By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

ATLANTA – It was a day for the history books.

The Heard County Braves overwhelmed the Rockmart Yellow Jackets 27-6 on Wednesday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta to win their first-ever state championship.

Rockmart beat Heard County 33-0 early in the season, but the script was reversed in the rematch.

Rockmart’s high-powered offense was unable to find any traction, and Heard County moved the ball at will with its powerful running game.

By the time Rockmart scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, Heard County had a 27-0 lead and the outcome had long since been decided.

Heard County running back Aaron Beasley, who plans on signing with Tennessee, had a big day, running for 150 yards on 31 carries with two touchdowns.

Quarterback Alijah Huzzie added 54 yards on 10 attempts, and he also scored two touchdowns.

Rockmart, which had been averaging more than 45 points per game, was shut down by Heard County.

Rockmart was limited to 85 rushing yards on 36 attempts, and much of its 112 passing yards came late in the game.

Heard’s Lequincy Shepherd picked off a pass and nearly went the distance in the second half, setting up a Heard County touchdown.

“The defense played lights out,” Barron said. “The kids did a great job and the defensive staff did a wonderful job putting together a game plan, because we struggled against Rockmart the first time we played them.”

The Braves took an 8-0 lead in the first quarter on a Beasley 2-yard run and a two-point pass from Huzzie to Shepherd.

Huzzie had a 1-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and the Braves had a 14-0 lead.

Heard put it away on 1-yard scoring runs by Huzzie and Beasley in the fourth quarter.

Shepherd’s 52-yard interception return set up Huzzie’s fourth-quarter scoring run that gave the Braves a 20-0 lead and all but put the game on ice.

Shepherd added a second interception on the game’s final play.