Lassiter defeats Roswell, wins 6-AAAAA

By Chip Saye

For the AJC

The Lassiter football program had never had a 10-win season or won a region championship in its previous 27 seasons of existence.

The Trojans changed all that Friday night, beating Roswell 42-25 to complete a 10-0 regular season and claim the Region 6-AAAAA title. As a No. 1 seed, the Trojans, 9-0 in the region, will host North Forsyth (7-3 and the No. 4 seed from Region 7-AAAAA) in the first round of the state playoffs.

“I’m just really proud of our players and excited for them,” second-year Lassiter coach Chip Lindsey said. “It’s the first time they’ve gotten to experience something like this, and I’m just real proud for them.”

Roswell finished the regular season 9-1 and 8-1 in the region, good for second place. The Hornets also will open the playoffs at home, meeting Collins Hill (9-1) next weekend.

Lassiter’s offense put up its usual big numbers on Friday. Hutson Mason passed for 254 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for a 29-yard score. Griffin Roelle had five catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns, and the Trojans’ 42 points eclipsed their season average of 38, which was fourth-best in Class AAAAA.

But three key plays by the defense made the difference.

Coray Carlson intercepted Roswell’s Brian Hickman on the third play of the game, setting up Lassiter on the Roswell 30-yard line. The Trojans scored 10 plays later for a 7-0 lead. On the drive, Mason surpassed the 3,000-yard mark for the season.

Leading 28-17 midway through the fourth quarter, Rip Rowan intercepted a Hickman pass and returned it 59 yards for a touchdown and a 35-17 lead.

On Roswell’s next possession, the Hornets drove to the Lassiter 1, where they had first-and-goal. But the ball was knocked loose and was recovered by Mitchell Aarons to stop the drive.

“Everybody was a little nervous early, but we were fortunate to get on the board early,” Lindsey said. “I think that helped us calm our nerves. Our defense played great. We put [Roswell] in two bad positions there with a short field. They just played great.”

Roswell stayed close throughout the first half. The Hornets answered Lassiter’s first touchdown with one of their own after recovering a fumble on the Lassiter 27.

Duvall Smith scored on the next play to tie the game 7-7.

It was still close midway through the third quarter, when Hickman passed 31 yards to Keegan Hughes to cut the lead to 21-17 with 4:01 to play.

But Lassiter pulled away from there.

Mason threw two touchdown passes each to Jimmy Mayer and Roelle. Mason, who entered the game with 2,989 yards, has thrown 39 touchdown passes and just three interceptions.

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