The Marist offense, bottled up in the first half by a big and active Creekside defense, scored touchdowns on its three second-half possessions, including a game-winning 15-yard run by Brayden Lewis with 1:43 remaining in a 27-21 victory over Creekside in the Class 4A football semifinals Friday at Hughes Spalding Stadium in Atlanta.
Marist quarterback Jack Euart, held to 6 yards rushing on seven first-half carries, ran for 73 yards and two touchdowns in the second half to help the War Eagles overcome a 14-6 halftime deficit.
The victory puts the top-ranked War Eagles (14-0) in the championship game at 7 p.m. on Dec. 16 in Mercedes-Benz Stadium against No. 3 North Oconee (14-0), which advanced to its first state final in school history with a 27-7 victory over Blessed Trinity.
Marist (14-0) will be making its eighth championship game appearance under 40-year head coach Alan Chadwick and first since winning the Class 4A title in 2020. Chadwick and the War Eagles also won championships in 2003 and 1989.
“It gets harder,” Chadwick said of another long playoff run. “It’s tough, you know? I don’t even know what to say. I’m happy to be around these kids and come to work every day. The good Lord willing, maybe I can do it another week.”
Euart’s 9-yard touchdown run on the fifth play of the second half got Marist back within 14-12, and his 1-yard dive over the pile on the second play of the fourth quarter put the War Eagles ahead 20-14, their first lead since early in the second quarter.
Tenth-ranked Creekside (10-3) responded with a 13-play, 80-yard drive that used five minutes of the clock and reclaimed the lead at 21-20 on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Cayden Benson to Dylan Vickerson with 6:30 play.
Marist then took possession at its 41 after a short kickoff and drove 59 yards in 10 plays, reclaiming the lead for good on the touchdown run by Lewis.
Creekside had one last possession but didn’t reach midfield before turning the ball over on downs on an incomplete pass with just seconds left.
Creekside reached Marist territory on its first two possessions of the game but came away empty after throwing an interception on its first drive and turning the ball over on downs at the Marist 13 on its second. But the Seminoles, driven by running plays up the middle, seemed to establish control early in the second quarter with a 43-yard touchdown run by Benson and a 49-yard touchdown pass from Benson to Vickerson for a 14-3 lead. The Seminoles outgained Marist 218-124 in the first half, but Marist turned the tables in the second, outgaining Creekside 171-109. Marist did not attempt a pass in the second half after going 3-for-5 for 26 yards in the first.
Trace Gaynes led the War Eagles with 105 yards rushing on five carries. His 60-yard run late in the first quarter, which provided almost half of Marist’s first-half yards, led to the War Eagles’ first points, a 31-yard field goal by Drew Linnihan with 27 seconds left in the quarter for a 3-0 lead.
“We found out real quick that we couldn’t pass-block them,” Chadwick said. “We just had to come back and go at ‘em a little bit more. We had some miscues in the first half and weren’t on the same page with some things we were trying to do, but we got it straightened out at halftime. The coaches made some really, really good adjustments on both sides of the ball.”
Benson went 13-for-20 passing for 187 yards and was the Seminoles’ leading rusher with 63 yards on 19 carries. Corey Mims rushed for 56 yards on 11 carries, and Vickerson had eight catches for 132 yards.
Creekside - 0-14-0-7 - 21
Marist - 3-3-6-15 - 27
First quarter
M - Drew Linnihan 31 field goal, 0:27
Second quarter
C - Cayden Benson 43 run (Delano Jones kick), 10:27
C - Dylan Vickerson 49 pass from Benson (Jones kick), 5:42
M - Linnihan 41 field goal, 0:00
Third quarter
M - Jack Euart 9 run (run failed), 10:34
Fourth quarter
M - Euart 1 run (Jack Callaghan run), 11:20
C - Vickerson 11 pass from Benson (Jones kick), 6:30
M - Brayden Lewis 15 run (Linnihan kick), 1:43
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