Holy Innocents’ and Marist saw their seasons come to an end with losses in the quarterfinals of the Georgia High School Association state football playoffs Nov. 26.
Holy Innocents’ lost to host Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy 35-28 in a Class A Private game in McDonough, while Marist’s quest for a second consecutive AAAA state title ended with a 28-21 defeat at the hands of host Benedictine in Savannah.
Holy Innocents’ battled on even terms with Eagle’s Landing Christian in the first half as the two teams were tied at 7-all at the end of the first quarter and 14-all at halftime.
However, ELCA scored touchdowns on its first two possessions of the second half to take a 28-14 lead and stayed in front the rest of the way.
William Wright threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Drew Bomar to cut Holy Innocents’ deficit to 28-21 late in the third quarter and when ELCA scored again to make it 35-21 in the middle of the fourth quarter, Bomar’s 4-yard scoring run helped the Golden Bears cut the Chargers’ winning margin at the end.
Wright had two touchdown passes in the game, including a 22-yard scoring strike to Zach Jackson in the second quarter, while Jacobi Murray scored on a 3-yard run in opening period for the Bears.
“I thought we battled in all four quarters,” Holy Innocents’ coach Todd Winter said. “It literally came down to the last play of the game. We just couldn’t quite finish. I thought our kids played extremely well. We executed pretty much the way we thought we could on offense. We came out, ran the ball, established the run game, put some points on the board early, and threw the ball effectively as well. Defensively, I thought we did a great job against the run. They got us in a couple of one-on-one battles in the pass game. That’s what it really came down to. They hit a couple of passes and we didn’t hit a pass at the end of the game. It was a great game. If I was just watching the game, it would have been a great one to watch.”
It was the third state quarterfinal appearance for Holy Innocents (11-2) in its football history, having reached the final eight in 2009 and 2013 as well as 2019, when the Golden Bears reached the Class A Private semifinals. The Bears won the Region 5A Private title.
The Marist-Benedictine game was a battle between the top two teams in AAAA, with Marist the No. 1-ranked team and Benedictine at No. 2.
The contest was tied at 14-all at the half before Benedictine scored on a field goal and a touchdown in the third quarter to take a 24-14 lead.
The War Eagles were able to close the gap at the end as Quinn Gooding scored on a 12-yard run with about four minutes remaining in the game.
“I thought we played well,” Marist coach Alan Chadwick said. “We just needed to make another stop and convert another possession to have a chance to win the game. We had a 14-play possession for a touchdown and a 19-play possession for a touchdown. We gave up a couple of big plays to Benedictine, which they are very capable of doing.”
It was the ninth state quarterfinal appearance in 10 years for Marist (10-2). The War Eagles won the Region 6AAAA title.