BT-Marist bids as Georgia’s top rivalry: ‘Up there with TCC and Thomasville’

Blessed Trinity coach Ed Dudley didn’t need to remind his team of its season-ending loss to Marist last year as it prepared to face its bitter rival again on Friday.

As it turned out, he didn’t have to.

“As we were walking out here, (senior safety) Will Chastain, our team captain, said, ‘That scoreboard from last year has been my screen saver for 10 months, coach,’” Dudley said.

Blessed Trinity flipped the scoreboard Friday with a walk-off 17-14 win at Marist, the Titans’ first over the War Eagles since 2019. Blessed Trinity was 0-4 against Marist since then.

It was another high-stakes renewal of one of Georgia’s most intense rivalries over the past decade. Since Blessed Trinity and Marist first played in 2016, they’ve faced off in a state championship and a triple-overtime region title tilt. They’ve also knocked each other out of the No. 1 spot in the state rankings.

“I think we’re up there with (Thomas County Central) and Thomasville,” Dudley said. “This is as good as a rivalry as you’ll find.

“Milton-Roswell, you name it. We’re in there.”

Alan Chadwick has coached against plenty of bitter rivals since he took over in 1985. But to him, no game is more intense right now than playing the Titans.

“Each team is going to give each other their best shot, no question about it,” Chadwick said. “It’s a competitive and intense rivalry.”

Blessed Trinity and Marist don’t have the lore of some of Georgia’s most storied rivalries. They have made history, though — the Titans and War Eagles have both been top-10 teams for 10 straight games, the second-longest streak in GHSA history (Fitzgerald and Irwin County hit 12 from 2014 to 2025).

They’re also dead even against each other at 5-5 all-time. And six of those games have been decided by four points or less.

To add to the stakes, Marist and Blessed Trinity are led by the two winningest active head coaches in GHSA history. Chadwick has the second-most wins of any coach in Georgia history with 460, and Dudley is three wins away from eclipsing 250 in his career.

On paper, Blessed Trinity appeared to have a significant talent edge. The Titans have seven players with a Division I scholarship offer, including linebacker DJ Jacobs, the No. 3 senior recruit in the country. Marist, on the other hand, has one.

Like a good rivalry, talent discrepancy didn’t seem to matter. The Titans jumped out to a 14-0 lead by halftime before Marist tied the game with a long touchdown drive and a pick-six in the second half.

Blessed Trinity couldn’t separate itself again until the game’s final seconds when Richard Morthland split the uprights on a 27-yard field goal.