Penalties, Turnovers Doom Decatur

It didn’t surprise Decatur coach Price Jones that South Atlanta sent seven, eight and sometimes nine defenders swarming across the line of scrimmage like a tsunami. What did surprise him was that his team’s pass blocking withstood it like house made of Lincoln Logs.

Friday night at Decatur High Stadium South Atlanta stunned the Bulldogs 20-6. Afterwards Jones said, “I’m very disappointed. This game was about all the plays we didn’t make.”

One example will suffice. Four minutes into the second quarter, Decatur trailing 7-0, South Atlanta, never known for passing, tried a crazy halfback option where DeAndre Jackson threw a wild, wobbly 50-yard pass. Decatur’s Terryon Robinson easily intercepted, returning it from the goal line to the 25. But the Bulldogs’ Demarcus Bundrage was called for a late hit, thus erasing, eradicating and exterminating the entire play.

“I saw the [Bundrage] hit,” said Jones, “and I was praying the referee didn’t. Well, he did, and that probably turned the game around.”

Given a second chance, South got the ball back, ran three ineffectual plays and, in another weird twist of decision making, decided to go for it on fourth and 20 at the Decatur 34. South quarterback Jermario Washington hurled another pass that was every bit as inconceivable as the previous ball thrown by Jackson. Like Robinson before him, Decatur’s Terez Cowan was poised for an easy interception.

Then he just simply melted from view, like that wicked witch in Oz. A surprised Chris Williams caught the ball and took a couple steps into the end zone giving South Atlanta the 14-0 lead it held at halftime. 

“I don’t know how [Terez] fell down, I really don’t,” Jones said. “I’ll need to look at the film to figure that one out.”

Decatur had its good moments. The team’s seasoned offensive line of Matt Schecter, Kyle Kitchens, Sam Jones, Marlon Joyner and Carl Langley frequently opened meaty holes for their running backs, particularly Bundrage who had 66 yards on 10 carries and sophomore Nick Bentley, making his 2011 debut, who had had an impressive 90 yards on 14 carries.

“That’s the strange thing,” said senior center Sam Jones. “Despite everything, I thought our line did a decent job.”

But his dad, Price Jones qualified that by saying, “We did a good job with the rush, but not the pass. It’s two totally different styles of blocking. With the rush you explode off the ball and attack your man. With the pass you have to wait and then hold. It’s a more passive style of blocking. You have to be patient.

“Also,” he added, “in pass blocking the backs have to step up, and our backs did a terrible job of blocking. [South Atlanta] kept sending guys from the outside and our backs didn’t pick them up.”

Decatur quarterback Vito Antinozzi was sacked an unofficial five times, but that only barely tells the story. He was badly rushed and rattled on nearly every throw he made.

Early in the third, with Decatur driving, and after nifty runs of eight, 11 and eight yards respectively by Bentley, the Bulldogs had a second and two on South’s 21. Antinozzi dropped to pass, eyed Robinson, his favorite target, then was hit hard on the right arm just as he threw. The versatile Jackson intercepted and ran it back 88 yards for a touchdown and a 20-0 lead that proved insurmountable.

“We were running the ball great,” Price Jones, “and I guess I could’ve kept running it. But I felt the time was right for pass. Vito didn’t have a chance. Nobody picked him (the lineman who hit Antinozzi) up. The story of the game.”

Decatur did score, with 3:36 left in the third, when the impressive Bentley sliced eight yards off tackle for a touchdown. But though Decatur had a solid running game – 42 carries for 164 yards – and though the Bulldogs had 197 yards total offense to South Atlanta’s 177 – they never came close to establishing the pass.

Antinozzi completed only 1 of 13 passes, the only completion a fine 34-yarder to Rodrick Adams very late in the game.

Further, any rhythm established by Decatur was offset by nine penalties for 55 yards, including five consecutive illegal procedure calls over two fourth-quarter series when Decatur had promising field position.

“We had miscommunication on the cadence,” Sam Jones said. “I know we’ll fix it, but it killed us tonight.”

On the defensive end, senior linebacker Chris Hambie began showcasing his considerable promise with seven solo tackles and one assist.

Decatur’s now 1-1 while South Atlanta improves to 2-1. The Bulldogs play next Friday at Riverwood, which is 0-2 after Friday’s 31-9 loss to Monroe Area.