Murray breaks string of one-win seasons

CHATSWORTH — Maybe Murray County should have worn black football jerseys before Friday night.

The Indians switched to black attire for the first time this season and went on to a 35-14 victory over visiting Allatoona at Murray Field, sending their seniors off with a win.

It was Murray County’s second victory this season, marking the first time the Indians have won two games in a season since they were 7-4 in 2005. The Indians finished 2-8.

“Those were our JV jerseys last year,” Murray coach John Zeigler said after being doused by water on the victorious sideline. “The players had been bugging me all year about wearing the black jerseys. It was by far the best game we’ve played. The (21) seniors had a lot to do with the way that we played. They executed on offense and executed on defense. I’m proud for all of the kids who worked so hard.”

Although Allatoona is only a second-year school playing a non-region schedule, it had a strong cast of players back who had beaten Murray County 40-21 in the 2008 season finale in Acworth.

“I tried to warn our guys that they were going to be ready for us,” Buccaneers coach Gary Varner said. “I knew that they had all of those seniors on their senior night. They just beat the mess out of us. They beat us up front both ways.”

Although the seniors had the spotlight, junior quarterback Taylor Patterson provided the primary offensive firepower for the Indians. The 6-foot-5-inch stalwart accounted for four touchdowns on runs of 18 and 1 yard and passes of 46 yards to Zac Dills and 2 yards to Luke Mealer.

Dills scored a second touchdown on a 6-yard run and Ernesto Lopez kicked five extra points.

“I certainly wanted to get a win tonight for the seniors,” Patterson said. “It would have been a shame if we hadn’t gotten a win for them. We also talked all week about having some momentum going into next year.”

Patterson completed 7 of 18 passes for 179 yards and six different receivers had receptions.

Murray had 154 yards rushing for 333 total yards of offense. Patterson had 57 yards on 21 carries.

“Scoring two touchdowns in my last game is something that I’ll always remember,” said Dills, a senior who gained 47 yards on 12 carries.

“With the kind of season we had, I feel the weight came off our shoulders.”

Along with scoring the first touchdown of his senior season, Mealer came up big on defense with two interceptions.

Patterson put Murray ahead 7-0 in the second and 14-0 during the third period with his two scoring jaunts.

Allatoona sliced the deficit to 14-7 on Jared Harris’ 21-yard pass to Terante Franklin, 1:59 left in the third period.

Eight seconds later, though, Patterson hit Dills from 46 yards out.

During the fourth qaurter, the Indians extended their advantage to 35-7 on Patteron’s throw to Mealer and Dills’ run.

Allatoona’s Pat Ridgway then returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to make the final score respectable.

The Bucs’ Miles Jones led all pedestrians with 80 yards on 17 carries.

INDIANS 35, BUCCANEERS 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Allatoona 0 0 7 7 - 14

Murray 0 7 14 14 - 35

SCORING SUMMARY

Second Quarter

MUR -Taylor Patterson 18 run (Ernesto Lopez kick), 5:56

Third Quarter

MUR - Patterson 1 run (Lopez kick), 3:56

ALL - Terante Franklin 21 pass from Jared Harris (Brett Welborn kick), 1:59

MUR - Zac Dills 46 pass from Patterson (Lopez kick), 1:51

Fourth Quarter

MUR - Luke Mealer 2 pass from Patterdon (Lopez kick), 11:16

MUR - Dills 6 run (Lopez kick), 8:43

ALL - Pat Ridgway 99 kickoff return (Welborn kick)

YARDSTICK

ALL MUR

First Dwns 10 16

Rushes-Yds. 30-140 44-154

Passing Yds. 70 179

Com.-Att.-Int. 5-16-3 7-18-0

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0

Punts-Avg. 5-25.2 2-29.5

Penalties-Yds. 6-50 11-110

Turnovers 4 0

INDIVIDUALS

RUSHING - Allatoona: Miles Jones 17-80, Pat Ridgway 1-24, William Harris 5-12, Jared Harris 17 minus 24. Murray: Taylor Patterson 21-57, Zac Dills 12-47, Trevor Nations 2-27, Jacob Born 1-16, Dustin Anderson 3-4, Raheem Adams 3-4, Luke Mealer 1-1, Brady Todd 1 minus 2.

PASSING - Allatoona: Jared Harris 5-15-2 70, Zach Hampton 0-1-1. Murray: Taylor Patterson 7-18-0 179.

RECEIVING - Allatoona: Terante Franklin 2-33, Jordan Holder 1-24, Jordan Cain 1-9, Dinarion Moore 1-4. Murray: Zac Dills 1-46, Brian Walker 1-35, Raheem Adams 1-34, Autin Williams 2-32, Luke Mealer 2-32.

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