Split decision
♦ Armuchee comes out strong in the second half but can’t overcome Trion’s lead.
The Armuchee football team played toe-to-toe with Trion during the second half of Friday’s matchup.
Unfortunately for the Indians, the 35 unanswered points scored by the Bulldogs in the first half were too much to overcome in a 48-13 loss at The Reservation.
First-year Armuchee head coach Jeremy Green was happy with the intensity his team showed in the second half, but said he’s never sure which team is going to show up.
“We’ve got two football teams,” Green said. “We’ve got the football team that knows how to be tough, knows how to be unselfish and knows how to play their guts out. We’ve got another football team that’s not there yet, that doesn’t do those things. The last two weeks, we haven’t been the right football team in the first half, and then we come in at halftime and we challenge them.”
Trion dominated the opening half, rolling up 296 yards of offense, while the defense held the Indians to only 86 yards. The second half was more evenlymatched as Armuchee had 126 yards offensively to Trion’s 206.
The Indians came out strong in the second half, scoring on their opening drive of the third quarter, when Gauge Burkett punched in a score from 7 yards out to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 35-7.
After recovering an onside kick, Trion fumbled two plays later, turning the ball back over to the Indians. Armuchee (1-2) quarterback Braden Perry then hit Adam Hart on a 20-yard pass to make the score 35-13. Perry finished 16 of 35 for 180 passing yards. Burkett had four catches for 56 yards, and Brayden Butler had five catches for 44 yards.
Armuchee was able to hold Trion’s Hagen Willingham to 74 rushing yards, but the running back, who helped carry the Bulldogs (3-0) to a win against Dade County last week, scored three touchdowns against the Indians. Chris Pace had five carries for 98 yards and a 37-yard touchdown reception for the Bulldogs.
“We had some problems last week with consistency on offense,” Trion head coach Justin Brown said. “I thought we put together a total team effort in that first half. Every opportunity we had offensively we turned them into points.”
The Indians will have a tough task ahead of them next Friday when they travel to Rockmart for their Region 7-AA opener against the undefeated Jackets. Trion opens Region 6-A play next Friday on the road against North Cobb Christian.