KIPP Atlanta picks up another Top 10 win, remains on track to play for region title
The KIPP Atlanta Collegiate football had waited 14 seasons to record a victory against a Top 10 opponent, ending its drought with a 34-0 win over then-No. 5 Lovett of Class 4A-2A Private last week.
The Warriors didn’t need nearly as long to get another one, and this one was just dominant as the first.
KIPP Atlanta scored on six of its final seven possessions after falling behind 14-6 early in the second quarter to beat Class 4A-2A Private No. 10 North Cobb Christian 48-17 in a Region 5-3A game in Kennesaw.
KIPP Atlanta improved to 5-1 overall, 3-0 in Region 5-3A, and is one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the eight-team region along with Holy Innocents’. Those two teams will meet at Holy Innocents’ on Oct. 23 in a game that could determine the region title, which would be a first for the Warriors.
KIPP Atlanta is a virtual shoo-in for the Class 3A playoffs as it sits at No. 4 in the GHSA’s Post Season Rankings that determine teams and seeds for the playoffs and is projected to finish as the No. 2 seed by the computer Maxwell Rankings. KIPP Atlanta’s only loss came at Class 7A No. 5 Valdosta in the third game of the season.
The Warriors have qualified for the playoffs just twice since playing their first varsity game in 2013. The first playoff berth came in 2016, but they forfeited that game as the result of a fight in the regular-season finale against Hapeville Charter. The other came last year (a first-round loss to Sumter County) in Corey Jarvis’ first season as head coach.
“When you step back and look at it, this program was downtrodden for a few years,” Jarvis said. “That year that they had to forfeit the playoff game, that kinda killed the morale of the program. To see those guys that went 1-9 and 2-8 to last year going 5-6 and actually getting to play in a playoff game, now we’re going to Valdosta and Washington, D.C., (a 41-0 victory over KIPP College Prep) and beating a North Cobb Christian team that’s just two years removed from a semifinal game, I love that these kids are getting the fruits of their labor.”
Jarvis previously was head coach at Lithia Springs, Dooly County, Mays, Duluth and M.L. King.
North Cobb Christian (3-2, 0-2) scored on its first two possessions, taking a 14-6 lead on a 1-yard run by quarterback Jayden McCullough on the second play of the second quarter. KIPP Atlanta shut the Eagles down the rest of the way, allowing just 84 yards over the final 34 minutes and giving up only a field goal that came after Jason Smith returned an interception 26 yards to the KIPP Atlanta 23-yard line. Jake Orton rushed for 100 of North Cobb Christian’s 199 total yards.
“We had a plan to try to neutralize their receivers, but in the beginning of the game they kind of went against their tendencies,” Jarvis said. “They were running the ball heavy and then they started throwing the ball, so we had to get away from what we originally planned to do. We had to change to more coverage to keep them from nickel-and-diming us all the way down the field. We were like, ‘you’re going to have to run the ball to beat us.’”
Offensively, the Warriors were led by their two junior quarterbacks, Lawrence Moreland and Dylan Favors. Moreland was 8-of-12 passing for 108 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for a team-high 80 yards on 10 carries. Favors passed for 58 yards and ran for 73 yards on six carries, with touchdown runs of 1 and 24 yards.
They led a running game that accounted for 274 of the Warriors’ 440 yards. Four other players had at least three carries and 22 yards rushing - Cephas Barnett (41 yards on four carries), Malachi Heard (35 yards on nine carries), Vincent Lawrence (30 yards on four carries) and Tyree Harris (22 yards on three carries).
“We’ve got unselfish kids,” Jarvis said. “They cheer each other on, and they’re each other’s biggest fans. Our two quarterbacks, they could easily be saying ‘I should be starting,’ but they don’t. They know their roles. They step in and play hard, and all our kids are like that. I love that about our kids.”