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ACWORTH — Allatoona took advantage of good field position throughout the first half and took control of the game early in beating River Ridge 23-7 on Friday in a Region 6AAAAAA game at Cobb Energy/Buccaneer Stadium.
Beginning all seven of its possessions in the first half in River Ridge territory, Allatoona (6-3, 5-1) made good use of its opportunities to score all 23 of its points in the first 24 minutes of the contest.
The Buccaneers’ defense played a major role in putting the offense in position to score, holding River Ridge (3-6, 0-6) to just 2 yards of total offense.
“The defense and special teams did a great job of putting us in position to score,” Allatoona coach Gary Varner said. “It gave us a chance to get an edge early on, and that gave us a big boost.”
The win cemented the Buccaneers’ state playoff berth, and they can clinch a first-round home game by winning next week at Dalton.
It was the special teams unit that provided Allatoona its first points in the game as Calvin Rucker pounced on the ball in the end zone for a safety after a River Ridge fumbled snap on a punt attempt to give the Buccaneers a 2-0 lead with 5 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Allatoona got good field position on the next series as it started on the River Ridge 49-yard line. The Buccaneers took advantage of it with a touchdown as Dante Marshall threw a 13-yard scoring pass to Asante Das, and Skyler Davis kicked the extra point make it 9-0 with 2:18 left to.
The defense put Allatoona in position to score midway through the second quarter when Riaz McCormick recovered a River Ridge fumble at the Knights’ 16-yard line with 6:37 remaining.
It took only two plays for Allatoona to get in the end zone as Marshall again connected with Das, this time on a 17-yard scoring pass to extend the Buccaneers’ advantage to 16-0 at the 5:42 mark in the second quarter.
The Allatoona defense came through again in a big way after Davis narrowly missed a 50-yard field goal attempt with 2:55 remaining in the first half, giving River Ridge the ball on its own 20.
The Buccaneers proceeded to throw the Knights back for losses on all three of their plays, including an 11-yard sack of quarterback Chase Begin that moved the ball to the River Ridge 5 with 1:31 left.
The Knights were forced to punt from their own end zone and managed to kick it only 21 yards, but a holding penalty by River Ridge gave Allatoona the ball at the Knights’ 11.
Allatoona made the most of its opportunity on the first play of the series as Marshall tossed an 11-yard scoring pass to Dawson Coltran to give the Buccaneers a 23-0 advantage with 1:32 left to go.
River Ridge finally got on the scoreboard late in the fourth quarter when Chris Long intercepted a Marshall pass and ran it 69 yards down to the Allatoona 1, and Shakir Johnson ran the ball in for the touchdown with 2:47 left in the game.