DALTON, Ga. — Football coaches are notorious for stressing the importance of overcoming adversity.
Dalton High School coach Kit Carpenter will have a lot to talk about in the coming days and weeks after Friday night's 28-21 victory over Calhoun.
The Catamounts somehow found a way to win despite committing 19 penalties, resulting in 225 lost yards, and twice losing 14-point leads. With the win, Dalton improves to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in GHSA Region 7-AAAAA, moving a game ahead of Calhoun (6-3, 2-2).
The Catamounts travel to Cartersville (9-0, 4-0) next week, where a win would give Dalton the region championship. A loss could drop the Cats to the No. 4 seed for the playoffs.
Dalton, as it has done most of the season, came out on fire Friday night, building 14-0 and 21-7 leads before holding off a strong Calhoun rally. Bubba Tanner's interception inside the 10-yard line with 34 seconds remaining sealed the win.
Dalton drove to the Calhoun 1 on its opening drive before Adriel Hernandez was stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1, but a blocked punt gave the Cats the ball back at the 9, where Hernandez scored on another fourth down from the 1.
Dalton forced a three-and-out defensively, and then quarterback Ethan Long, the area's leading passer — he's now over 2,000 yards for the season — went to work. He hit Tanner for 24 yards to the Calhoun 38 and two plays later hooked up again with the same receiver for a 20-yard touchdown pass and 14-0 lead just before the end of the first quarter.
Calhoun got off the deck behind its own prolific passer, Trey Townsend, who was 5-for-5 for 36 yards on a 68-yard touchdown drive. Caden Williams scored on a 5-yard run to cut the visitors' deficit to seven.
Dalton again went to the air to respond as Long hit six of seven passes for 57 yards on a 64-yard drive that ended with his 9-yard pass to tight end Bannon Phelan.
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night's Chattanooga-area prep football games)
The Yellow Jackets, though, used a 45-yard touchdown run by Williams to cut Dalton's lead to seven with less than three minutes to play in the half, a stretch that included 16 penalties between the two teams, including six personal fouls called on Dalton and three on Calhoun.
Calhoun took advantage of two consecutive personal fouls and a pass interference call to move to the Dalton 5 with 30 seconds left, leading to Trey Townsend's touchdown pass to Cohen Chadwick with 18 seconds left in the half to tie the game at 21.
The Cats scored late in the third quarter when Hernandez caught the Jackets off guard on a 24-yard touchdown on a draw play, and the Dalton defense made the lead hold up when Calhoun's 17-play drive ended with a fumble into the end zone with 6:35 remaining.
The Jackets had one last drive that reached the Dalton 45 before Tanner's game-ending interception.
Long passed for 266 yards and the two scores, with Hernandez adding 108 yards rushing and Tanner 98 yards receiving. Townsend passed for 186 yards, while Williams had 94 yards rushing and Emaree Winston 77 yards receiving for Calhoun.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.