ACWORTH — Gainesville was in it to the very end.
Chris Williamson made another amazing catch from quarterback Mikey Gonzalez late in the fourth quarter, and the Red Elephants looked poised to tie the game up.
However, the powerful running game of fourth-ranked Allatoona was just a bit too much to overcome.
The senior wide receiver for the Red Elephants (10-3) hauled in a 45-yard pass with 3:20 left to play, but their drive stalled several plays later, resulting in a 24-17 loss to the Buccaneers in the Class AAAAA state quarterfinals.
“It just came down to just not making enough plays,” Gainesville coach Bruce Miller said. “But these kids on this team had a great season."
After throwing for 240 yards against Allatoona, senior quarterback Mikey Gonzalez went over 3,000 yards for the season. Williamson had eight catches for 198 yards, and topped 1,000 receiving yards for the season.
Williamson’s last catch happened during Gainesville’s final grasp late in the fourth quarter. Facing third-and-12, Gonzalez found Williamson on a bomb pass into Allatoona territory. The receiver jumped up between two defenders and made an athletic play for the ball, resulting in a 45-yard grab.
“Chris just made play after play after play tonight,” Miller said.
The season was still a success for Miller and a Red Elephants squad moving on after the graduation of star quarterback Deshaun Watson following the 2013 campaign.
After a loss to Grayson in Week 1, the Red Elephants rebounded quickly, losing just once more in the regular season. Miller knows that his players gave it their all in 2014.
“Well, the season never ends well unless you win it all,” Miller said.
The Buccaneers pulled back to win in Acworth, despite trailing 17-7 in the second quarter. Allatoona was led by Joshua Bettistea’s two rushing scores and 104 yards on the ground. Russell Halimon took charge early for the Buccaneers, rushing for a first quarter touchdown and 109 yards on the game.
Allatoona committed four offensive fumbles but recovered all of them.
“Allatoona was just very efficient running the ball,” Miller said. “And they didn’t make any mistakes to hurt themselves.”
After a back and forth first half, Allatoona’s Skylar Davis knotted the score 17-17 with a 28-yard field goal, capping a five-minute drive to open the second half.
Gainesville came out firing early on the night, scoring on three of four first-half offensive possessions. Williamson’s first touchdown catch was in the first minute of the game, to put his team ahead 7-0.
After that, the Red Elephants had to move a little more methodically. Before his second touchdown grab, Williamson had a great leaping catch, highpointing the ball and pulling it down against the defender for a 31-yard catch.
After a pair of sizable runs from senior Michael Byrd, Williamson came away with a 5-yard catch in the back of the end zone for a 17-7 lead.
At that point, Gainesville looked in control.
The Bucs answered just before the half with Bettistea’s 4-yard run, capping a 14-play, 77-yard drive. The Bucs' only pass completion on the drive was a big one: a 17-yarder to Zach Nichols from quarterback Conner Larsen on third and long.
Chandler Staton tacked on a 33-yard field goal for the Red Elephants in the first half. They didn’t need to move far to score, after Toddrick Turner picked up a muffed kickoff and returned it to the Allatoona 27.
Allatoona ran the ball on 27 of 32 first-half plays. For Gainesville, Gonzalez was 9 of 12 passing in the first half.
Halimon, who carried it 10 times on the Bucs’ opening drive, scored on a run from the 4. He moved in steady chunks for the entire drive, picking up 21 yards on his fourth run of the game.
Byrd rushed for 121 yards, his fifth straight game with over 100 yards on the ground for the Red Elephants.