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In fact, it had only happened once since Steve Smith took over the football program -- his first season in 2006.

On Thursday, the Class 3A, No. 6 Bulldogs welcomed the top-ranked team in Class 4A to the Field of Champions, the Leeds Green Wave. Behind junior quarterback Tadaryll Marshall's 174 yards and three touchdowns through the air and 122 yards and two scores on the ground, the Green Wave washed out Piedmont by the final of 42-18.

"He's a special talent, no doubt," Smith said of Marshall. "The first two years (playing Leeds), because they were so good in the running game, our plan was to make him beat us. He was a young kid then. We felt like if we could stack the box and make him beat us with his arm, we'd have a good chance to win. That worked pretty good, but he's grown up and matured tremendously. He's a very, very good quarterback. He does a great job of leading their team.

"This year, the game plan was more of we need to keep this guy bottled up. You didn't see it a whole lot tonight, but he's actually the most dangerous when things break down on a pass play and he starts scrambling. We did a good of not letting him get loose on the scrambles, but you saw his big arm. He had a couple of big passes down the field and you saw his ability to run the ball on designed running plays."

Leeds coach Keith Etheredge noted Piedmont was "a little undersized up front, a little different than they have been in the past."

"We did a good job of establishing the run and I thought TD (Marshall) threw the ball great," Etheredge said. "Our receivers went up and got the ball, and that gives us a whole other dimension to our team when we can do that."

But before Marshall displayed his talents, it was Piedmont senior all-purpose player Dreek Thompson who demonstrated his.

Thompson put Piedmont (3-2) out in front on just the second play of the game. He caught a 66-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Tyler Lusk to put the Bulldogs out to a 6-0 lead. Lusk missed the extra point.

Thompson caught three passes for 84 yards and a touchdown. He also tallied 51 yards on seven carries.

"Dreek's a warrior. He's a tough, hard-nosed player," Smith said. "He made a lot of big hits for us on the defensive side and he made some big plays on offense. He ran the ball extremely hard."

After Piedmont struck for a quick score, Leeds (6-0) marched 85 yards in 10 plays to tie the game on senior running back Tyler Wright's 10-yard touchdown run. Junior kicker Morgan Coston's extra point gave the Green Wave a 7-6 advantage.

After a Bulldog punt, Marshall struck for his first touchdown -- a 42-yard rush down the sideline for six. Coston's point after made it 14-6 Leeds with 1:25 to go in the first quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Thompson broke off a big kick return, taking the ball at the Bulldog 18-yard line and dashing all the way to the Leeds 8. Two plays later, Lusk connected with senior receiver Cody Daughtry on an 8-yard touchdown pass. Piedmont went for two, but a halfback pass from Taylor Hayes fell incomplete, keeping the score at 14-12 with 25.3 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

The Green Wave countered Piedmont again with a quick 3-play, 65-yard drive, in which Marshall hit senior receiver Jermaine Johnson on a 35-yard scoring pass. Coston connected on his third extra point, extending Leeds lead to 21-12 at the 11:51 mark of the second quarter.

Another Piedmont punt led to another Leeds touchdown. This time, Marshall connected with junior receiver Koi Freeman for a 36-yard touchdown, which capped a 6-play, 68-yard drive. The score gave Leeds a 28-12 lead with 7:06 to go in the first half.

Piedmont's defense came up with a big play late in the quarter. Senior defensive back CJ Savage recovered a fumble by Leeds senior running back Tyler Wright near midfield. Four plays later, Lusk found Savage for six on a 45-yard pass play. Lusk's rush for the 2-point conversion was stopped short of the goal line, keeping the score at 28-18 at halftime.

The second half belonged to the Green Wave. Junior running back Ellis Nation scored on a 22-yard touchdown run to put Leeds on top 35-18 after three quarters. Marshall capped the night's scoring on a 4-yard run with 9:33 to go in the game.

Nation rushed for 110 yards on 21 carries with a touchdown. Wright ran for 94 yards on 13 carries and scored a touchdown for Leeds.

Lusk completed 8-of-19 pass attempts for 117 yards and three touchdowns for Piedmont.

Yards on the ground were tough to come by for the Bulldogs. As a team, they only had 28 yards rushing, with just two yards on the ground at halftime.

For the game, Piedmont had six offensive plays that yielded negative yardage.

"It didn't seem like we could get anything going in the running game tonight," Smith said. "We'd gain seven or eight, then we'd have a loss of five. It's frustrating for sure, but it's something we can go back to the drawing board and try to fix."

Piedmont looks to put an end to its two-game losing streak when it hosts Pleasant Valley next Friday. Leeds hosts Handley.

EDITOR'S NOTES: On the final rushing play of the game, Thompson aggravated a shoulder injury. Smith called it "a little bit of a shoulder ding."

"He's a little banged up, but we'll get him healed up," Smith said.

Also, the Bulldogs received a special surprise early Thursday morning. Smith said representatives from FieldTurf, a company specializing in artificial turf, brought the Bulldogs a new set of uniforms, new helmets and a new locker room floor design. The Bulldogs wore their new blue uniforms during Thursday's game.

"We have a lot of appreciation for the people at FieldTurf and what they did for us," Smith said. "Me, the coaches and the team are all very grateful. They come up and spent the day with us. We're honored they think enough of us to do something like that. I know the kids are very appreciative. They took us by surprise."