Dalton High School’s offense is just fine it seems.
The Catamounts, after being held to 41 rushing yards in a lopsided loss to Calhoun one week earlier to open this football season, busted out the ol’ run game Friday in a 52-7 whipping of host Ridgeland at Bowers & Painter Field. Maurice Howard rushed for 230 yards and three touchdowns on just 12 carries as Dalton put up 365 yards on the ground to even its record.
“We had so many mistakes last week, so step one for us tonight was to clean those mistakes up, and if we did that, we knew we would play better,” said Dalton coach Matt Land, who began the season with five new offensive line starters. “We needed to see if we could establish the run, and at the end of the day I’m very, very pleased in how we played.”
Dalton led 14-7 after Ridgeland quarterback Chase Watkins, after a 46-yard completion to Henry Ellis (four catches, 79 yards), scored on a 1-yard sneak midway through the second quarter. Any momentum for the Panthers (0-2) was quickly erased as Howard, understudy to Georgia’s leading rusher a year ago, Jahmyr Gibbs, broke off a 75-yard touchdown run in which he spun away from a possible tackle in the backfield and outraced defenders the rest of the way.
READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night’s Chattanooga-area high school football games