GAINESVILLE, Ga. — It was like a slow bog through the mud for North Hall and Chestatee Friday night at Lynn Cottrell Stadium at The Brickyard.
On top of the sluggish play by both sides, a steady drizzle of rain drenched the field all night. But it was North Hall that found the end zone four times en route to a 27-0 win over rival Chestatee in the 22nd Battle of Highway 60.
North Hall coach Sean Pender didn't blame the weather for the sluggish performance but did say practice was slow all week.
"Yeah, well, we both had to play in it," Pender said. "We know we had some mistakes, but we were sluggish all week at practice. You know, with a rivalry game and what this game means to both schools, you would think that we would have had a better week of practice, but we didn't. We went through the motions. It took us a half to wake up."
It looked like North Hall would walk away in the first quarter, marching 95 yards on its first drive. At the same time, Tanner Marsh completed a 12-yard pass to Ryals Puryear and a 34-yard bomb to Korbyn Sosebee to set up the 11-yard touchdown pass to Puryear with 6:54 to go in the opening quarter to go up 7-0.
Marsh led the Trojans with 11 carries on 103 yards and a touchdown and completed 15-of-19 passes for 123 yards and one TD.
After that drive, the game turned defensive, and Chestatee had three opportunities to get on the board thanks to a bad North Hall snap on fourth down, a short punt and a muffed punt in third.
Two of the three North Hall mistakes gave the War Eagles the ball inside the Trojans' 30-yard line and one at the Trojans' 16-yard line. The results: two turnovers on downs and a missed Isiah Glez field goal try.
"The ball slipping through Tanner's hands on fourth down was huge, then we dropped a punt," Pender said.
But despite all the mistakes, Marsh's 53-yard touchdown run on the Trojans' next drive was the turning point of the game.
Before the scoring run, Marsh completed a 28-yard pass to Parker Carlton. The touchdown broke the Trojans 23 and 1/2 minute scoring drought and gave them a 14-0 advantage.
"I think that play turned the whole momentum around," Pender said about the run. "We ran it, and we got exactly what we thought we were going to get."
North Hall added two more scores in the fourth quarter, a two-yard Puryear run and an 18-yard pass from Marsh to Puryear.
Puryear finished the night with eight catches for 54 yards. He also set three school records: single-season receptions (58) and receiving yards (580), as well as career receiving yards (1,004).
Ben Plemons led the War Eagles rushing attack with 59 yards on 16 carries. Caysen Goss finished with 50 yards on 16 carries.
The Trojans will take Week 10 off and return to action at Cedar Shoals on October 27. Chestatee plays host to Cedar Shoals next week.
"We've got to get healthy, stay focused and locked in over the next two weeks," Pender said.
