The atmosphere was a bit surreal when McEachern and North Cobb faced off in McEachern’s home opener Friday at Cantrell Stadium in Powder Springs.
The most obvious abnormality was that there were no fans allowed on the home side of Cobb County’s largest stadium because of structural issues that led to the bleachers being condemned. Then there was pushing and shoving between the teams that started before the game and carried over for most of the night. And there were more than 25 penalties called and three ejections. It was not a typical Friday night.
But one reality became pretty clear: McEachern is back.
The Indians got three second-quarter touchdowns from senior running back Henry Pullen and beat sixth-ranked North Cobb 21-0 in a Class 6A non-region game. It was McEachern’s second consecutive victory over one of Cobb’s more consistent winners over the past decade, following a 50-17 win over Walton at Mercedes-Benz Stadium last week.
McEachern won at least 10 games nine times in an 11-year stretch from 2009-19, but averaged only 5.6 wins in the past five seasons. Now, third-year coach Kareem Reid has the Indians at 2-0 for the first time since the 2019 team went 12-1 and reached the state quarterfinals.
“We’re just worried about being the best version of McEachern every single day,” Reid said. “We’re not trying to send any messages. As we continue along this journey, there’s going to be ups and downs, there’s going to be challenges and adversity. It won’t be all peaches and cream. We’re just going to stay the course each and every day and keep getting better.”
Pullen, a transfer from Campbell, accounted for 231 of McEachern’s 275 total yards, rushing for 189 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries and catching a 42-yard pass from Calvin Pittman Jr. for a touchdown. He scored the game’s first points on a 17-yard run midway through the second quarter. He added two touchdowns in the final 1:21 of the half to put the Indians comfortably ahead.
“He had a huge workload,” Reid said. “He was a bell cow for us tonight and did an outstanding job, obviously, based on his performance.”
As much as McEachern’s offense controlled the game, the Indians’ defense was just as dominant. McEachern held the Warriors to 165 yards and became the first team to shut out North Cobb since North Gwinnett beat the Warriors 16-0 in 2020. McEachern preserved the shutout by stuffing North Cobb on three consecutive plays from the 1-yard line in the final minute. North Cobb made only two other trips inside McEachern territory, never getting closer than the 32-yard line.
North Cobb running backs Quavy Echols and Zach Belyeu, who both rushed for more than 100 yards in a season-opening victory over Archer, were limited to 112 yards between them. Quarterback Teddy Jarrard, a transfer from North Cobb Christian who committed to Notre Dame, was 10-of-22 passing for 65 yards with two interceptions. He passed for 156 yards last week.
“We felt like we matched up well on the back end, and we knew that if we just tackled the backs and got them on the ground we’d be OK,” Reid said “We thought their quarterback was good, but we knew he hadn’t faced anybody like us in his past and definitely not since he’s been at North Cobb. We wanted to touch him tonight a little bit and make him feel what big-boy football was like.”
McEachern will not be able to use its home bleachers for the rest of the season, so the setup Friday — with McEachern fans on the visitors’ side of the field and the visitors’ fans in the end-zone seats — will continue throughout the season. The school plans to knock down the home bleachers at the end of the football season and hopes to have a replacement in place for the 2026 season.
North Cobb — 0-0-0-0 — 0
McEachern — 0-21-0-0 — 21
Second quarter
M — Henry Pullen 17 run (Justin Sinon kick), 7:16
M — Pullen 42 pass from Calvin Pittman Jr. (Sinon kick), 1:21
M — Pullen 71 run (Sinon kick), 0:53
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
