By Chris Whitfield
chriswhitfield@daltoncitizen.com
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Dalton and Murray County’s football programs haven’t shown a lot of similarities over the past few years, when the Catamounts have dominated their series by winning nine straight against the Indians.
However, both Dalton and Murray County have something that jumps off of the stat sheet heading into tonight’s 52nd meeting between the two schools since 1953 — both are winless after the first week of play.
Because of that, both Dalton coach Matt Land and Murray County coach John Zeigler are more concerned with fixing their own team’s mistakes than focusing on this week’s opponent. However, because this is the area’s oldest rivalry, the fact that it is Dalton-Murray County week is still a focus.
“When you are playing Dalton, it is always a big game,” Zeigler said.
Kickoff at Murray Field is set for 7:30 p.m., the same starting time for tonight’s other area games: Dominion Christian at Christian Heritage, North Murray at Rockmart and Northwest Whitfield at Creekview. Southeast Whitfield is off this week.
Both Zeigler and Land have reason to focus more on themselves than what the other team is going to do. Dalton gave Calhoun great field position three times on offensive turnovers, putting its defense in bad spots all night long against the Yellow Jackets in a 27-14 season-opening loss at Harmon Field. In a 35-6 loss at Southeast Whitfield, Murray County committed four turnovers and was flagged 11 times.
“We have to be concerned with the mistakes, and we can’t squander opportunities with turnovers,” Land said. “Our kids spend a large portion of their time on the importance of ball security, and you can’t explain that as well as you can show it. Those are just the things that you can’t do against a good team. Add to that the missed tackles, and it gets even worse.”
Zeigler echoed those comments.
“Offensively, we just shot ourselves in the foot,” he said. “You have to put some points on the board when the defense gives you opportunities. (The mistakes) are something you can correct and work on as a coach. Most of the kids played real well. Offensively we are still struggling to eliminate the penalties and little mistakes. All I know is to keep working and get it all straightened out.”
Most of the work will come on the offensive side of the ball after each team had less than 170 yards of total offense in the first week. Defensively, both teams had relatively good games if you look past the scores, because both offenses put their defenses in tough spots all night.
“If you take away the two long passes and the long run, the defense played a great game,” Land said. “They were just on the field for way too many plays.”
Again, Zeigler echoed Land.
“Our defense has played pretty well other than giving up big plays,” he said. “We gave up a big play on a pass and a big play on a reverse, and those are things that happen, but other than that we played pretty good.”
Both teams had a few offensive bright spots. Dalton’s Tre Beck led the Cats with 80 yards of rushing, while Murray County sophomore running back Deron Hill finished with 94 yards on 11 carries.
Patience on offense may be the key for the Indians. Quarterback Taylor Patterson will start for Murray County after he was benched at the end of the Southeast game after drawing an unsportsman-like conduct penalty. But with Patterson’s arm and the legs of Hill, Zeigler said the Indians will have to grind against the Dalton defense.
“I thought (Dalton’s defense) did a great job, especially in the first half against Calhoun,” Zeigler said. “Dalton’s defense is Dalton’s defense, and you aren’t going to get any easy assignments on them. They are going to make you drive the football down the field and score.”
Dominion Christian at Christian Heritage
Christian Heritage struggled with five turnovers and battled the sizzling heat in last week’s 21-14 season-opening win over Crown Athletics in Marietta. So Lions coach Mike Vaden decided to make a few position changes to improve the team’s depth and better deal with an early-season dilemma.
“We weren’t able to push the kids as hard as we wanted in terms of conditioning in preseason,” Vaden said. “We weren’t able to scrimmage anyone, and as a result we weren’t in great condition for our first game. So we moved some people from backup roles on offense to more extensive roles on defense because of hustle and fatigue factors.”
Backup quarterback Jake Stokes, a freshman, has been moved to defensive tackle to spell senior Trevor Maffetone, said Vaden, whose Lions take on Dominion Christian (0-1) in a non-league game at Christian Heritage Stadium.
Vaden also said senior Luke Jones, a newcomer to the program, has shifted from running back to defensive line to utilize his quickness. And freshman Chris Smith is moving from linebacker to defensive line.
