Alpharetta Earns Fourth Win with Rout of Titans           

Alpharetta’s offense continued to put up big numbers and Northview continued to struggle to find the end zone as the Raiders took a 42-14 win from the Titans in the region opener for both teams.

Diversity was the name of the game for Alpharetta as eight players had significant touches on offense, two quarterbacks threw for over 100 yards and 11 different receivers caught at least one pass. Running back Kwame Larbi led the pack in the receiving department with six catches for 76 yards and a touchdown, and quarterback Mikal Abdul-Saboor completed 9-of-12 passes for 150 yards and three touchdowns.

The final numbers look sharp, but the Raiders were anything but that in the game’s first quarter. They turned the ball over on each of their first three drives (two fumbles and a T.J. Brown interception of Abdul-Saboor), and their only points came on an Xavier Leonard (in red, diving) blocked punt that Samuel Rego (No. 10) recovered in the end zone for the game’s first score.

(Photo by Toby Roybal, Raidersphotos.com)

“They’re a tough team,” Alpharetta head coach Jason Dukes said of Northview. “They played extremely hard, and they made some football plays very early in the game that put us in a tough position.”

The game seemed to turn in the second quarter when Northview put together a steady drive that gave them a second-and-one from the Alpharetta 8-yard line. But instead of picking up the first down and tying the game, Northview went backwards. Two penalties, a negative-yardage running play and a sack left the Titans with a fourth-and-31, forcing them to punt. They never threatened again until the Raiders had a comfortable lead.

Dukes commended his team for battling back after a sloppy start.

“Our defense did a fantastic job of coming back out and shutting them down,” he said. “We’ve had a tendency over the years, when things got kind of tough we were looking for other things to go wrong. But we stayed the course tonight. The defense played well and the offense came back and got things going.”

Abdul-Saboor led touchdown drives on four of the Raiders’ next five possessions as Alpharetta built a 35-0 lead. He connected with Larbi for a 15-yard score. Nevin Harton and Carlos Burse each caught a touchdown pass from Saboor, and the duel threat senior quarterback also rushed for a touchdown.

The highlight of the night for Northview was a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Justin Jackson that gave the Titans their first points with 2:04 left in the third quarter. Dennis Onwualu was the star offensively for Northview as he rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. The Titans managed 14 or fewer points for the third straight week as they fell to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the region.

The win puts Alpharetta at 4-1 and 1-0 in the region. It’s rarefied air for a team that has won a total of eight games the past three seasons.

“We want to finish every game with having more points in our column than the other team, and we want to finish this season with enough wins to be in the playoffs and possibly win our region,” Dukes said. “If you don’t have that as a goal, it’ll never be real to you.”

Northview will try to get back into the win column when they host North Forsyth next week, North Forsyth lost their region opener to Roswell. Alpharetta will travel to West Forsyth, who also won their first region game with a 43-7 thumping of Centennial.