TUNNEL HILL, Ga. - If handling adversity is a major ingredient in building a great football team, the Dalton Catamounts added a heavy dose of the intangible this week.
After dealing with the death of a player's mother earlier in the week, Dalton had two of its offensive stars go down with injuries Friday night at Northwest Whitfield, but a pair of reserves stepped up to lead the Cats to a 24-14 win.
Bryce Houghton, who came on after quarterback Landon Allen hurt his ankle early in the third quarter, threw for a touchdown and ran for another, while running back Jeric Montgomery filled in for star Jahmyr Gibbs (shoulder injury) and rushed for a team-high 83 yards.
"It was a week of adversity," Dalton coach Matt Land said after an emotional meeting with his daughter following the game. "The first thing I want to say is winners win, and I've got a group on that sideline that are winners. We needed to win this game to feel good about something."
Dalton (2-0), as it did in week one, returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown as the electric Gibbs went 90 yards for a quick 7-0 lead. After the teams exchanged turnovers, the Catamounts put together a lengthy drive, keyed by a 40-yard pass from Allen to Hunter Noland, to take a 10-0 lead on Ivan Mora's 42-yard field goal early in the second quarter.
Northwest (1-1) recovered a fumble after a punt on its next drive and took advantage of the opportunity, going 60 yards in eight plays to cut the lead to 10-7 on Dominique Sistrunk's 2-yard run. A late Dalton drive reached the Northwest 16, but the usually reliable Mora missed a 32-yard field-goal try.
It was during that drive that Gibbs was lost, and on Dalton's first possession of the second half Allen went down after a scramble and was helped off. Enter Houghton and Montgomery and the key drive of the game.
Montgomery ripped off a 37-yard run to the Northwest 25, but three plays went nowhere. Land, to the surprise of many, did not send Mora out for a field goal, and on fourth-and-10 Houghton rolled right and hit Tyis Love at the 20. Love, his offensive linemen clearing the way, cut left and went untouched into the end zone.
"If there's a winner that can win, it's Bryce," Land said of Houghton. "I'm going to put my money on him every time. He's my Secretariat. He's a kid who will out-work anybody. I believe if you show me a kid with character, he will find a way to win. We put him on the field and told him to find a way to win, and that's exactly what he did tonight."
The Bruins rallied again, going 80 yards in 12 plays, with senior quarterback Ty Fisher converting on a pair of third-and-longs and capping the drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mason Blanchard on the second play of the final quarter.
Northwest put together one more impressive drive, mixing the powerful running of Sistrunk (91 yards on 25 carries) and the accurate arm of Fisher (23-of-36 for 192 yards) to move to the Dalton 29. The Cats' defense finally got a third-down stop at the 21, though, and a Northwest potential tying field goal was wide left with under a minute to play.
One play later, Houghton added some icing with a 79-yard touchdown run.
"They had been telling me on the sideline that they were biting on the run because I was going to hand it off, so I kept it and it was wide open," Houghton related. "I worked a little bit at quarterback, but it had been awhile. I knew there would be a lot of runs, so we had to settle in and get it done. The defense stepped up big for us. If not for them we never win this game."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22