Top-ranked Tucker loses to Marist

By Chip Saye

For The AJC

Marist coach Alan Chadwick had expressed concern earlier this week about his team’s ability to limit Tucker’s big plays on offense.

It was his War Eagles, however, who came up with one big play after another at Adams Stadium on Friday night, as 10th-ranked Marist rolled to a 32-7 victory against No. 1 Tucker.

The War Eagles (4-1 overall, 4-0 in Region 6-AAAA) had touchdown runs of 38, 52 and 81 yards and a pass completion of 48 yards. But it was a 45-yard pass from receiver Penn Davenport to Patrick Davenport on the first play from scrimmage that seemed to set the tone. Marist scored two plays later on Matt Connors’ 38-yard run, and the rout was on.

Sam McNearney scored on a 52-yard run early in the second quarter to give his team a 14-0 lead. He scored again on Marist’s first play of the third quarter, going 81 yards for a 29-7 lead.

McNearny finished with 165 yards on eight carries to lead a Marist rushing attack that picked up 376 yards. Quarterback Andy Perez had 108 yards on 23 carries, and Connors had 77 yards on 10 carries.

Tucker running backs Tyrelle Poole and Rendell Wilder, who each entered the game averaging more than seven yards per carry, were limited to a combined 45 yards on 13 carries. Only Devin Scott found any success on the ground for Tucker (4-1, 3-1), picking up 77 yards on 11 carries.

Marist finished with 469 yards, including 317 in the first half, compared to 228 for Tucker.

The War Eagles other scores came on a 9-yard touchdown run by Sullivan late in the second quarter and a 31-yard field goal by Justin Moore in the third quarter. Tucker’s only points came on a 29-yard pass from Norman Hayes to Poole with 1:32 remaining in the first half.

“[Tucker is] a young football team, and they’re going to pull it together,” Chadwick said. “They’ve got some great talent, great skill-position players and some great threats.”

The Tigers can only hope that this loss will set them on the same path they traveled last season. Tucker entered the 2008 game against Marist at 4-0 and lost 38-0, but it didn’t lose again and eventually beat its rivals 15-3 in the Class AAAA championship game.

“The last few games between these two teams have been either all one way or all the other way, and this one just happened to be all our way, kinda like the regular-season game last year,” Chadwick said. “The state championship game last year, that was a different story. It was all their way.”

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