The Warrior football team will play its final regular season home game this Friday, October 21, against the visiting Marietta Blue Devils. The game will double as the school’s senior night and “pink out” game.

Last season, NC dominated Marietta on Homecoming night, winning 38-13. This year, the Blue Devils bring a potent passing game and talented defensive backfield, but lack depth on both sides of the ball and bring skeptical offensive line play.

NC will prioritize keeping quarterback Harrison Bailey and the Blue Devils’ explosive passing attack under wraps. Bailey, a 6’3” 195 pound freshman quarterback who started receiving SEC offers in the eighth grade, currently leads the county with 2,002 passing yards. His best receiver, sophomore Ramel Keyton, has picked up at least 100 receiving yards in every game this season and leads Cobb with 927 yards on the season. However, the line has three underclassmen starting and gave up eight sacks to an average Hillgrove pass rush last week. Star division one Warrior defensive ends Christian Albright and Thurman Geathers each have over six sacks on the season and plan to keep putting up great numbers against a young and inexperienced Marietta offensive line.

Marietta boasts a tall, talented receiving core, with all of the varsity receivers over six feet in height with great ball skills. With an emphasis on the team’s best talent, the offense loves to spread defenses out and frequently throw the ball, throwing 95% of the time when bringing one running back onto the field and continuously taking deep shots, utilizing Bailey’s arm and the size of its receivers to score in a hurry.

Many of the Blue Devils’ starters start on both sides of the ball, which sets up fatigue concerns for the Marietta coaching staff. Defensively, the team plays primarily man-free coverage, with one safety responsible for the middle of the field and the remaining defenders playing man-to-man. The Blue Devils employ a base 3-4 defensive personnel, frequently blitzing linebackers and and rotating coverages. Marietta will frequently change up its front seven, changing to a stack look with the linebackers directly behind a defensive lineman and spacing out linebackers to leave five in the box. The team has talent on the back end but does not bring typical lineman to the front, but instead smaller athletes that simply attempt to drive into the backfield. Against Hillgrove, the double teams consistently pushed the Blue Devils four yards off the line of scrimmage.

Expect big, exciting/ plays on Senior Night and a suffocating Warrior defensive effort from NC once again.

The Chant’s prediction: NC: 42, Marietta: 17