Blessed Trinity, Marist Play For Region Title Friday

By Mike Blum

ROSWELL, GA — Blessed Trinity Catholic High School and the Marist School will renew their brief but intense rivalry Friday night, with the Titans hosting the War Eagles for the Region 7-AAAA championship at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 in Roswell.

Although the two schools are among the three most prominent Catholic high schools in metro Atlanta, they did not meet on the football field until 2016, 15 years after Blessed Trinity began its football program. Marist, a state powerhouse since the 1970s, played in a higher classification than Blessed Trinity until 2016, when the Titans joined Marist in AAAA. This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams in the past two years, with BT winning 16-7 in the state AAAA championship game last year after losing to Marist during the regular season.

The regular seasons between the two teams in the last two years have been tense, down-to-the-wire battles, with BT winning 28-26 at Marist in 2016 and Marist winning 25-24 at BT last year. The 2018 championship game was played at Marist after originally being scheduled for the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but was postponed due to bad weather.

Both teams are 5-0 in region play coming into the Friday's game, with BT (8-0 overall) ranked No. 1 in the state in AAAA and Marist (7-1) the No. 7-ranked team. Marist’s only loss came against St. Pius 17-0 in mid September. BT opened the season by defeating St. Pius 35-13. The last two weeks, Blessed Trinity and Marist both defeated Flowery Branch, the region’s other contender, with the War Eagles winning 20-0 last Friday, one week after the Titans narrowly survived in overtime by a 21-20 score.

The Titans will have a considerable advantage in experience over the War Eagles Friday. Many of BT’s key seniors started in the 28-26 win over Marist two years ago, while Marist has only one primary skill
position player back from last season. Jake Smith, Steele Chambers, Ryan Davis, J.D. Bertrand and J.R. Bivens are all starting for BT for at least the third year, and will again lead the team against the War Eagles. Smith, Chambers and Davis are the team’s three main offensive weapons while also playing vital roles on defense. Bertrand, who is also a two-way player, is one of the team’s defensive stalwarts along with Bivens.

The Titans have been tested only once this season, that coming in the overtime escape against Flowery
Branch, which went for two after scoring in overtime but failed to convert. That was the only game this season in which BT scored fewer than 35 points, with Woodward Academy the only team other than Flowery Branch to score more than 13 points against the standout BT defense, which is yielding less than 10 points per game.

Bivens plays in the defensive line for the Titans, with Bertrand and Chambers anchoring the defense
from their linebacker positions and Davis and Smith key performers in the secondary. Alex Poma and Alex Massey are the team’s other senior regulars on defense, with juniors Griffin Gilder, Quinton Reese, James Bryant and Ryan Attaway along with sophomores Carson Harof and Michael Mitchler.

Many of BT’s defensive regulars are also starters on offense. Smith is the quarterback, with Chambers the primary running back and Davis the team’s leading receiver. Reese, Bryant, Bertrand and Harof make up the team’s receiving corps along with Davis. With most of their games wrapped up by halftime, Blessed Trinity coach Tim McFarlin has not had to play his regulars extensively in the second half, and the stats of the Titans’ top offensive performers reflect that fact.

Smith has passed for 991 yards and eight touchdowns in eight games, completing 69 of 105 attempts with no interceptions. Chambers has rushed for 813 yards and 15 touchdowns on 94 carries, including three games in which he has four or fewer rushing attempts. Chambers, who also has passed for two touchdowns and has one TD reception, shared the ball carrying duties last season with Elijah Green, with both gaining more than 1300 yards. But Green went down with an injury in the third game of the season, and several players have shared time since as Chambers’ backup.

Davis, who caught what proved to be the winning touchdowns against Flowery Branch, was out for two games, and his numbers are down from last season (24-412-3). The BT offensive line returned two starters from the 2017 championship team (Jackson Filipowicz and Jack Davis) after having to replace all five starters from 2016.

Among the returnees for Marist from last year is two-way starter Kyle Hamilton, one of the state’s top athletes as a receiver/defensive back. Hamilton caught the winning 2-point conversion pass with 33 seconds left in last year’s game. Because of that victory, Marist won the region championship, allowing the War Eagles to play all but one playoff game at home through the finals.

Blessed Trinity had to play its last four playoff games on the road, beginning with a 21-17 upset over top-ranked Cartersville and standout quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who is starting at Clemson as a freshman. The Titans defeated Mary Persons to advance to the championship game, with Mary Persons currently ranked No. 2 in AAAA behind BT. If both win their respective regions, they could meet in the title game this season.

Since McFarlin took over as head coach in 2011, the Titans are 82-19-1, and have advanced to at least the quarterfinals each of the last five years, losing in overtime in the 2015 title game. McFarlin coached Roswell to a share of a state championship in 2006 with a team consisting of a talented junior class. The Hornets lost in the quarterfinals the next season to eventual state champion Lowndes, and McFarlin stepped down as head coach following the ’07 season before returning to his role as BT’s head coach prior to the 2011 season.

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