Armuchee falls in opener at home to LaFayette
It was as if two different Armuchee teams played either half of its season opener.
After going into halftime with a 6-0 lead, the Indians were shut down in the second half as LaFayette took advantage of a pair of second half turnovers and won 22-6 Friday night at Armuchee.
“Well, the wheels came off,” Armuchee coach Muhammad Abdellatif said. “When you start off the half with a fumble, a safety and another fumble, you’re not doing too well on offense right there. We have to clean that up and put ourselves in a better position.”
The game saw players that were reliable for Armuchee in the first half struggle in the final 24 minutes and the Indians fall to a relentless LaFayette run attack. The home team only had the ball for three minutes in the second half.
The Indians finished with negative yardage in the second half, while the Ramblers exploded with three touchdowns, all on the ground. The Ramblers did not complete a pass all game, and didn’t need to. A healthy amount of carries to backs Colton Lane, Kadarrin Ramsey and others led to 124 rushing yards for the second half and 184 total.
“We just challenged the guys to play like they were capable of playing, and the kids did a great job responding,” LaFayette coach Chad Fisher said. “Ran the ball extremely well in the second half, and the offensive line was great creating movement.”
It was a far different half than the first, which lasted less than 50 minutes real time and saw Armuchee control the flow.
Armuchee’s only scoring drive went 16 plays and ate up 7 min-
utes of game time as the Indians converted three third downs and one fourth down.
Jacob Henderson tallied 30 yards on the drive and scored from a yard out with 8:01 left in the second to give his team the 6-0 lead.
The Indians appeared on their way to a lowscoring slugfest of a win.
“It was really nice to control the ball and control the tempo, control everything,” Abdellatif said. “And then we just did not come out in the second half ready to roll.”
But the Ramblers responded with a 64-yard drive to begin the third quarter, finishing with a 3-yard touchdown run from Lane. Abdellatiff said his team lit a spark in its opponents that would stay the rest of the night.
The spark got bright- er when Henderson fumbled the ball on Armuchee’s first play of the second half, but hope was regained when LaFayette gave the ball right back via fumble five plays later.
But that’s when Armuchee quarterback Seth Stanley was dropped seven yards back and in the endzone for a safety. On their next possession, the Indians fumbled again, this time with Adam Hart coughing it up.
LaFayette scored again on the ensuing possession, as Dakota Cathy ran in from four yards out on a fourthand-three. Then, after a 32-yard punt return from Ramsey into the red zone, the Ramblers scored again on a oneyard dive from Lane.
Armuchee travels to Fort Oglethorpe to play LFO next week, while LaFayette has its first home game of the season against Trion.