McEachern breaks through against Hillgrove defense, closes in on region title

The Hillgrove football team had allowed a state-best 1.9 points per game during its 7-0 start to the season, but the Hawks had yet to face an opponent the caliber of McEachern, which came into Friday night’s key Region 3-6A game undefeated and ranked No. 5 in Class 6A.

McEachern quickly put a scratch in Hillgrove’s shiny statistics, scoring on two of its first four possessions for a 14-0 lead and went on to a comfortable 35-14 victory over its Powder Springs rival in front of an overflow crowd at Cobb Energy Hillgrove Stadium.

The Indians (8-0, 5-0) emerged as the only remaining unbeaten team in Region 3-6A play and can clinch their second region title in three years and 21st overall by winning either of their next two games, against 2-6 South Cobb next week or 1-7 Osborne in the regular-season finale.

“I know exactly who we are,” McEachern coach Kareem Reid said when asked what he learned about his team from this game. “We understood what we wanted to get done, what the mission was, and we came over here and executed. We expected nothing less. We felt like we were the better team all week when we watched tape. We knew they really hadn’t been tested before, so we wanted to see what they were about when they got down.”

Hillgrove (7-1, 4-1), whose first seven opponents came into Friday’s games with a combined 17-35 record, fell into a second-place tie with Harrison. Those two teams will face off next Friday in a game that likely settles the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds from the region for the state playoffs.

McEachern built its early lead on an 8-yard touchdown run by freshman Ty Nolan on the Indians’ first drive and a 21-yard touchdown pass from Calvin “C.J.” Pittman Jr. to freshman Jacorey Shockley with 35 seconds remaining in the first half.

Hillgrove made things interesting when it scored on its first possession of the second half, cutting the lead to 14-7 on a 4-yard touchdown run by quarterback Donovan Mack.

Pittman answered two plays later with perhaps the biggest play of the game, a 60-yard touchdown run that restored the Indians’ 14-point lead and stole the momentum back from the Hawks.

Although Hillgrove scored again on its next drive on a 51-yard touchdown run by Jaiden Moore, McEachern’s Henry Pullen had touchdown runs of 2 and 6 yards in the final eight minutes of the game to put it away.

As is usually the case, Pittman and Pullen led the way for McEachern. Pittman was 7-of-9 passing for 60 yards and a touchdown and ran for 76 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. Pullen had 23 carries for 105 yards rushing, putting him over 1,000 for the season, as well as the two touchdowns.

“As C.J. goes, we go, and everyone in our program knows that,” Reid said. “We have really good players around him. He had a moment here or there where he missed on a couple of plays and we left some points off the board in the first half, but he played great. And a great performance again by Henry. He’s been consistent all year.”

McEachern came in with impressive defensive statistics of its own, allowing just 10.3 points per game in its first seven games, fifth-best in Class 6A, and the Indians were able to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball against Hillgrove. McEachern finished with a 281-238 advantage in total offense and limited the run-first Hawks to 148 yards rushing, more than one-third of which came on Moore’s touchdown run.

Moore led Hillgrove with 76 yards rushing on 11 carries. Mack was 10-of-14 passing for 91 yards and rushed for 37 yards.

“We preach physicality in the program, and toughness, and we bully people on the field,” Reid said. “And that’s what we did tonight.”

McEachern - 7-7-7-14 - 35

Hillgrove - 0-0-14-0 - 14

First quarter

M - Ty Nolan 8 run (Wes Sheehan kick), 6:58

Second quarter

M - Jacorey Shockley 21 pass from Calvin Pittman Jr. (Sheehan kick), 0:35

Third quarter

H - Donovan Mack 4 run (Carter Genchi kick), 5:28

M - Pittman 60 run (Sheehan kick), 4:28

H - Jaiden Moore (Cody Cowan kick), 1:21