Season 2, game 4 of me covering High School Football

Calvary Day shuts out North Cobb Christian

• By Chris Drummond MDJ Sports Correspondent

• Sep 10, 2021

KENNESAW -- The Calvary Day School defense stifled North Cobb Christian in a 28-0 shutout on Friday.

The Eagles were held to 121 yards of total offense in the loss.

"I was really proud of our players competing hard and playing the whole game," North Cobb Christian's first-year coach Matt Jones said. "There were five to seven plays that went against us tonight and hats off to them, they're a great team. We just have to focus on what we can control, moving forward and we will be fine, I'm very proud of my team tonight."

This was the second straight home loss for the Eagles, and comes on the heels of a hard-luck 28-18 loss to Whitefield Academy last Friday.

Calvary Day opened the scoring in the first quarter when sophomore quarterback Jake Merklinger had a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Cavaliers an early 7-0 lead they would never relinquish.

North Cobb Christian followed with its best scoring opportunity of the night. The Eagles drove into field-goal range, but the kick sailed wide left. They would never threatened to score again.

Luke Brock finished 8 of 17 for 85 yards for North Cobb Christian while Jadin Coates ran 11 times for 51 yards.

Merklinger would finish the night with throwing for 179 yards and two touchdowns, one to tight end Michael Smith for 33 yards, and the other to running back Antonio Butts Jr. for 64 yards.

The Cavaliers (4-0) stay unbeaten as they travel to Macon to play First Presbyterian Day next week, while the Eagles fall to 2-2. They travel to Roswell to play Fellowship Christian next week.