By Ashley Hargrove
DECATUR— Friday night didn't exactly turn out the way Allen Creasy had hoped for, but the Athens High football coach was optimistic following his team's 34-12 pre-season jamboree loss to Decatur at Ogle Stadium.
"You learn from good things that happen and you learn from bad things that happen," Creasy said. "Hopefully the bad things you learn you never want to have happen again, and that's the way we're going to approach it. We're certainly not down on our players and we're not down on this team. It was a bad night for us, but hopefully this night will turn into some good nights for us down the road."
Decatur led 17-0 after the first half of play, which featured both teams starters. The junior varsity played the final two quarters.
The Red Raiders got on the board with 7:51 remaining in the first quarter on a field goal by William Walraven. Decatur scored twice more in the second on a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Ben Neill. Neill hit Daniel Deffenbaugh with a 10-yard pass, followed by a 54-yard touchdown pass to Torin Dupper at the 2:38 mark. Both extra point attempts by Walraven were good. The Red Raiders found the end zone twice more in the third quarter.
"We weren't ready to play," Creasy said. "We weren't prepared for the intensity that Decatur came out here and played with, and that was evident. We made too many mistakes. This was just a practice game, but it was the last one we're going to get to have in our game uniforms, so from this point on, we better get it done the right way."
The Golden Eagles found the board early in the fourth on a 32-yard run by Adrien Crayton. The 2-point conversion failed. Decatur extended the lead on a 24-yard field goal by Diego Salazar with 6:19 remaining. Athens scored once more on a 62-yard run by Crayton.
In other local jamboree's taking place Friday night, Clements fell 39-8 to Central Florence. The results of the Ardmore-Butler game were not reported.
