Carrollton’s 46-7 victory over Dacula was not as dominant as it looked, at least for the first half of the action, but the Trojans eventually hit their stride and looked like the team most thought could make a deep postseason run.

Quarterback Julian Lewis and the Trojans took the field first and immediately faced adversity, with a fumbled reception by Kimauri Farmer that the Falcons recovered. That set Dacula up in prime position at the Carrollton 36, rather unexpectedly giving them the momentum out of the gate.

They failed to capitalize on the Trojans’ mistake with a field goal attempt that came up incredibly short of the goal on a 38-yard try from Dacula placekicker Zavier Schmitt.

Carrollton wasted little time getting into a rhythm when the Trojans got the ball back for the second time, though.

A 33-yard catch by wide receiver Kiyun Cofer for a huge first-down pickup helped propel the Trojans to their first score of the game, a 10-yard touchdown reception by wideout Caleb Hudson for 10 yards.

Defensive end Kadan Spratling’s two-point conversion attempt on a direct snap was good and made it 8-0, Carrollton with roughly seven and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Dacula would threaten once more, making it deep into Carrollton territory on their following possession. But, also, once more, the Falcons would come up painfully short of hitting any type of pay dirt.

They got ambitious on fourth down, not giving a chance for what had happened on their last field goal attempt to repeat itself, by throwing the ball. That backfired too though, as quarterback Garrison Cantrell’s pass fell incomplete.

Carrollton would return to the scoreboard early in the second quarter as Ryan Mosley’s 16-yard touchdown reception from Lewis made it 15-0, Carrollton with just under nine minutes remaining in the second quarter.

And it was easy to feel the momentum was now fully in the Trojans’ favor when they added a 8-yard touchdown run from Farmer in the final two minutes of the half. That afforded them a comfortable 22-0 lead over Dacula that didn’t fully tell the story of just how many issues the Falcons had given the home team.

That’s where the score would remain when both teams walked into the locker room at halftime.

Carrollton came out hot when it got the ball in the second half with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Lewis to pass-catcher Peyton Zachary to extend the lead to 29-0.

Then, tight end Eric Garlo’s touchdown catch allowed Dacula to put its first points on the scoreboard with just shy of two minutes remaining in the game, cutting the Trojans’ lead to 29-7.

And the drive it came on put at least a temporary end to what had been the case for Dacula all game long, as it could have been a one-possession game in all reality at that point. The score in the moment would not make it appear that way, but there were several points in the game in which a tie would have been plausible if the Falcons could simply finish drives.

Moving the ball effectively had not been a point of concern for Dacula — it just could not show for it at all points-wise.

Carrollton bit right back with an 87-yard kickoff return by wideout AJ McNeil to give Trojans the same type of commanding lead they had before in a matter of seconds, sending the score to 36-7 with just over a minute and a half left in the third quarter.

The team also tacked on a Cofer touchdown and a 44-yard field field goal from placekicker Carlos Hernandez before ultimately arriving to the type of victory they were originally projected to finish this one with.

An undefeated Carrollton team (11-0) will look to keep things rolling in November as the Trojans prepare to play host to the winner of Valdosta and Walton next week as the postseason continues.