Even though they play in the same region now, Friday night’s Ridgeland-Allatoona game did not count in the 7-AAA standings.

And for that, the Panthers can breathe a small sigh of relief.

The third-year Buccaneers, coming off a 24-22 win over Class 5A Cobb County rival Kennesaw Mountain last week, pulled off a second straight shocker with a 17-14 home upset of Ridgeland.

The Panthers (1-1) missed a golden opportunity to get on the board in game’s opening minutes.

A high snap on an Allatoona punt gave Ridgeland the ball at the Bucs’ 7-yard line, and Xavier Turner gained five yards on the very first play to put the ball two yards from paydirt.

But three consecutive runs netted zero yards, forcing Ridgeland to hand the ball back over to the Bucs’ offense.

It would be the last time the Panthers saw the ball for the remainder of the quarter.

Allatoona (2-0) clicked off a 98-yard, 10-minute drive that ended on a one-yard sneak by quarterback Jared Harris on the first play of the second period.

The Bucs caught lightning in a bottle on their next series as tailback Miles Jones found a seam and raced 62 yards for another score that gave the home team a stunning 14-0 halftime advantage.

The Panthers finally got their offense on track late in the third quarter.

Zack Clayton punched it in from four yards out with 2:58 left in the period, and after forcing an Allatoona punt, Clayton scooted 29 yards for his sixth touchdown of the season. Evan Courtney’s second point after kick knotted the game at 14-14 entering the final 12 minutes.

Allatoona would see their next drive stall deep in Ridgeland territory, but kicker Brett Wilburn, who had already connected on two PAT’s, split the uprights from 33 yards out to put his team up three with 8:22 to play.

Another exchange of punts followed, giving Ridgeland one final shot at victory with just over three minutes to play.

But driving inside the Allatoona 40, the Panthers misfired on a halfback pass on fourth down, allowing the Bucs to run out the clock for the upset win.

Jones rushed 28 times for 190 of Allatoona’s 216 yards on the ground, while Clayton paced Ridgeland with 103 yards on 16 carries.

Trey Stewart had 70 yards on 7-of-16 passing for the Panthers while Deonte Marsh caught three passes for 36 yards to lead the receivers.

Ridgeland will be on the road next week at Cedartown to officially open region play.