Hillgrove drove 64 yards in less than a minute and scored the winning touchdown on a 5-yard pass from Toryn Wilkins to Drew Conner with 18 seconds left for a 16-15 victory over McEachern in a game that decided the final playoff berth in five-team Region 3-7A.
The win was the only one in region play for the Hawks, who came into the game 2-7 overall and 0-3 in region play, but Hillgrove earned the No. 4 seed and will return to the playoffs for the first time since 2019 when it travels to Region 4 champion Grayson on Nov. 12.
“I don’t care about our record … 3-7, I don’t care,” Hillgrove coach Justin DeShon said. “This team is battle tested. We’re playing with house money, and I love it.”
McEachern, which finished the season 4-6 overall and 1-3 in the region, will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008. The Indians averaged 10 wins a year from 2009 to 2019 but are 15-17 in the three seasons since.
It was a unique position for these rivals, located about 3 miles apart in west Cobb, who had been so good over the past 15 years. Playing in the same region from 2010 to 2019, McEachern and Hillgrove combined for nine of the 10 region titles, usually having to go through each other to get them. Now they were meeting in a win-or-go-home contest to advance to the postseason.
It appeared that McEachern had things in hand, leading 15-10 and holding the ball inside the Hillgrove 25-yard line with just over a minute left. But the Indians fumbled and Hillgrove recovered at the 36 with 1:13 remaining. A 42-yard pass from Wilkins to Jeremiah Reeves got the ball to the McEachern 13. Two more completions to Reeves moved it to the 5, and Conner scored on the next play.
Hillgrove failed on the two-point attempt, but McEachern never crossed midfield in the closing seconds.
The fumble was McEachern’s second in the fourth quarter. Minutes earlier, with a 15-7 lead, the Indians turned the ball over at their 39, and Hillgrove drove 30 yards before settling for a 26-yard field goal by Zach Wieder that closed the gap to 15-10 with 5:59 left.
The majority of the game’s scoring came during a four-minute stretch of the third quarter after each team had struggled terribly on offense in the first half, when McEachern had 128 yards and Hillgrove had just 47.
McEachern’s Lucas Wynn kicked a 37-yard field goal for a 6-0 lead with 6:19 to play in the quarter. On the first play of the ensuing possession, Wilkins threw down the middle of the field to a wide-open Caleb Humphries for an 80-yard touchdown that gave Hillgrove its first lead.
McEachern answered on its next possession, scoring on a 34-yard halfback pass from R.J. Echols to Calvin Pittman for a 12-7 lead with 2:20 remaining in the quarter.
The final offensive stats were about as close as the game itself, with McEachern holding a 262-253 advantage in total yards. Indians quarterback Reece Kingeter was 11-of-25 passing for 101 yards and rushed for 37 yards on 15 carries. Jaylon Brown had 51 yards rushing on 12 carries.
Hillgrove’s Wilkins completed 12 of 26 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns. The Hawks were held to 42 yards rushing on 19 carries.
“We’ve been waiting to kinda get over a little bit of a hump for about six weeks,” DeShon said. “We thought it was going to be Marietta, we thought it was going to be Harrison and we hoped it would be North Paulding. But tonight was that night, and it couldn’t be better than to be against our rival. I’m so proud of our kids. We had 13 kids transfer before spring football, so we had a run of kids that have had to grow up on the fly. Our community’s been patient with us, and this is a great reward.”
McEachern - 3-0-9-3 - 15
Hillgrove - 0-0-7-9 - 16
First quarter
M - Lucas Wynn 30 field goal, 3:34
Third quarter
M - Wynn 37 field goal, 6:19
H - Caleb Humphries 80 pass from Toryn Wilkins (Zach Wieder kick), 6:06
M - Calvin Pittman 34 pass from R.J. Echols (pass failed), 2:20
Fourth quarter
M - Wynn 32 field goal, 9:03
H - Wieder 26 field goal, 5:59
H - Drew Conner 5 pass from Wilkins (pass failed), 0:18
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