Blessed Trinity Rolls Over Woodward To Reach AAAA Finals

Editor's note: Written by Mike Blum.

ROSWELL, GA — After winning their first three Class AAAA playoff games at home by margins of 26, 33 and 31 points, the Blessed Trinity Titans did not expect another lopsided win in the semifinals Friday night at Woodward Academy.

The War Eagles, ranked second in the state in AAAA at the end of the regular season, came into the game as the only unbeaten team in AAAA and were coming off an exciting 31-28 victory at top-ranked Cartersville.

Friday’s game was the second meeting of the season between Woodward and Blessed Trinity, with the War Eagles winning 13-10 in the third week of the season in Roswell on a field goal in the closing seconds.

Blessed Trinity, ranked third in the state going into the playoffs, had won their first three playoff games at home, but had to travel to College Park in south Fulton to take on the only team that had defeated the Titans in 2019.

Thanks to a dominant performance on both offense and defense, Blessed Trinity took apart the unbeaten War Eagles, romping to a 46-21 victory to give the Titans a shot at a third straight state championship.

The Titans will face Oconee County in Saturday’s state championship game at Georgia State’s stadium, with a scheduled 4:30 kickoff following the Class A public and AAA championship games. The 7A title game between Marietta and Lowndes will be played after the AAAA contest. Both BT and Oconee County come into the game 13-1, with the Warriors seventh in the final regular season rankings.

Playing without standout senior tailback Elijah Green in their early-season loss to Woodward, the Titans were held to their season low in points (10), with freshman tailback Justice Haynes rushing for 158 yards and the team’s lone touchdown. The rest of BT’s offense managed less than 80 yards, and Woodward gained 300 yards against the Titans, while the War Eagles’ defense held BT to a field goal in the third quarter after the Titans had driven inside the Woodward 5-yard line.

The rematch was a defensive struggle for much of the first half, with the Titans taking a 3-0 lead on their second possession on Aaron Werkheiser’s 24-yard field goal after a penalty erased what would have been a touchdown run by Haynes.

It was still 3-0 midway through the second period when the two teams combined for five touchdowns over the final seven minutes of the quarter, with the Titans taking a 23-14 lead into the locker room.

Green went 44 yards for a touchdown on fourth-and-1 to start the wild conclusion to the first half. Two plays later, BT defensive back James Bryant intercepted a Woodward pass and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown to put the Titans ahead 16-0.

Blessed Trinity got the ball right back when Grayson Gilder sacked the Woodward quarterback and forced and recovered a fumble in Woodward territory. The Titans drove to the 15 before Woodward recovered a fumble and returned it for a touchdown to close within 16-7.

Blessed Trinity immediately responded with a 77-yard touchdown pass from Duncan Reavis to Bryant, with the two teaming up for a 58-yard score the previous week. But on the next play, Woodward’s talented quarterback, a Division 1 commit to Central Florida, broke loose for 83 yards and a touchdown to cap the frenzied finish to the first half.

The Titans’ defense made another big play late in the third quarter, with Ty Furnish recovering a Woodward fumble deep in War Eagles’ territory. Green scored on a 14-yard run to make it 30-14, and the Titans got the ball right back, recovering an onsides kick after penalties enabled BT to kick off from the Woodward 30.

Haynes had a second touchdown nullified by a penalty and the Titans again settled for a Werkheiser field goal of 36 yards to make it 33-14 after three quarters.

Bryant picked off his second pass of the game near midfield early in the fourth quarter, and the Titans drove to the clinching touchdown on a 10-yard run by Green.

Trailing 40-14, the War Eagles managed their only scoring drive of the game, going the length of the field for a late touchdown. The Titans recovered an onsides kick and added a last-second touchdown when Haynes broke loose for 55 yards on the final play of the game.

Green and Haynes combined for 339 yards, with Green carrying 23 times for 191 yards and three TDs and Haynes contributing 148 yards and his late score while having two touchdowns called back. The Titans got a big game from their offensive line of Jackson Filipowicz, Austin Burns, Johnny Ryan, Landon Byars and Furnish, along with fullbacks Ryan Dupont and Henry Carlton.

Defensively, the Titans were led up front by Gilder and Michael Mitchler, who both had a pair of sacks with Mitchler leading the team with six tackles. Nick Pereboom also had a sack, and the Titans welcomed back starter Ryan Attaway, who missed several games due to injury,
Bryant’s two interceptions highlighted a strong performance by the BT secondary, with Jackson Hamilton, Carson Harof, Quinton Reese, David Coltrane and Matthew Franks – aided by a strong pass rush - shutting down Woodward’s passing game until the War Eagles’ final drive.

In four playoff games against some outstanding offensive teams, the Titans have allowed only four touchdowns and less than 200 yards per game, just over 50 yards rushing.

Meanwhile, the Titans’ exceptional tailback duo of Green and Haynes have combined for 1160 yards and 13 touchdowns, and are averaging 290 yards a game between them in the playoffs. On the season, the two have rushed for around 3150 yards and 37TDs, with Green missing four games.

The Titans have only attempted 27 passes in the playoffs, with Reavis completing 18 for 256 yards and three scores, two of them on big plays to Bryant.

While the Titans have been a fixture in the state playoffs since Tim McFarlin took over as head coach prior to the 2011 season, the Oconee County Warriors have not been much of a factor at the state level since winning a state championship in 1999 under Jeff Herron, the first of his five state titles at three Georgia high schools.

After reaching the quarterfinals the next year under a different coach, the Warriors did not make it past the second round of the playoffs again until this season, and managed only one winning season between 2002 and ’14. Under current coach Travis Noland, Oconee County has made the playoffs each of Noland’s six seasons with a 48-23 record and playoff wins in 2014 and ’15. The Warriors lost in the first round each of the past three seasons.

Oconee’s only loss this season came early against 5A Clarke Central, which defeated state power Buford and went on to reach the state quarterfinals. The Warriors won their region, defeating rival and previously unbeaten North Oconee 35-7 in the next to last week of the regular season.

After easy wins in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Oconee defeated fourth-ranked Marist 17-7 in the quarterfinals and fifth-ranked Sandy Creek 35-28 in Friday’s semifinals. The Warriors are led by quarterback Max Johnson, an LSU commit, who has had big games the last three weeks. Oconee also has a 1000-yard rusher, but did not run the ball effectively in two of their first three playoff wins.

Since losing 28-21 to Clarke Central the second week of the season, the Warriors did not allow more than 14 points in a game until last week, and led 35-14 early in the fourth quarter before Sandy Creek scored a late touchdown to make the score close.