When Dalton High School lost at Sonoraville a year ago, Catamount turnovers helped doom Dalton.
This season, the Cats flipped the script.
Dalton (2-0) utilized three first-half Sonoraville turnovers and a quick-strike passing game to build a commanding 43-0 halftime lead and cruise 50-14 over the Phoenix (1-2) Friday.
“We had a two week break, and we wanted to come in here and have a good game,” said Dalton running back and linebacker Adriel Hernandez, who cashed in one of those turnovers for a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown. Dalton forced two fumbles in the first half to go with the pick, with all three directly leading to points.
“Last year, we came in with our heads too high and underestimated them,” Hernandez said. “This year, we just practiced hard and got a better result.”
Dalton quarterback Ethan Long converted on short fields and tossed four first-half touchdown passes, while the Catamount defense barely left Sonoraville standout QB Jaxon Pate enough time to breathe, much less find an open receiver.
After the two teams exchanged early drives without lighting up the scoreboard, Dalton, and Long, went to work.
Long heaved a 29-yard jump ball to a leaping Bubba Tanner, then found RJ Storey wide open in the end zone for a 14-yard score.
When Pate took the field in hopes of leading a game-tying drive, Hernandez instead stepped in front of a pass and made the score 15-0 after one quarter, after he powered in on a 2-point conversion.
Dalton’s Stryker Woods pounced on a Sonoraville fumble at the Phoenix 35, and Long found Kendrix London from 35 on the next play to make it 21-0 early in the second. With the Dalton defense quickly ending two Sonoraville drives, Long connected with Tanner with TDs No. 3 and 4, a 19-yarder followed by a 29-yard strike with 1:37 left before half.
After the ensuing kickoff, Dalton put the final touches on the 43-point half.
Andy Atangana pounced on a fumble on the kickoff, and Hernandez found his way in for an eight-yard rushing score a few plays later.
Long finished 13-for-18 with the four touchdown passes and 174 yards. A junior in his first year as Dalton’s full-time starter, Long has thrown eight touchdown passes through two games.
“He’s got great vision,” Hernandez said. “Our receivers are great, and he’s just putting the ball where it needs to be.”
London had three catches for 74 yards, Storey had four for 45, and Tanner had three for 63.
Pate was sacked four times in the first half, but managed 32 passing yards. The Phoenix crossed midfield just once in the first half.
With some Dalton reserves starting to enter the game as the running clock wound in the third and fourth quarters, Sonoraville had some more success.
Braxton McMahan, on his first carry of the game, broke off a 60-yard touchdown run to make the score 43-7 with 5:08 left in the third. The 60-yard one-play scamper made him Sonoraville’s leader in total offense, but he’d get to 111 rushing yards on five carries by game’s end.
Hernandez, who scored both an offensive and defensive touchdown earlier in the game, nearly completed the trifecta when he returned a kickoff 84 yards for a would-be touchdown. A block-in-the-back penalty late in the return negated it, and, instead, Sonoraville’s Trinton Parker picked up a fumble and rumbled 50 yards to the Dalton 20 on the next play.
Reserve QB Chaz Pate, who entered for Jaxon, found Ethan Williams for a 20-yard touchdown on his first pass attempt of the game.
Dalton Sophomore running back Nash Smith helped the Catamounts restore order on the next drive, carrying seven times for 62 yards on the possession and capping it with a 15-yard touchdown.
Dalton will test its 2-0 start next week, when the Catamounts travel to Rockmart Friday at 7:30. Sonoraville will return home to play LaFayette.