Cedar Grove cruises to second Georgia football state title in three years

ATLANTA – For the second time in three years, the Cedar Grove Saints are Class 3A Georgia high school football state champions.

Behind a dominant offensive performance in which the Saints amassed 499 yards of offense and seven touchdowns, the Saints routed the Savannah Christian Raiders, 49-28, Wednesday afternoon inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

With the win, the Saints have now won five state titles since 2016 after not winning any for the first 43 years of the program’s existence dating back to 1972.

Junior quarterback Elliott Colson had a monster game for the Saints, passing for 259 yards and throwing four touchdowns to four different receivers while junior running back Boden Walker rushed for 129 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

Starting with the ball, the Raiders wasted no time marching down the field and scoring a touchdown to take an early 7-0 lead in the Class 3A state championship game.

The Raiders ran the ball on six consecutive plays and scored when standout running back Zo Smalls pounded his way into the end zone for a short 2-yard score less than three minutes into the game.

The Cedar Grove offense was a tick better than the Raiders in the first quarter, however.

Stepping on the field for the first time already trailing by seven points, the Saints scored touchdowns on each of their first two possessions and did so with ease.

A 64-yard catch-and-run touchdown from Colson to Malachi Miller on their first play from scrimmage knotted the game at 7-7, and they followed that up with another 64-yard touchdown drive on their second possession that took 13 plays before Boden Walker ran up the middle untouched for a 10-yard score.

That gave the Saints their first lead of the game 14-7 with 2:39 remaining in the first quarter.

After punting on their second drive, the Raider offense got things going again on its third drive and tied the game up at 14-14 early in the second quarter on another Smalls touchdown run.

Through three drives, Kenry Wall led the way with 55 yards rushing on six carries while Smalls had 25 yards and two TDs on eight carries.

The well-oiled machine that was the Cedar Grove offense continued, however.

Needing just over a minute, the Saints raced into Raiders territory with ease before Colson tossed his second touchdown pass of the game, a 31-yard strike to Andrew Leslie who dove into the end zone to put them back out in front 21-14 with 10:04 remaining in the half.

Through their first three drives, the Saints had already amassed 184 yards of offense, and were a perfect 4-for-4 on third down.

Penalties were an issue in the early goings for the Saints, and that burned them on the next Raiders offensive possession.

After having the Raiders stopped on third down for a second time on the day, the Saints were tagged with a facemask penalty that moved the chains.

WIth new life, Smalls got the Raiders deep into Saints territory with a 42-yard run, but it was short-lived.

Three plays later, D’Marcus Clements bailed out his defense with an interception in the end zone to give the ball back to the red-hot Saints offense with a chance to go up two scores.

But for the first time in the game, the Savannah Christian defense made a stop.

They forced the Saints to punt for the first time near midfield with just over five minutes remaining in the half, but were unable to capitalize.

Things went from bad to worse for the Raiders after forcing another Saints punt. Back in possession of the ball with 2:09 left in the half, Blaise Thomas was intercepted for a second time.

Tony Forney returned the interception 44 yards to the Raider 18-yard line, and the Saints needed just one play to score.

Colson tossed his third touchdown pass of the half, this time to Devin Carter, and that gave the Saints a 28-14 lead heading into halftime.

The rout was on in the second half for the Saints, who continued to score.

Cedar Grove added to its lead just three plays into the third quarter when Walker made the Raider defense look silly on a 50-yard touchdown run. It was his second score of the game and it gave the Saints a commanding 35-14 lead.

After a quick three-and-out from the Raiders, the Saints marched on an 8-play, 74-yard drive and scored again, this time on a short 7-yard run from Anthony Booker to increase their lead to 42-14.

The score was set up by a pair of long completions from Colson, the first a 46-yard pass to Leslie, and the second a 29-yard pass to Carter.

Booker’s first TD of the game for the Saints highlighted a 28-0 run for the Saints after the game was tied 14-14 early in the second quarter.

Savannah Christian snapped the 28-0 Saints run with a touchdown on their next drive, a 24-yard run from Jaden Miles, but it was too little, too late for the Raiders, who trailed by three touchdowns midway though the third quarter.

The Saints tacked on another touchdown late in the third quarter and never looked back en route to a dominant 49-28 win over the Raiders.

Smalls led the way for the Raiders with 86 yards rushing and three touchdowns in the loss.

CEDAR GROVE 49, SAVANNAH CHRISTIAN 28

Savannah Christian: 7 7 7 7 – 28

Cedar Grove: 14 14 21 0 – 49