ATLANTA — Marist rallied back, but Gainesville held on.
In their first game under new head coach Josh Niblett, the Red Elephants overcame 84 yards in penalties to knock off sixth-ranked Marist, 34-23, on the road in the season opener Friday night.
It's one game, but it's what we expect to do," Niblet said. "I told the kids, get used to this; this is what we expect to do. We're chasing best; we're not running from losing. These kids got to believe in what we're doing, and they do believe in what we're doing. I proud of them."
Marist didn't shy away from a 27-7 halftime deficit in the failed come-from-behind effort, scoring 23 unanswered points in the second half to close the gap to just four points, 27-23.
The Eagles' comeback was a product of Gainesville's mistakes -- a fumble, an interception and nine penalties in the second half.
"Third quarter, we sputtered a bit," Niblett said. "We've got to cut down on the penalties. We had some very not opportunistic things happen to us in the third quarter that we've got to do a better job of if we're going to contend for winning championships."
But in the first half, it was all Gainesville, behind junior quarterback Baxter Wright, who guided Big Red down the field four times.
It was Naim Cheeks; however, that got the Red Elephants on the board first on a four-yard TD run with 10:55 to go in the opening quarter.
Six minutes later, Wright found himself chasing a wild snap down, quickly picked it up, and fired it to Tre Reece. Reece put on a Playstation finish, dodging Marist defenders 16 yards for the touchdown and a 13-0 lead.
Later on, in the quarter, Carmelo Byrd snatched a DJ Mazzone pass out of the air and returned it 30 yards to the Eagles' 3-yard line, and a play later, Ross darted in for the 3-yard score at the end of the first quarter.
Marist put together a long drive in the second quarter, capped by a Jackson Hughes 1-yard dive for a score.
Gainesville's offense wasn't finished yet, as Wright would find Sky Niblett in the end zone from 12 yards out for the score, pushing Gainesville ahead, 27-7.
In the second half, the Eagles put together another long drive, with Hughes scoring again on a 1-yard run with 3:58 left in the third quarter. His score was the official start to the comeback.
Mazzone scored on a 71-yard run, and Jack Evart's interception led to a 40-yard Beck Janki field goal with 7:44 to go, closing the gap to 27-23.
Gainesville put an exclamation point on the game when Cheeks rushed in from three yards out for the touchdown with 2:05 left and a 34-23 lead.
