Week 2 of the 2019 was opening week for several of the classification’s teams, including Marist, which squared off with Lovett to kickoff its 2019 campaign. Lovett was coming off a big Week 1 win over Greater Atlanta Christian, so this game was expected to be much more competitive than it proved to be as Marist absolutely dominated the Lions 49-0. The War Eagles were leading 42-0 by the time the half rolled around. Senior quarterback Connor Cigelski took 15 carries for 125 yards and three scores, while going a perfect 7-of-7 passing for 179 yards and two touchdowns to junior Josh Moore. Cigelski sat the entire second half after accounting for the 304 total yards of offense and five scores. Marist’s 40-20 win over Lovett in 2018 was previously the largest margin of victory in the series’ history before Friday’s blowout.
Elsewhere in the classification, two-time defending state champion Blessed Trinity held off Class AAAAAAA’s South Forsyth 34-31 on the road to stamp the program’s 23rd straight victory. Jackson Hamilton gave the Titans a 7-0 lead with a 22-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and South Forsyth’s Tre Green ran in a 22-yard score to tie it up 7-7 at the half. Blessed Trinity added two Justice Haynes touchdown runs (13 yards, 15 yards) and an interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter to go up 27-7 before Haynes added a 19-yard touchdown run early in the fourth to put Blessed Trinity up 34-7. South Forsyth got on the board with a Kyle Durham 3-yard touchdown run. Following a successful onside kick, Durham found Cameron Schurr for a 27-yard touchdown run that made it a 34-27 game. The War Eagles did not recover their next onside attempt, but following a Blessed Trinity punt, Durham tossed a 23-yard touchdown pass to Devin McGlockton with just 5.1 seconds left to bring it to 34-31.
Denmark, another Region 7-AAAA program, also had an impressive showing this Friday. The Denmark Danes opened their program’s second season of existence with a dominating 41-0 road win over Class AAA’s sophomore program Cherokee Bluff. Quarterback Aaron McLouglin threw two of his three touchdown passes in the opening quarter and Jordan Brunson rushed for two scores to put the Danes up 27-0. A Zach Ogbogu 32-yard touchdown run pushed the lead to 34-0 at the half. Denmark’s final score came on a 43-yard touchdown pass from McLoughlin to Brunson with 8:22 left in the third quarter.
Visiting North Oconee shook off an early 7-0 deficit that came on an interception returned for a touchdown and poured on 41 unanswered points to defeat Apalachee 41-7. Quarterback Bubba Chandler connected with Max Tumblin to even it up 7-7 in the first quarter before Phillip Ard’s 37-yard field goal with 6:41 left in the half gave the Titans their first lead of the game (10-7). Chandler found Griffin Trest for a 28-yard touchdown with 2:23 left in the second and then Adam Weynard blocked an Apalachee field goal attempt and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the half to put the Titans up 24-7. Chandler added a 21-yard touchdown run with 9:16 left in the third quarter and then tossed a 19-yard touchdown to Gavin Bloom with 3:15 left in the frame. Thomas Davis ran in the game’s final touchdown with 6:27 left in the fourth.
Host Woodward Academy led 14-0 after the opening quarter and 28-0 at the half of its 35-7 win over Grady. Damari Alston found the end zone first on a 1-yard touchdown run and then hauled in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Mike Wright to grow the lead to 14-0. Wright connected with Jacorrei Turner on a 27-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter and added an 8-yard rushing score before the half. Alston scored on a 14-yard run with 8:38 to go in the third quarter and the lead held until a Grady touchdown with just 1:10 left in the final frame.
The biggest individual performance came from Troup quarterback Kobe Hudson. The senior Auburn-commit and AJC Super 11 recipient passed for 326 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 240 yards and three touchdowns in Troup’s 65-24 win over Ridgeland.
Also, the Gilmer Bobcats snapped a 31-game losing streak that dates back to 2015 under their first-year head coach Kevin Saunders by scoring a big 56-12 win over Towns County.
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