Making his second debut for a Georgia high school football program this season, USC quarterback commit
Jake Garcia threw a touchdown pass Friday night in limited action to help national No. 5
Grayson (Loganville) improve to 7-0 with a 47-7 win over
Parkview (Lilburn). The California native played in a Sept. 4 contest for Valdosta before being ruled ineligible and enrolling at his new school last week.
With Grayson leading 13-0, Garcia entered the game late in the first quarter and helped put the Rams on the board again. Facing a third and long situation, he connected on a screen pass to
Marcellis Turner, who took it 70 yards for a touchdown.
Another big pass play to
Jaden Smith helped set up a field goal on Garcia's second drive, giving Grayson a 23-7 lead.
The Rams put things away on their next possession thanks to a 19-yard touchdown run by senior back
Phil Mafah, a Clemson commit. Following a successful two-point conversion, Grayson led 31-7 and took that lead to halftime.
Mafah finished with 12 carries for 149 yards and two touchdowns.
Garcia took snaps on two possessions in the second half but Grayson had little need to put the ball in the air as the lead grew.
Jake Garcia gets ready to release a pass Friday night in Grayson's win over Parkview.
Photo by Will Fagan
Parkview entered with a 5-1 record and four consecutive wins but outside of an 80-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, couldn't get the wheels turning offensively.
The Georgia High School Association approved Garcia's eligibility Monday. He plans to graduate in December and enroll early at USC.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder played at two schools in California and attended a third before leaving the state because the California Interscholastic Federation moved football to 2021 due to the pandemic. Wanting to get one more season of training, Garcia and his father Randy moved to Georgia to play for the nation's winningest program and legendary coach Rush Propst at Valdosta.
Garcia threw for 240 yards and two scores in his only game with the program, helping the Wildcats earn a season-opening win over Warner Robins. The victory was later forfeited following an ESPN article that revealed details of the family's move east and a two-week investigation by the GHSA. The SoCal transplant was ruled ineligible to play at Valdosta.
That didn't preclude him from playing elsewhere, so the family relocated 230 miles north near Atlanta to play for the nationally-ranked Rams.
Grayson running back Phil Mafah celebrates one of his two touchdowns.
Photo by Will Fagan
Mafah finished with 149 yards rushing.
Photo by Will Fagan
