In a rematch from last season, the Holy Innocents Golden Bears hosted the Allatoona Buccaneers in a non-region matchup with the Buccaneers looking to end their two game losing streak, while the Golden Bears looked to notch their second straight win and avenge their 30-21 loss to Allatoona last season.
Setting the tone early, the Golden Bears defense held Allatoona scoreless throughout the first half of the half of the game forcing the Buccaneers to punt the ball on five of their six possessions of the game as well as a turnover on downs in the second quarter.
"We talked all week about last year's game, they rushed for 339 yards on us and we made a point to tell our kids we have got to stop the run this year," Holy Innocents head coach, Nick Perrotta, said of the Golden Bears preparations to face Allatoona and the importance of not allowing senior running back, Ethan Corpus and senior wide receiver and Georgia Tech commit, Xavier Rucker impact the outcome of Thursday's game.
"We had to take them away. Our defensive line, our linebackers and our safeties stepped up this week," Perrotta said of the Holy Innocents defensive efforts. Meanwhile, offensively, the Golden Bears looked to "hold the football" and "control field possession" in order to keep the Buccaneers offense off the field, which led to a heavy dose of Holy Innocents quarterback, Ryan Woods, who finished with two rushing touchdown and running back Denim Stevens.
"Ultimately this game came down to field possession and doing the little things right throughout the game," Perrotta said. With the win, Holy Innocents improved to 3-1 on the season and will head into their bye week before returning to action when they open up region play against Therrell.