MARIETTA - Three touchdown passes from Hutson Mason in the first half gave Lassiter a big boost as the Trojans went on to defeat east Cobb rival Kell 28-17 in a Region 6AAAAA game at Frank Fillmann Stadium on Friday.

Mason threw a 21-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, then connected on scoring strikes of 29 and 51 yards in the second quarter to give Lassiter a 21-7 lead at halftime, enough of a cushion to hold off a Kell comeback in the second half.

"It was a good game, well played by both teams," Lassiter coach Chip Lindsey said. "Anytime you have two rivals like us play each other, you're going to have a tough, intense football game."

Mason completed 19 of 29 passes for 263 yards in addition to his three touchdowns to lead Lassiter (3-0, 2-0).

Brian Randolph rushed for 121 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown for Kell (0-3, 0-2).

It took only four plays for Lassiter to get into the end zone on the first offensive series of the game as Mason culminated the brief drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Mayer with 11:04 remaining in the first quarter. Alex Hawks added the extra-point kick to give Lassiter a 7-0 lead.

Kell responded on the next offensive series when Petrik faked a handoff and took the ball himself on a quarterback keeper 26 yards for a touchdown run with 8:17 left in the first quarter, with Kyle Morris booting the extra point to tie the game 7-7.

Mason led the way on Lassiter's next scoring drive in the second quarter as he completed 6-of-8 passes for 64 yards, capping things off with a 29-yard scoring strike to Keith Knight with 7:01 remaining in the first quarter. Hawks converted his extra-point kick to put the Trojans back in front, 14-7.

Lassiter made what turned out to be the decisive blow against Kell later in the second quarter on a trick play when a number of players flicked the ball to each other before it was tossed to Mason, who proceeded to drill a 51-yard pass to Shaw with 5:12 left in the first half, with Hawks' kick increasing the Trojans advantage to 21-7.

"Anytime you can get an early lead like that, it helps a lot," Lindsey said. "We got off to a good start and it gave us a little bit of a cushion when Kell came back in the second half,"

"That trick play decided the thing," Kell coach Derek Cook said. "It put them up by two touchdowns and it was tough for us to overcome that."

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Kell had a touchdown erased when Randolph's 15-yard scoring run was called back due to a holding penalty.

However, Randolph managed to find the end zone again four plays later on a 5-yard run, with Hawks adding the extra point, with 9:33 remaining in the game to help the Longhorns cut Lassiter's lead to 21-17.

Mason opened the next series for Lassiter with a 27-yard pass to Shaw to move the ball to the Kell 31 with 9:15 left in the game.

Lassiter steadily marched the ball down the field before a 9-yard touchdown run by Jones with 5:24 left completed the drive and Hawks' extra-point kick gave the Trojans what turned out to be their margin of victory.

"We played well on offense, we moved the ball down the field - we just couldn't get the ball in the end zone and that's been the story of our season so far," Cook said.