Price’s touchdown pushes Chattooga past Armuchee
Armuchee’s all-out effort comes up short in a Region 7-AA battle.
It was all Armuchee head coach Muhammad Abdellatif could ask for from his players Friday night. The effort and the plays proved they were making strides as a football team.
Give or take a penalty or an extra yard, and Armuchee could’ve won the game as well.
Despite not leading for the first three quarters and losing the turnover battle, Chattooga pulled out a 14-10 win against Armuchee in a Region 7-AA matchup in Armuchee. Chattooga’s Devin Price scored on a 55-yard touchdown run with 5:15 left for the winning margin.
“We are a good football team, and our record does not define our growth as a team,” Abdellatif said. “We are capable of playing good football, and that could be seen tonight. This is a game that shows there’s a lot of growth going on.”
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Armuchee quarterback Brayden Perry went 8-of-18 for 134 yards passing and a touchdown, while Jacob Henderson racked up 54 rushing yards. Meanwhile, an Armuchee defense led by J.C. Burkett and Joseph Ryall terrorized Chattooga’s run game all night.
The defense almost made another stop on Price’s touchdown run, which came on a critical third-and-short. The snap was high and went over Price’s head, but the junior picked up the ball, found the sideline and sped past defenders all the way to the end zone.
Armuchee’s next drive got into the red zone, and Abdellatif’s team faced a fourth-and-5 with just more than a minute left. Initially Armuchee converted the fourth down with a Will Hubbard run to the left, but a holding call took it back and made it fourth-and-19.
Perry found Tae Allen for an 18-yard completion on the next play, just a yard short of the first down and sealing the Chattooga win.
“I’m proud of these guys. We put ourselves in position to win a football game,” Abdellatif said. “And we really won the game minus a bad snap that their kid picked up and was just a little faster than our guys. But that does not change how proud I am of this team.”
Armuchee (1-7, 0-5 7-AA) gained only 89 in the first half, but nearly all of that came on a 60-yard touchdown pass from Perry to Adam Hart in the first quarter. It was the only score in a first half that saw Chattooga commit two turnovers.
The Indians of Summerville got into the red zone twice in the first half, but failed to score any points. However, Chattooga began moving the ball in the second quarter, thanks mostly to Price playing out of the wildcat formation.
“Devin is just competitive, just like all the kids on this team,” Chattooga coach Charles Hammon said. “But with Devin, he can just get it to the outside and take the ball downhill so quickly.”
Chattooga (3-5, 3-2) finally scored in the third quarter on an 8-yard touchdown run from E.J. Lackey, tying the game at 7 with three minutes left in the third.
Early in the fourth, Armuchee began to string together first downs, most notably on an 18-yard completion to Tamalachi Lovelace. It was enough to get into field goal range, where Simon Wilson made a 30-yard field goal to go up 10-7 with 7:58 left. The gamewinning score from Price came on the next drive.
Armuchee hits the road next week with a trip to Lindale to play Pepperell. As the season moves forward, Abdellatif hopes his team can bring the same passion it brought on Friday night.
“I think if we play with that sort of effort, we afford ourselves a chance,” Abdellatif said. “Our motto is attitude, commitment and effort. So the effort has to be great, each and every play.”