Playing on an extremely muddy field Friday at Marietta, East Coweta had little choice but to rely on running back Gerald Green.
The senior made the most of the extra workload, rushing for 275 yards on 36 carries and scoring all four of his team’s touchdowns in a 28-26 victory over Marietta in the first round of the Class AAAAAAA playoffs.
East Coweta (4-7), the No. 3 seed from Region 2-AAAAAA, will be at home in the second round next weekend against at-large team Tift County, which advanced with a surprisingly lopsided 42-7 victory over sixth-ranked Roswell, the Region 4 champion.
Green, who averaged 18.6 carries and 109.9 yards per game during the regular season, had 209 of his yards and three touchdowns in the first half, helping the Indians build a 21-7 lead that was cut to 21-13 just before halftime.
“Gerald Green, you can’t say enough about him,” East Coweta coach John Small said. “He’s a kid that’s going to graduate in December. He’s done his academic work. But he’s just a kid that’s stayed the course and trusted the process. He’ll give all the credit to his offensive line, because that was a grinder game right there. … They’ve got a great running back as well, and we knew it was going to be whoever could get into the end zone the most times in this mud out here.”
Marietta (5-6), the Region 3 runner-up, got even closer with 7:10 remaining on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Hughes to Arik Gilbert, but East Coweta stopped the two-point conversion attempt to preserve a 21-19 lead.
On East Coweta’s next possession, Green had a potential 65-yard touchdown run called back because of a holding penalty, and the Indians were forced to punt. Marietta fumbled on its next play, and Green scored on a 2-yard run with 1:43 to play to cap a seven-play drive, all of which were runs by Green.
Hughes threw another touchdown pass to Gilbert with 59 seconds to play to cut the lead to two points, but East Coweta recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
“We knew we had to run the ball,” Small said. “We knew [Marietta] was a good team, but our kids are battle-tested. They’ve been in some really tough games this year. A lot of people doubted us early in the year, but we stayed the course, and Gerald leads that pack.”
East Coweta started the season 0-6 against teams that finished the regular season with a combined record of 44-16. Five of those opponents made the playoffs, and four were ranked when East Coweta played them.
Hughes, a freshman making his second start after starting quarterback Harrison Bailey suffered a season-ending injury in the region-deciding game against Hillgrove two weeks ago, finished with three touchdown passes. Running back Kimani Vidal had 109 yards rushing on 23 carries.
East Coweta quarterback Nate Cronic was called on to pass just four times, completing two for 9 yards.
Green scored the game’s first points on a 64-yard run with 9:42 to play in the first quarter, one play after the Indians recovered a punt that hit a Marietta player.
Marietta tied it 7-7 on Vidal’s 1-yard run with 49 seconds left in the quarter, but Green answered with a 71-yard run on the Indians’ next play from scrimmage.
After Green’s 3-yard touchdown run with 1:56 to play in the half increased the lead to 21-7, Hughes threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Kobe Stewart. However, Marietta missed the extra-point attempt, which proved costly, and the lead was 21-13 going into the half.
Marietta had the ball inside the East Coweta 20 two other times in the first half but turned it over on downs.
East Coweta - 14-7-0-7 - 28
Marietta - 7-6-0-13 - 26
First quarter
E - Gerald Green 64 run (Dylan Lewis kick), 9:42
M - Kimani Vidal 1 run (Cooper Kipp kick), 0:49
E - Green 71 run (Lewis kick), 0:29
Second quarter
E - Green 3 run (Lewis kick)
M - Kobe Stewart 68 pass from Tyler Hughes (kick failed), 0:53
Fourth quarter
M - Arik Gilbert 21 pass from Hughes (pass failed), 7:10
E - Green 2 run (Lewis kick), 1:43
M - Gilbert 13 pass from Hughes (Kipp kick), 0:57
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