Fun Night at DHS Stadium

Perhaps the most astonishing facet of Decatur’s 57-6 pummeling of North Springs Friday night is that no individual statistic stood out.

There were no glossy running totals, as Decatur’s leading rusher, wide receiver Terryon Robinson had 56 yards, all on a single touchdown run late in the first half. The Bulldogs only threw the ball five times, ran only 31 plays from scrimmage, had only 151 yards total offense, and the team’s most ferocious defender, senior middle linebacker Chris Hambie, had exactly no tackles.

“If you want to write something about tonight, said assistant coach Jake Reading, “you only need to write one word. Team. This is a team and not a collection of individuals.”

If only it was that simple. In fact, this game did have a handful of stellar individual moments, starting with Perez “Twin” Cowan who ran the season-opening kickoff back 85 yards for a touchdown. Later in the quarter freshman halfback Tommy Renfroe, unquestionably the team’s most startling newcomer, juked, shook, snaked and raced 23 yards for his first varsity touchdown.

With seven minutes left until halftime, Terez “Twin” Cowan caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Vito Antinozzi, making this the second consecutive opening night that both of Decatur’s diminutive identical twins scored touchdowns in the same game.

Perhaps the game’s most electrifying moment, outside of the opening kickoff return, came with 2:13 left until half when sophomore cornerback Khalil Haynes scooped up a fumble and romped 55 yards for his first varsity touchdown.

“If you look at these stats,” said head coach Price Jones, “it almost looks like we didn’t do anything on offense. We didn’t run many plays, and we’re still making too many mistakes in terms of penalties.

“Yet,” he added, “we scored 57 points. We did exactly what we needed to do against a team like this – we put them away early.”

Before the nearly packed home stands, coming on the heels of Spirit Fest held earlier in the evening in downtown Decatur, the Bulldogs not only dispatched North Springs early, but with impunity. Although there’s no way of knowing, the 57 first-half points much surely be a school record. Veteran fan Walter Winn (Decatur High Class of 1957) said, “In all the years I’ve been attending Decatur games, I’ve never seen a half anywhere close to this one.”

This night was certainly a contrast to last year’s 25-12 win over North Springs.

“That game was ugly,” said sophomore quarterback Antinozzi who at 5-11, 180 pounds has added two inches and 15 pounds since last season. “That was my first game, and I never got comfortable. Already this season has a whole different feel. This is a true team and all the goals we have are team goals.”

In the second half, with the clock running nonstop except for timeouts, and with Jones playing all his reserves, many of them freshmen, Decatur went scoreless while allowing North Springs’ only touchdown, a 22-yard pass from Hunter Bryan to Mutale Kabulo with 20.5 seconds left in the game.

Now 0-1, North Springs hasn’t won a game (not counting a 2009 forfeit victory) since Nov. 7, 2008. 

“I hated to lose the shutout,” Jones said, “but I’m excited that we took care of business and we got the young guys a lot of playing time. Believe me, it will get tougher next week. For one thing we’ll see a much better defense.”

Decatur plays at home again next Friday at 7:30 p.m., against South Atlanta. That team already has two games under its belt. South Atlanta beat Druid Hills 14-8 last week and lost 3-0 to North Atlanta Friday.