Marietta will bring running back Greg Franklin and its blazing ground game into Northcutt Stadium on Friday when it hosts Woodstock and its tenacious defense in a Region 5AAAAA encounter.

Franklin has burned defenses for a combined 445 yards since the season began, including a 197-yard effort last week at Cherokee. Keeping the holes wide - and the rushing yards seemingly flowing on tap - is a stout Blue Devil offensive line.

"I definitely have been pleased with them," Marietta coach James "Friday" Richards said. "The couple of kids that have been up there with Perry Beasley and Tyler Johnson, they are doing a pretty good job."

Richards said that, as the season approached, an offensive imperative was to find ways to break Franklin loose, giving the offensive line the task of keeping lanes open, even when the defenses key in on him.

"Going into the season, we knew that our top athlete was Greg Franklin," he said. "We knew that we would have to run the football to have any kind of success."

With seniors Beasley, Johnson and Chas Ellis and juniors Chandler Knight and Jordan Little, Marietta (2-1, 1-1) averages 235 pounds on the line and heights ranging from 6-foot-4 to 5-foot-8, mixing size with athleticism.

Woodstock (1-1, 0-1) will be intent on stopping the run, its defense still smarting from the 368-yard rushing performance McEachern put up in the a 37-31 comeback win last week. Despite the loss, the Wolverines pack a potent defense that limited Kell to 70 yards of total offense in their season opener.

Woodstock coach Mike O'Brien said Franklin will be tough to contain.

"They have got probably one of the top running backs in our area," he said. "We are not going to be able to stop him. We have to just try to slow him down. We have got to do that by the whole team tackling him - it's got to be a bunch."

Woodstock will bring in a young offense, so the Wolverines' defensive stops will be pivotal to keep the pace of the game in their favor.

"We have got to limit our mistakes and secure the ball a little bit better," O'Brien said. "We have got to play well and we expect them to play well. If we don't play well, we don't have a chance."

Despite Marietta's success so far, Richards said the Blue Devils won't be taking their opponent lightly.

"We watched them on film and they have got a great program," Richards said. "We have just got our hands full. We are going to do the best we can to stop them from running the football and see what we can do."