Hiram slams the door on Dalton comeback with two late TDs

Published 3:30 pm Saturday, September 28, 2024

After a 30-yard Caine Woods rushing touchdown cut Dalton’s deficit to just 20-13 with 8:16 left against Hiram, the Catamounts had a chance to get a stop and tie the game.

Instead, Hiram slammed the door on any comeback attempt with two late touchdowns and handed the Catamounts a 34-13 defeat.

Dalton (0-7, 0-3 Region 7-4A) fell on homecoming to Hiram (3-3, 2-0 Region 7-4A) Saturday in a game that was rescheduled from Friday because of the effects of Hurricane Helene.

A drizzly noon kickoff led to a game that contained much fewer early scoring fireworks than the final score suggested.

The first quarter ended without a score, due in part to a penalty wiping out a long Hiram touchdown run, and the first 11 minutes of the second quarter played out with 0-0 still showing on the scoreboard too.

With just 37 seconds left in the first half, Hiram broke the stalemate.

Dashaun Williams, who had his TD run called back earlier, busted free for a long touchdown run to put the Hornets up 7-0.

Hiram got the ball first after the halftime break, and another score quickly took the scoreless tie to a 13-0 Hiram lead.

Quarterback Ethan Latimore found Williams for a 52-yard catch-and-run touchdown to make it 13-0 with 9:19 left in the third.

“When you play a team as explosive as they are, they are bound to get their touches,” Dalton head coach Kit Carpenter said during a postgame radio interview.

Dalton’s offense, which had one drive in the first half reach scoring range but end with a blocked field goal, got on the board midway through the third.

Woods hit Havyn Searels for a strike down to the 1-yard-line on a 4th-and-15. Defensive lineman Peyton Starling came in to take the carry and shoved into the end zone to cut the score to 13-7 with 5:43 left in the third.

Dalton got a quick stop after the score and a chance to go down and take the lead, but Hiram pushed the Catamounts back and forced a punt.

Instead of giving up the lead, Hiram increased it. Kaden Hamilton was bottled up at the line of scrimmage, but he escaped the pile, sprinted out of it and walked in for a 48-yard rushing score that made the Dalton deficit 20-7 late in the third.

Hiram drove the ball with a chance to go up three scores, but Dalton’s Frank Atangana made a play to keep Dalton alive, stepping in front of a Latimore pass at the Dalton 6.

Dalton drove the ball 94-yards, capping it with the 30-yard Woods scramble, to cut the score to 20-13, but Hiram chipped down the field and punched in a Latimore rushing touchdown with 2:57 left that made the score 27-13.

“We moved the ball well, there are a lot of positives,” Carpenter said. “We never like losing, but we’ve got to take the positives and get better.”

With Dalton trying to put together a last-ditch effort, a Woods pass slipped through the hands of a receiver, and Darius Harris took back a 65-yard interception return for a score.

After seven straight games in seven weeks to start the season, Dalton finally gets an off week.

Dalton is idle next week, then hosts Cedartown Oct. 11.