“Starting the season, we let our kids play the positions they want to play,” Vaden said. “Now, we see opportunities for some of them to play different positions.”
The Lions, who overcame three lost fumbles and two interceptions against Crown, have reached the past two Glory For Christ Football League championship games, winning it all in 2008. They beat Dominion Christian, 56-20, in the 2009 semifinals before losing to the North Georgia Falcons, 16-14, in the title game.
“We have a history with Christian Heritage,” said coach Javier Jenkins, who also serves as the Knights’ offensive coordinator said. “We’ve been on the losing side in both games against them and we’d like to make it a competitive rivalry.”
The Knights, who moved from the GFCFL to the Georgia Independent School Association for the 2010 season, are led by junior quarterback Dwayne Carroll, who passed for 1,700 yards last season. Senior Christian Tucker (5-foot-9, 215 pounds) is a dual threat at running back and linebacker.
North Murray at Rockmart
When North Murray coach Larry Cornelius watches video of Rockmart, he quickly notices the Yellow Jackets have ample team speed.
When Cornelius looks at his own team, he finds some difficulty getting prepared for it.
“It’s hard to replicate that in practice,” Cornelius said. “Their defensive line gets off the ball real fast. I think the game will come down to who gets off the ball the fastest.”
Both North Murray and Rockmart are members of Region 7-2A, but different sides of the league — North Murray is in Sub-region 7B-2A, while Rockmart is aligned in Sub-region 7A-2A, meaning tonight’s game will count in each team’s record, but not the league standings.
The Yellow Jackets opened the season with a win over Polk County rival Cedartown, although the game was called two plays into the second half due to lightning. North Murray, a second-year school playing its first varsity season, opened Mountaineer Stadium last Friday with a double-digit loss to Heritage-Catoosa.
Rockmart’s option-I offense will be led by senior Roshmel Young, who was hurt during preseason practice.
“He injured his foot,” Rockmart coach Dan Duff said. “He’s practicing full force. He’s still tender after practice. He still has some healing to do.”
As Young improves physically, the Yellow Jackets can also turn to junior running back Quitman Berry. Rockmart will throw the ball, but prefers to count on the ground game.
“If we could be at 75/25 percent run/pass, I’d love that,” Duff said. “But we’re going to mix it up. We’ll throw on first down.”
Junior linebacker Dallas Bowers said bouncing back from the 27-7 loss to Heritage can come from working together better.
“Stuff happens and some people want to argue about it,” Bowers said. “It’s like coach Cornelius told us after the game, we need to learn to trust each other more. Trust that we’re going to get our blocks and do our own assignments, instead of doing your own thing.”
Northwest at Creekview
Northwest heads to Canton, where the Bruins will face a relatively new school for the second week in a row after falling at home to Lambert in that school’s varsity debut last Friday in Tunnel Hill.
But Creekview’s consistent success since beginning varsity football in 2006 isn’t hidden to anyone. The Grizzlies have never had a losing season, and the past two years have ended with them in the Class 3A state playoffs, although they’ve yet to claim a postseason victory.
“We’ve got a community where the parents and the kids are very committed,” Creekview coach Al Morrell said. “Starting each January, we have workouts four mornings a week, and we have a gym full of kids there. So we’ve got a good work ethic and good support from within the community.”
Little turnover among his coaching staff has also helped, said Morrell, who was an assistant at Sequoyah for three seasons under Sid Maxwell — now Lambert’s coach — before starting the program at Creekview.
On the field, the Grizzlies, who rallied to beat Sequoyah 17-13 in the season opener, will present the same schemes Northwest faced a week ago, running a wing-T offense and a 4-4 defense.
“We watched them in person (during a preseason scrimmage) and saw them on film from last Friday night,” Bruins coach Mike Falleur said. “They’re a very good football team. They’ve got big old physical kids with good speed and they do the same types of things as the Lambert guys.”
Falleur sees little separation among those in the backfield for Creekview, with all capable rushers, but on defense he made note of inside linebacker Tanner Gilleland, a senior linebacker, and free safety Nick Luly.
“He’s a heat-seeking missile,” Falleur said. “He gets his keys and he’s gone. He’s going to the football.”
— Drew Brantley, Larry Fleming and Marty Kirkland contributed to this story.
