On a night that saw major metro Atlanta teams fall across the different classifications (Brookwood, Tucker, Buford, Carver-Atlanta, Cedar Grove and Greater Atlanta Christian each lost), Class AAAA’s Marist and Blessed Trinity advanced convincingly to next weekend’s championships to play in the only metro vs. metro final of 2017. The two Region 7 rivals that met six weeks ago (Marist 25, Blessed Trinity 24 on Oct. 20) scored another pair of impressive playoff victories last night to set up next Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. kickoff at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Marist (14-0) answered a Connor Egan St. Pius touchdown pass to Zachary Ranson with five-straight touchdowns before closing out a 35-14 win over St. Pius. The War Eagles recorded six sacks defensively and as a result their quarterback Chase Abshire was able to operate with extreme efficiency passing the football. Abshire finished with 154 yards and two touchdowns off just four passes.
Blessed Trinity’s defense was equally dominant in a 28-7 road win over Mary Persons. The Titans outgained the Bulldogs 393-167 in total yards and sacked JT Hartage five times. Sophomore running back Elijah Green rushed for 91 of his 149 yards in the fourth quarter after junior Steele Chambers got the offense rolling early. Chambers, who also rushed for a 28-yard touchdown in the final frame, opened up a 14-0 Blessed Trinity lead for the second straight week with a touchdown run and a touchdown reception from Jake Smith.
