North Cobb Breezes Past Walton in Program's 700th Game

MARIETTA — When Shane Queen is on the sidelines, he often implores his North Cobb team to be better — even in the midst of a lopsided victory like Friday night’s region game at Walton came to be.

Rarer are the moments Queen lets loose, but he did so this week with the Warriors’ players and staff moments after the 42-14 victory at Raider Valley.

North Cobb avenged a narrow loss last year that was the closest any opponent came in the regular season to derailing the eventual state runner-up and put an exclamation point on the 700th game in team history.

“Our guys played well, but we messed up way too much stuff,” Queen said.

North Cobb (6-0, 2-0 Region 5AAAAAA) allowed a long kickoff return to start the game, giving Walton (3-3, 1-1) a short field. Kaeden Gilstrap rushed 8 yards for a touchdown and an early 7-0 lead.

The Warriors answered with a nine-play, 80-yard drive that ended on Quavy Echols’ 33-yard touchdown rush midway through the first quarter.

North Cobb took the lead on its next series when a short punt gave the Warriors great field position. One play later, quarterback Nick Grimstead connected with Steele Ingram for a 37-yard touchdown pass.

Walton matched the score with a six-play march that covered 80 yards. Gilstrap’s 56-yard pass to Lucas Farrington tied it.

North Cobb took the lead for good when Ellis Reid picked off a pass and returned it into Walton territory. One play later, Grimstead’s 38-yard touchdown throw to Sebastian Easley made it 21-14 midway through the second.

A 36-yard touchdown rush by Zach Belyeu made it a 28-14 game at halftime.

Cooper Negron, a senior linebacker, said the Warriors adjusted to what they saw from Walton, and that allowed them to post a shutout in the final three quarters.

“They had a lot of stuff that was confusing that we weren’t prepared for,” Negron told Peachtree Sports Network. “We started slowing the game down and making adjustments. We just came together collectively as a unit and started playing North Cobb football.”

The Warriors poured it on in the second half, with a 1-yard touchdown rush by Christian Peacock with 4 minutes left in the third quarter, and a 45-yard touchdown pass from Grimstead to Micah Billingsley midway through the fourth.

The victory gave North Cobb a 381-316-3 record (.546) in 67 seasons and splits the all-time series with Walton at 12 wins apiece.

“I’m very proud of our community and very proud of our kids,” Queen said. “We’ve got a great group of young men.”

North Cobb has two weeks off before hosting to Marietta on Oct. 11, and Queen knows where his focus will be during the layoff.

“We just continue to have some silly mistakes and hurt ourselves a little bit too much,” he said. “That’s my fault. We’ve got to do a better job of that and be more disciplined.

“But our kids are playing hungry and they’re playing hard. Some of these are hustle penalties, but we can’t have these self-inflicted wounds.”

Walton is off next week and will play at Marietta on Oct. 4.