Collins Hill’s TJ Wilcox threw a 67-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Campbell on the first play of the second quarter to ignite a 38-point run that led the Eagles to a 45-14 victory over North Cobb in the first round of the Class 7A football playoffs Friday night in Kennesaw.
Wilcox was 9-of-12 passing for 198 yards and three touchdowns and scored the game’s first points on a 2-yard run midway through the first quarter. He got plenty of support from a defense that limited North Cobb to 210 total yards and a running game that piled up 276 yards against an injury-depleted North Cobb defense. North Cobb (7-4), the Region 5 runner-up, had not scored fewer than 27 points in any game this season.
Collins Hill, the No. 3 seed from Region 8, was one of only two lower-seeded 7A teams to win in the first round Friday night (North Gwinnett was the other). The Eagles will travel to Region 6 champion Milton next week in a rematch of their Aug. 17 game, which Milton won 27-13. Milton advanced Friday night with a 53-0 victory over Duluth.
Collins Hill went 4-6 during the regular season, but all of the Eagles’ losses came against teams currently ranked in the top 10 in their classifications - Milton, Cedar Grove, Sandy Creek, Westlake, Buford and Mill Creek. The Eagles were projected as 19-point underdogs against North Cobb by the computer Maxwell Ratings.
“The early season that we had, the first five games, got us prepared for away games,” first-year Collins Hill coach Drew Swick said. “They’ve adapted to this, so we’re used to being away. I’m so proud of our offense, so proud of our defense, so proud of our assistant coaches. It was an unbelievable effort all around.”
Collins Hill had just 56 yards of offense in the first quarter but more than doubled that on the first play of the second on Wilcox’s touchdown pass to Campbell that gave the Eagles a 14-7 lead. That play kicked off a 17-point quarter that put the Eagles in control.
Wilcox connected with Quentin Grambo for a 35-yard score on the Eagles’ next possession, and Phillip Bonacci kicked a 29-yard field goal on the final play before halftime.
The Eagles drove 97 and 82 yards for the two second-quarter touchdowns and 78 yards for the field goal, heavily tilting the yardage in the Eagles’ favor. Collins Hill finished the half with a 293-94 advantage in total offense.
North Cobb forced Collins Hill to punt on its first second-half possession, but Campbell intercepted a pass at the North Cobb 41 two plays later. That set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Deuce Geralds for a 31-7 lead with 8:38 left in the quarter. Geralds scored again on the Eagles’ next possession on a 48-yard pass from Wilcox.
Cam Jones scored on a 59-yard run for a 45-7 lead with 11 minutes left in the game, and North Cobb’s Zion Bryan scored on a 27-yard pass three minutes later for the final margin.
Jones finished with 138 yards rushing on nine carries, and Jacari Thomas had 55 yards on 11 carries.
North Cobb quarterbacks Nick Grimstead and Kaleb Narcisse combined to go 8-for-19 passing for 120 yards but were sacked five times and intercepted three times, two of which led to Collins Hill touchdowns. David Eziomume, the Warriors’ leading rusher this season, was held to 27 yards on 10 carries.
“Our kids love the way that we play defense,” Swick said. “We move around, and we drew them offsides a lot. It takes a lot to prepare for our defense, and our kids know that. We always say that we want to hit them in the mouth, and that’s my philosophy.”
Collins Hill - 7-17-14-7 - 45
North Cobb - 7-0-0-7 - 14
First quarter
C - TJ Wilcox 1 run (Phillip Bonacci kick), 7:55
N - Nick Grimstead 23 run (Mustafa Mohamad kick), 2:01
Second quarter
C - Ethan Campbell 67 pass from Wilcox (Bonacci kick), 11:47
C - Quentin Grambo 35 pass from Wilcox (Bonacci kick), 7:52
C - Bonacci 29 field goal, 0:00
Third quarter
C - Deuce Geralds 2 run (Bonacci kick), 8:18
C - Geralds 48 pass from Wilcox (Bonacci kick), 3:33
Fourth quarter
C - Cam Jones 59 run (Bonacci kick), 11:00
N - Zion Bryan 27 pass from Kaleb Narcisse (Mohamad kick), 8:01
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