Fourth-ranked Allatoona leaned heavily on Russell Halimon this year on its way to 11 straight wins to open the season. Class AAAAA's leading rusher did his thing again Friday night, but in an 45-14 win over second-ranked Coffee, the Buccaneers showed a wealth of offensive weapons.
Halimon ran 29 times for 213 yards and two touchdowns and crossed the 2,000-yard mark for the season on a 33-yard scoring run in the third quarter, but the junior back had plenty of help from his offensive mates. Four players scored for Allatoona as the Buccaneers rolled up 523 yards of offense.
Allatoona (12-0) will host Gainesville (10-2) next week in the state playoff quarterfinals.
Coffee (10-2) took the lead when Demetrius Davis scooped up a blocked punt and returned it 15 yards for touchdown less than four minutes into the game.
It remained close early, but the tenor of the game changed in the second quarter on a 14-point swing in Allatoona's favor. The Buccaneers defense turned Coffee back on a fourth-and-goal run from the 2-yard line, and on the next play Allatoona senior Joshua Bettistea took a sweep right, hit the sideline and pulled away from the Trojans defense for a 98-yard touchdown run that put the Buccaneers up 17-7.
After a quick three-and-out, Allatoona stuck with another big play, this time on a play action pass from Conner Larson to Kameron Bowen that covered 70 yards and gave the Buccaneers a 24-7 cushion.
Coffee struck back with its most effective drive of the game, moving 76 yards in 10 plays and scoring on 4-yard pass from Tyree Paulk to Lacarvius Sears, cutting the lead to 24-14 with 2:41 remaining in the second quarter.
Allatoona answered, though, driving 66 yards and scoring on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Larson to Zach Nichols with 18 seconds left in the half.
Larson finished completing 7 of 16 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns, while Bowen had three catches for 104 yards and two scores.
Paulk led Coffee, rushing for 48 yards and completing 18 of 28 passes for 170 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, both of which were picked off by Allatoona's Faizon Harris.
