Mineral Ridge beats Dalton, 14-6

The Rams defense, featuring a goal line stand, was outstanding.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- A stunning goal-line stand by Mineral Ridge with 7:27 remaining in the game propelled the Rams to a 14-6 victory over Dalton in the opening round of the Division VI, Region 21 playoffs at the Joe Lane Sports Complex.
The win avenged a 14-11 home loss to the Bulldogs last year in the first round of the Div. V regional playoffs and earned the Rams a second round game against Columbiana next Saturday.
Mineral Ridge (9-2) will be looking to overcome a 21-7 loss to the Clippers suffered in week 2 of the regular season.
"Our defense really stepped up there on the goal line," said Mineral Ridge coach Shawn Brown. "It was 4th and 3 inches and our guys came up big.
"I don't know how many plays we gave them down there inside the 10 but it's a tribute to how hard we played tonight."
The Rams dominated Dalton (6-5) for most of the game behind the strong running of John Hack and Micah Hall who combined to rush for 324 yards and a pair of touchdowns but four turnovers kept the Bulldogs within striking distance in the fourth quarter.
The stand
Dalton got the ball trailing 14-6 at the Mineral Ridge 38 after Jake Dallessandro intercepted Vance Keirsey and marched down to the 3-yard line.
The Bulldogs rammed the center of the Ridge line three times and moved to within inches of the goal line. On the fourth play, the Rams stuffed Dalton fullback Ryan Sullivan to preserve their 8-point lead.
"I told [defensive back] Hall to go to noseman and for the entire defense to cave toward the center," explained Brown who called timeout before the fourth down play. "Boy, what an effort."
If the goal line stand didn't deflate the Dalton hopes for an upset, then the ensuing 7-play, 35-yard drive that followed did.
The Rams ate nearly five minutes off the clock before punting the ball back to Dalton with 2:40 left in the game.
Again, Mineral Ridge's defense rose to the occasion and stopped Dalton to preserve the win.
"Getting even with them from last year makes this a little sweeter," Brown said.
Brown said that despite dominating the Bulldogs on both sides of the football they couldn't put Dalton away because of mistakes.
"We have to do a way better job of taking care of the football," Brown said. "We had so many penalties too that we need to address before next week."
Mineral Ridge opened up the game with a strong running attack and kept up the pressure on the Dalton defense all night.
Hack, who finished with 205 yards rushing on 30 carries, got the Rams on the scoreboard in the first quarter when he broke loose on a 34-yard scoring run.
At halftime
At halftime, Ridge led 7-0 as Dalton struggled to find its offense against the Rams aggressive defense.
The Mineral Ridge defense held Dalton to just 40 yards of total offense and 1 first down in the first two periods.
The Rams opened up a 14-0 lead by taking the second half kickoff and marching 75 yards in 13 plays. Hall capped the drive by diving over right tackle for a two-yard touchdown and Nick Ciavarella kicked the second of his two conversions.
Hall finished the night with 119 yards rushing on 17 carries.
With the Rams seemingly in command, Dalton recovered a Ridge fumble and scored two plays later on a 17-yard run by Sullivan to suddenly make it a game late in the third quarter.