Houston County aims to be road warrior in quarterfinal

A week ago, Houston County survived a full 48-minute battle with Mays, the defending GHSA Class AAAAA runner-up and a team loaded with athletes and a fairly wide open passing game.

The other end of the spectrum awaits, and far from home.

Run-heavy and fundamentally sound Allatoona and its 15-game home winning streak welcome Houston County on Friday in a Class AAAAA quarterfinal game.

Allatoona is less than 8 miles from North Cobb, where Northside opened the season with a 24-21 comeback win.

The Buccaneers made the trip, albeit about 25 minutes shorter, a year ago, when they took on Northside at Mercer in the semifinals.

That battle of similar philosophies went to Northside by a 31-20 score, thanks in large part to Willie Jordan's 231 yards on 40 carries.

But this time, the matchup is of contrasting styles, much like Houston County and Northside. Allatoona, which lost its first game of the season a year ago in that semifinal, is indeed ground oriented.

The Bucs (11-1) run the ball 74.3 percent of the time this year, up from 66.6 percent a year ago.

"They want to run downhill, they want to toss," Houston County head coach Von Lassiter said. "They're a wing-T team in the I. They just want to run the football, and find different ways to get the ball in the playmakers' hands."

Mays, on the other hand, mostly threw the ball and used all parts of the field to do so in last week's 42-40 loss, giving Houston County's defense a different challenge this week.

"They're very run heavy," senior linebacker Bennie Steadman said. "They're way more I, power stuff (than Northside).

"We have to stop the run. I'm pretty sure if we stop what they do, we can take care of the other stuff."

Russell Halimon, an Arizona commit, is the top ground-gainer with 1,543 yards, but he has been sidelined and may be a game-time decision. Allatoona's No. 2 runner is senior Brandon Archibald, with 579 yards.

Quarterback Brandon Rainey, who played receiver against Northside a year ago and caught a 46-yard pass, is next with 419 yards, with only three fewer rushing touchdowns than Halimon.

The Bucs make the most of their passing game, with Rainey having completed 63-of-108 for 1,144 yards and 14 touchdowns with four interceptions.

"Just keys, read our keys," Steadman said of the defensive priority. "We're getting after the ball well. It's just reads."

The Bucs are a three-man front of defense with different looks behind the line, a little bit like Warner Robins' 3-5 alignment.

Allatoona has surrendered 29 points in the past four games, and more than 20 only twice all season.

The Bucs have 34.5 sacks through 11 games.

"We want to try to run the ball, pound them down," junior offensive tackle D.J. Journey said, who pointed out linebacker Michael Robinson as a player to watch. "We just have to contain (him)."

Robinson leads the Bucs with 102 tackles (11-game totals), is tied for third with five sacks. Allatoona has 11 interceptions, led by Raleigh Webb's four, so quarterback Jake Fromm (227-375-6, 3,728 yards and 34 touchdowns) will have a challenge.

"They want to keep everything in front of them," Lassiter said. "They want to make you sustain the ball. They want turnovers, and they turn the ball over very seldom."

And there's the fact that the Bears (11-1) will travel a bit more than two and a half hours for the biggest game of the year.

A year ago, Houston County went north about an hour or so at this point in the playoffs, and lost 42-22 to Stockbridge.

The last Houston County true road win -- away from McConnell-Talbert -- against a team that made the playoffs was 35-23 at Harris County in the 2012 opener.

Houston County has lost two straight road playoff games, last year and 33-13 at Mundy's Mill in 2013. The Bears hosted their first playoff game a year ago, so the program was used to traveling in the postseason,

Of course, before 2013, Houston County hadn't been to the playoffs since 2006, when the Bears beat Newnan and Martin Luther King before losing at Roswell. Overall, though, Houston County is a very respectable 9-11 away from home in the postseason.

"We don't talk about it," Steadman said. "But I'm pretty sure we know what's been happening in the past. All we're going out there to do is do what we usually do, play hard and be physical and win the ballgame."

This story was originally published November 26, 2015 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Houston County aims to be road warrior in quarterfinal."