after two three-and-outs from Dalton, made it 10-0 early in the second quarter on Jones’ 15-yard scamper around right end.
Allatoona was driving for a third score late in the half when the Dalton defense finally bowed its back, forcing a punt. Two plays later, Beck, sore ankle and all, broke off left end and outraced several defenders 73 yards before being caught at the 7. Two plays later Chris White bulled in from the 2 to cut the lead to three.
Moments later, after forcing a punt with 22 seconds to play in the half, Dalton’s Bryce Puryear blocked the punt, with Robert Hardaway scooping the ball up at the 5 and scoring as the shocked Bucs headed to the locker room down 14-10 despite holding Dalton to one first down.
“We let them back in the game right before the half,” Allatoona coach Gary Varner said. “We did things the ninth-ranked team in the state doesn’t do.”
The Bucs regrouped to take a 17-14 lead early in the final quarter on a 59-yard drive aided by two personal-foul penalties. The final 9 yards were all Jones, who scored from a yard out with eight minutes left.
The ensuing Dalton drive, which featured the elusive Beck, reached the Bucs’ 26 before Allatoona’s Chris Coleman intercepted a Trey Calfee pass. However, Dalton forced a quick punt, with the Cats taking over at their own 39. Beck ripped off runs of 13 and 14 yards following a Calfee 12-yard scamper.
Fullback Cain then took over as the seconds wound down, getting 3, then 6 and finally the last 2 yards on a run off left tackle. Allatoona’s last-ditch effort ended at its own 42.
“I can’t say enough about guys like Tre Beck,” Land said. “Tre is a game changer. We had to watch him with his ankle and we didn’t have him in there on a lot of plays, but we had him in there when we needed him. When he was there, he made it count. He never disappoints.”
Jones, who came in with three 100-yard games, was held to 78 yards on 22 carries.
“We shook that first half off and became as one,” Dalton defensive tackle Stefan Bonaparte said. “When we become one, no one can stop us, as we showed tonight. I have so much confidence in my offense. I just had a feeling something good was going to happen.
“This is a new beginning. We’re getting that swagger back. The king is up and awake now, and we’re going to be hard to stop.”
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296.