North Atlanta overcomes early 14-point deficit to defeat Midtown
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On Thursday, the North Atlanta Warriors and Midtown Knights took to the field for their respective second games of the season, with both teams looking to bounce back from season opening losses, however, early momentum in favor of the Knights as they found themselves with an early 14-0 first quarter lead after recovering and returning North Atlanta fumbles for touchdowns.
"We couldn't have started the game any worse," North Atlanta head coach, Jamie Aull said of the Warriors early turnovers which came after North Atlanta drives which were trending positively however eventually led to a 14-point deficit in the opening quarter of play. "We kind of dug ourselves a 14-point hole but like I told the guys at halftime, I don't think we ever flinched," Aull said of his players not allowing the first quarter woes to rattle them.
"I was really proud of how we handled that adversity, fought our way back and ended up taking the lead into halftime and then finishing it off in the second half," Aull said, praising his team for their efforts which led to 40 unanswered points in route to a 40-14 win for their first victory of the season, led by senior quarterback, Winston Goodman, who accounted for three of the Warriors five touchdowns.
"He's our leader on offense, he gets everything going," Aull said of Goodman who gave the Warriors their first score of the night with a rushing touchdown. "He plays with a chip on his shoulder and I think him getting knocked around a little bit in that first quarter woke him up and he got the guys going and made some plays for us," as Goodman's second touchdown of the night was through the air as he connected with junior Ellis Bland to help North Atlanta tie the game 14-14.
After the Warriors special teams forced a safety to give them their first lead of the night, North Atlanta's defense would account for their third touchdown of the night courtesy of a blocked punt which resulted in senior Gavin Jackson recovering the ball in the end zone for a touchdown, giving them a 23-14 lead.
In the third quarter, Goodman would throw his second touchdown of the night to junior Bryce Willingham as the Warriors extend their lead to 30-14 and in the fourth quarter, the Warriors defense would force another fumble which would be returned by senior Preston Brown for a touchdown helping North Atlanta take a 37-14 lead. a late fourth quarter field goa would lead to the Warriors eventual 40-14 win.
"Obviously I feel like we got a lot better from week one to week two, we have to continue to improve from week to week. Offensively, we have to get little better in the run game, especially in those third and shorts, fourth and shorts. We have to be able to convert those," Aull said of the improvements he wants to see his offense make as the season progresses.
"Defensively, I really felt like they couldn't have played any better tonight, but continue to grow and improve, have clean eye, make sure our eyes are in the right place, don't let things get behind us and eliminate explosive play," Aull said of the steps his teams must take "before we get into region play,". North Atlanta will take on Maynard Jackson in their next matchup on September 4.
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