Marietta, which started the season 1-5 against a rugged schedule, has put itself in position to win its first region championship since 2005.
The Blue Devils took sole possession of first place in five-team Region 3-7A and emerged as the only remaining unbeaten team in region play with a 34-16 victory at McEachern, which suffered its first region loss and fell into a second-place tie with Harrison.
Both teams were using new quarterbacks and relied heavily on their running games. That worked out well for Marietta (3-5, 2-0), particularly in the first quarter, when it rushed for 146 yards and three touchdowns in the first nine minutes and took a 21-7 lead. McEachern never got within 10 points the rest of the night.
Jace Arnold scored on runs of 12 and 46 yards in the first five minutes for a 14-0 lead. He finished with 84 yards on 15 carries. Russell Bey added 45 yards on nine carries as the Blue Devils finished with 174 yards rushing.
Daniel Gray, making his first start at quarterback for Marietta, completed 10 of 21 passes for 133 yards, about half of which came on a 65-yard pass to Nakari Ashley in the third quarter that led to a 30-yard field goal by Ben Parrot that gave Marietta a 27-14 lead. McEachern had closed the deficit to 10 points on its previous possession on a 17-yard touchdown run by Jaylon Brown.
“I thought he did well,” Marietta coach Richard Morgan said of Gray. “I thought he managed the game well and threw some good passes. He had some crucial drops. I thought some guys could’ve helped him out a little bit better, but I thought he stayed composed and did a good job.”
McEachern’s Reece Kingeter started at quarterback in place of Jaydon Kinney, who is out for the season after breaking his leg in a victory against Harrison last week. However, Kingeter ran for a touchdown but lasted less than a quarter before leaving with an injury, and freshman Tyrone Benton took over and played the remainder of the game.
The McEachern quarterbacks were a combined 4-of-15 for 56 yards, but the Indians (4-4, 1-1) got 206 yards from a running game led by freshman Jayreon Campbell (88 yards on 21 carries) and seniors Jaylon Brown (69 yards on 15 carries) and Treyvon Copeland (48 yards on nine carries).
McEachern was still within 11 points after blocking a Marietta punt out of the end zone for a safety that cut the lead to 27-16 with 9:48 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Indians moved the ball inside the Marietta 40 on the ensuing possession but turned the ball over on downs at the 46, and Marietta responded with a 10-play drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Gray to Devin Clark with 2:10 left that was the game’s final score.
Marietta’s six non-region games included five against teams ranked in the top seven of their classifications. The Blue Devils lost all five, none by more than 20 points, and picked up their only victory against West Forsyth, 24-17 on Aug. 26. Now they’re 2-0 in region play with games remaining against Harrison and North Paulding.
“The schedule was set up the way it was to challenge us and get us ready for nights like this, and it worked,” Morgan said. “So we’re in first place in the region, we get a bye week now and we’ve got two weeks left. We’ve got to go 1-0 against Harrison the next time we play, and if we do that we’ve got a chance to play for the whole thing.”
Marietta - 21-3-3-7 - 34
McEachern - 7-0-7-2 - 16
First quarter
Mar - Jace Arnold 12 run (Ben Parrot kick), 10:36
Mar - Arnold 46 run (Parrot kick), 7:02
McE - Reece Kingeter 1 run (Lucas Wynn kick), 3:26
Mar - Charles Hill 2 run (Parrot kick), 2:57
Second quarter
Mar - Parrot 37 field goal, 1:06
Third quarter
McE - Jaylon Brown 17 run (Wynn kick), 4:24
Mar - Parrot 30 field goal, 3:10
Fourth quarter
McE - Safety (punt blocked out of end zone), 9:48
Mar - Devin Clark 9 pass from Daniel Gray (Parrot kick), 2:10
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