Three-year-old Allatoona scores upset

It was a remarkable victory considering this is Allatoona’s first season with a full senior class, not to mention the crazy off-season.

Varner’s players have been good at understanding, not to mention patient.

Allatoona’s summer of tumult began in the final weeks of the 2010 school year, when Varner and his staff, plus seven other head coaches in the school, were let go because they lacked the tenure to escape Cobb County school budget cuts.

Varner and staff continued to work with the team while looking for other jobs, a decision that paid off Friday night.

In mid-July, Cobb re-hired some 500 teachers, and the coaches were back. Other schools, including Lassiter and Wheeler, also worried that a newly hired head coach wouldn’t be retained, but Allatoona’s situation was worse. Almost one-quarter of the school’s teachers, those hired from outside the county when the school opened in 2008, were endangered.

The drama might’ve worked to make the community closer. Fans dressed in red filled the visiting side at Kennesaw Mountain, with a few dozen more watching from the fence.

“It’s a huge game for our kids, no doubt about it,’’ said Scott Johnson, whose son, Matt Johnson, is a junior linebacker. “It’s a real game. It’s back to reality.’’

Varner, who had been Roswell’s offensive coordinator before coming to Allatoona to start the program, said he was touched by the off-season support.

“It was amazing really,” he said. “The calls and the e-mails, not just to myself but my wife, some people I didn’t know but had heard what had happened, praying for you, people going out of their way to wish you luck, that meant a lot.”

There was a rally in front of the school, which is Cobb’s newest, situated in the northwest corner of the county. They showed for a school board meeting and started an e-mail campaign.

They staff stayed on the job through summer workouts.

“They didn’t split,” said booster club president Phil Sherer. “They didn’t pack it up.”

Johnson was worried the uncertainty might’ve hurt the program briefly.

“It’s in the past, but it did put us behind for sure,’’ Johnson said. “For quite a few weeks, our coaches were in slow motion. Since the decision was made, they’ve been fully engaged.”

Pete and Nancy Brumfield were happy that their son, lineman Dalton Brumfield, could finish his career with the same staff that opened the school. Dalton is a three-year starter.

“He was very upset,” Nancy said of Dalton. “We were all like family. We did a lot of praying.”

Said Pete, “It would’ve set the program back four or five years.”

Instead, Allatoona looked liked a pretty good team. Until this season, Allatoona has played a non-region schedule, with no chance of making the playoffs. Now, it appears to have the kind of community support it takes to compete in Region 7-AAA.

“The coaches feel we have a good chance to make the playoffs,’’ Johnson said. “We have good prospects everywhere on the field. Everyone is upbeat.”