Ga. high school football: McEachern rolls past Brookwood

By Chip Saye

For the AJC

It took the McEachern offense most of the season to find its footing last year as new coach Kyle Hockman switched the Indians from their traditional Wing-T to a more balanced “Pistol” scheme.

The Indians have come a long way in a year, and they proved that Saturday in rolling up 413 yards to beat Brookwood 42-32 in the second game of the Corky Kell Classic at the Georgia Dome. The victory ended their three-game losing streak in the event.

McEachern had several stars on offense. Senior running back Rajaan Bennett led the way, rushing for 174 yards on 26 carries and scoring four touchdowns. He had scored on runs of 1, 3 and 2 yards in the first half and caught an 8-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

“He’s a heck of a player,” Hockman said of Bennett. “It’s nice to be able to hand the ball off to him when you’re not sure what to do or what play to call. It makes you look like a good coach.”

Sophomore quarterback Trent Thompson had a great debut, completing 10 of 13 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns. Both of his scoring passes went for 29 yards to fellow sophomore Amba Etta-Tawo.

McEachern kept the Broncos off balance with a nice mix, rushing for 209 yards and passing for 204. It was the most points Brookwood had allowed since giving up 49 to Lowndes in the 2005 state championship game.

“We strive to be balanced,” Hockman said. “Not necessarily 50-50 on calls, but the yardage is where we strive to be. Obviously it doesn’t always work out that way, but it did tonight. We feel real good about a lot of things, but we’ve still got a lot of things to work on.”

Brookwood got three touchdowns from senior Julian Suber, who rushed for two TDs and caught a 28-yard pass for the other. The Broncos trailed 42-20 with a little more than a minute to play but scored twice in the final 1:01 to make the score close. Brookwood’s other scores came on a 98-yard kickoff return by Allen McCray and a 3-yard pass from Ben McLane to Nick Moore.

McEachern started last season 3-4 and did not score more than 24 points in any game. The final three games of the season, however, they averaged 37 points a game in winning two of their last three.

Produced by Georgia High School Football Daily

McEachern 13 13 10 6 — 42

Brookwood 0 6 14 12 — 32

M — Rajaan Bennett 1 run (kicked failed)

M — Bennett 3 run (Troy Postell kick)

B — Julian Suber 10 run (kick blocked)

M — Bennett 2 run (kicked blocked)

M — Trent Thompson 29 pass to Amba Etta-Tawo (Postell kick)

M — Thompson 29 pass to Etta-Tawo (Postell kick)

B — Suber 3 run (pass failed)

M — Postell 27 FG

B — Allen McCray 98 kickoff return (Ben McLane pass to Andre Sims)

M — Dondre Purnell 8 pass to Bennett (kick failed)

B — Ben McLane 3 pass to Nick Moore (pass failed)

B — McLane 28 pass to Suber (pass failed)