North Cobb Christian controlled the ball from the beginning, grabbed the lead in the second quarter and never looked back in a 28-10 victory over Mount Paran Christian in a Region 6-A crossover game Friday in Kennesaw.
North Cobb Christian, the No. 10 team in the Class A private-school rankings, improved to 9-1, the best record in the program’s 12-year history, and will be making its first appearance in the state playoffs. The win boosted the Eagles’ chances of receiving a first-round bye - the top eight teams in the Class A power ratings receive a bye, and they were at No. 8 this week.
North Cobb Christian has had some big victories this season, beating ranked opponents Trion and Darlington earlier in the year, but this was perhaps the Eagles’ biggest statement. Mount Paran (7-3, ranked No 7) has been the top private-school program in Cobb County for the better part of the past decade and had won the previous four meetings in the series (played from 2008-2011) by a combined scored of 188-15.
“It means a lot because we have so much respect for them,” North Cobb Christian coach Mark Hollars said “Coach [Mitch] Jordan has built a great program, and we know that year in and year out they’re one of the best programs in Class A. So for us to compete with them, it’s just nice to see us get a reward for all of our hard work.”
Hollars was named the North Cobb Christian head coach less than two weeks before the first game in the 2016 season, when the team went 0-10. The Eagles improved to 4-6 last year before having their breakout season.
North Cobb Christian controlled the ball with its running game, which piled up 253 yards on 51 carries. Quarterback Jake Watson led the way with 81 yards on 16 carries. Timothy Walker had 71 yards on 17 carries, Ryan Pruitt had 59 yards on eight carries, and Sharnard Banks ran for 46 yards on six carries.
That allowed North Cobb Christian to hold the ball for more than 30 minutes, giving Mount Paran less than 18 minutes on offense.
Watson also was 4-of-5 passing for 101 yards, helping North Cobb Christian finish with a 354-188 advantage in total offense.
“We were very fortunate tonight in terms of how much we were able to run the ball and sustain it,” Hollars said. “We made some big pass plays when we needed them, but the bottom line is Jake Watson our quarterback got us in the right plays, the o-line executed, and the backs ran hard. We were able to eat up some clock tonight, and that definitely made a difference.”
Trailing 14-3 at halftime, Mount Paran opened the third quarter with its best drive of the night, moving 69 yards in 11 plays and cutting the lead to 14-10 on Niko Vangarelli’s 3-yard run with 8:49 to play in the quarter.
Mount Paran had only one more possession in the 17 minutes, in which North Cobb Christian added two short touchdowns runs by Walker to put the game away.
North Cobb Christian took the game’s opening kickoff and drove to the Mount Paran 16, using more than eight minutes of the first quarter, but came away empty when it missed a 33-yard field goal.
Mount Paran drove inside the North Cobb 20 on the following possession and took its only lead of the game on Parker Rostowsky’s 41-yard field goal.
Watson’s 13-yard touchdown run capped a six-minute drive and gave North Cobb Christian the lead for good with 4:59 to play in the half. His 49-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Pierre made it 14-10 just before halftime.
Mount Paran Christian had just 68 yards of total offense in the first half, 42 of which came on a run by Vangarelli on its first offensive play of the game. Vangarelli finished with 113 yards rushing on 14 carries and was 8-of-16 passing for 38 yards.
Mount Paran Christian - 0-3-7-0 - 10
North Cobb Christian - 0-14-7-7 - 28
Second quarter
M - Parker Rostowsky 41 field goal, 11:19
N - Jake Watson 13 run (Trey Stephens kick), 4:59
N - Kyle Pierre 49 pass from Watson (Stephens kick), 0:45
Third quarter
M - Niko Vangarelli 3 run (Rostowsky kick), 8:49
N - Timothy Walker 1 run (Stephens kick), 1:50
Fourth quarter
N - Walker 7 run (Stephens kick), 3:24
