Stephenson, Marist secure quarterfinal bids

High school football teams from Stephenson and Marist will represent DeKalb in the quarterfinals of the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) state playoffs.

The Stephenson Jaguars and Marist War Eagles won second round playoff games on Nov. 22 to make the quarterfinals, with Stephenson dominating Jenkins High School 41-7 and Marist winning its closest game of the season in a 22-14 bout with Jones County High School.

The wins setup quarterfinals games for both teams, with Stephenson hosting Southeast Bulloch at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 29 and Marist hosting Cambridge at 7 p.m. on Nov. 29.

Stephenson hasn’t lost a game since September and continued its streak on Nov. 22 against Jenkins.

Junior running back Anthony Booker ran for four touchdowns for the second consecutive playoff game, while rushing for more than 240 yards on 20 carries in the game the win.

Booker got the Jaguars out to an early 7-0 lead with a 50-yard touchdown run with two minutes to play in the first quarter. Adam Zalaya tacked on the extra point.

Stephenson (9-3) extended the lead to 14-0 at the half behind Booker’s first touchdown run of the night with three minutes to play in the half.

Booker opened the second half with a 75-yard touchdown run, and Zalaya notched his third extra point of the game to make it 21-0 with just a minute gone in the third quarter.

The lead increased to 28-0 just three minutes later, with another Booker run to the end zone, and Stephenson cruised to a 41-7 win.

The War Eagles had to handle something Marist hasn’t seen all season in the team’s second round win. For the first time this season, Marist trailed heading into the fourth quarter 14-9 against Jones County. After 13 unanswered fourth quarter points, Marist took home a 22-14 win.

Marist’s win keeps the War Eagles at an unblemished 12-0 record with 10-2 Cambridge coming to town on Nov. 29. Stephenson is 9-3 and gets 10-2 Southeast Bulloch for its quarterfinal game. Southeast Bulloch’s most recent loss was a 48-14 defeat at the hands of Jenkins.

Columbia was the only other team from DeKalb to make the second round of the playoffs. The Columbia Eagles fell 31-24 on a last-minute touchdown pass to Pierce County.

Columbia (5-7) got a fourth down conversion at Pierce County’s 10-yard line to tie the game with 8:04 left. Quarterback Cameron Graves—who joined a select DeKalb County career club during the game by reaching 3,000 yards passing and 2,000 yards rushing in his career—scrambled for the tying scoring, but Pierce County answered with the final touchdown of the game at the 1:05 mark.

 

The Champion Editor Jay Phillips contributed to this article.