ACWORTH — Allatoona rolled to a 48-13 win over Hiram on Friday, keeping the Buccaneers in contention for the Region 5AAAAA title.
Allatoona (7-1, 6-1) gained 258 yards on the ground without the services of leading rusher Russell Halimon who was in uniform but didn’t play. Halimon came into the week with 1,193 yards on the season, placing him among the state’s top rushers, but coach Gary Varner said Halimon’s absence was for rest as opposed for anything disciplinary.
“Russell has carried the ball many times this year, and we felt we needed to give him a break,” Varner said. “We’ve had trouble down the stretch the past few years and felt that we could get away with it (Friday). Other guys stepped up.”
The win allowed Allatoona to keep pace with East Paulding and Alexander atop the region standings, with each team sporting one loss in region play.
Two of Halimon’s backups took advantage of the extra snaps as Charles Anderson ran for a game-high 124 yards and two touchdowns, and Brandon Archibald had 117 yards and three scores.
“I thought our offensive line did a good job overall,” Varner said. “Our backs ran hard from the beginning of the game.”
Allatoona held Hiram (3-4, 2-4) scoreless in the second half. The Hornets only had 164 yards of offense, fumbled the ball five times — losing two — and threw an interception.
“Hiram runs an option and got us a couple of times early,” Varner said. “It took time to figure it out defensively, and once our guys found the right fits, they did a good job.”
Allatoona jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Archibald, a 37-yard field goal from Skyler Davis and Michael Pynes’ 12-yard touchdown catch from Brandon Rainey.
Hiram, however, cut the lead to 17-13 midway through the second quarter with two touchdown runs by Elijah Hairston, who had a team-high 108 rushing yards.
Davis’ 44-yard field goal with less than a minute left in the first half gave Allatoona the 20-13 lead heading into halftime.
Anderson and Archibald each had two rushing touchdowns in the second half to seal the victory.