…Marist and Grady from Grady Stadium in Atlanta. The pre-game show will be live at 7:30 and kickoff will follow somewhere around the top of the hour.

The Marist War Eagles have become the template for private school athletic dominance throughout the state. On the gridiron, they have won 67% of their games all-time; they are a two-time state champion (1989/2003) and a three-time state runner up.

They are led by Head Coach Alan Chadwick, who is 328-59 in his 30 seasons at the helm.

His 2014 club is 6-1, with wins over Godby of Tallahassee, Lovett, and Arabia Mountain; all of whom will be playoff teams. However, their loss last week, their first of the year, was extremely costly. The War Eagles fell to St Pius, inside the region, and know the chances of a region championship have taken a major hit.

Obviously, St Pius owns the tie-breaker and would need to lose twice for Marist to surpass them. The region standings are below, and each team’s remaining opponents has been added beside them:

School                                                                      Region Record (Top 4 go to the state tourney)
St Pius X: Cham Charter/Arabia Mtn/Stn Mtn/Redan                4-0
Marist: Grady/ Columbia/ Cham Chart                                             4-1
Columbia: Marist/ Cham Charter/ Arabia Mtn                              4-1
Arabia Mountain: Lithonia/ St Pius/ Grady/ Columbia              3-1
Grady**                                                                                                          2-2
Chamblee Charter                                                                                     1-3
Lithonia                                                                                                         1-4
Redan                                                                                                             1-4
Cross Keys                                                                                                    0-0
Stone Mountain                                                                                         0-4
**Ineligible for the post-season**

Meanwhile, the Grady Grey Knights are 3-3 overall and technically 2-2 in region, although it doesn’t matter. The APS school is not eligible for post-season play as a result of a wide spread recruiting/ ineligible player/ out of district calamity of a situation that cost multiple people their jobs; including head coach Ronnie Millen (the most successful coach in program history). The result was a forfeiture of all games from 2013, a playoff season, and it turned into an 0-11 season.

Grady alum Earthwind Moreland took over the head coaching duties; his first head coaching job. They are talented, but not very deep, and have played a lot of close games. The Grey Knights have outscored their opponents by a small 141-126 margin; while playing in four one-possession games.