CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. - It may not be the most flattering moment in Caleb O'Neal's high school football career, but it says volumes about the Gordon Lee senior.
With the Trojans railing rival Trion in the season's opener, the player who never comes off the field finally was forced to do so. The quarterback, while trying to rally his team down the field just before the end of the first half, was overcome with nausea.
He made it through one play before having to sprint to the sideline to vomit. A play later he was back on the field - and never came off again.
Gordon Lee went on to lose that game, but O'Neal's effort, which also included regular duty at safety and doing the punting chores, earned him high praise from an unusual source.
"That was a great win for our team, but I've got to say that Caleb O'Neal is a warrior," Trion coach Justin Brown said immediately after the game. "You could see how badly he wanted to win, and I have a lot of respect for that kid."
It's not just his guts that have gotten the three-year starter noticed. He's also become one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in northwest Georgia. Following the loss to Trion, the Trojans under new coach Greg Ellis switched from the wing-T to the spread offense, a move that allowed O'Neal's athletic ability to shine.
"Once we moved to the spread offense, he's done an outstanding job of getting the ball to the receivers," said Ellis, whose 4-3 team is now squarely in the playoff hunt in Region 7-AA. "Of course, defenses have to honor him because of the threat to run the ball. He's the main cog; we go as he goes."
And they've gone quite well lately. Last week's performance in a 38-14 win over Coosa earned O'Neal statewide player of the week mention after he was 12-for-16 passing for 232 yards and two touchdowns and added 142 rushing yards and a score.
For the season O'Neal has amassed 775 rushing yards, among the top totals in northwest Georgia, and has passed for 866 yards. He has 18 combined rushing and passing touchdowns while also making 41 tackles and averaging right at 40 yards per punt.
He is also, unquestionably, a leader on a team trying to reach the playoffs for only the second time in seven years.
"He's a competitor, that's his biggest strength," said Ellis, who noted that O'Neal twice has had to take an I.V. at halftime to stay in games. "He never takes a play off and partly because of that his teammates rally around him. He's also one of the best kids I've ever coached."
O'Neal, like most quarterbacks, enjoys the diversity of the spread. The team ran it under former coach Charlie Wiggins, so the transition wasn't too difficult. However, several of the Trojans' skill players had little or no experience with it, so the quarterback had to play traffic cop while the team got up to speed.
"For people that have never run it, it was tough," he said, "but it's what we ran my sophomore and junior years, so it wasn't that tough for me. "In the spread you can have really complex schemes, but we try to keep it simple. I really like being out of the gun: I can watch everything happen as it goes. In the wing you have your back to the defense too often."
The 6-foot-1 O'Neal hopes to play football in college. However, his late development and the fact he also plays basketball and baseball have him behind in the recruiting circles.
"He's really come out of the blue recruiting wise, but some schools are starting to take notice," Ellis said. "He could get looks at quarterback or on the defensive side. Once he concentrates on just football, he can add some size."
O'Neal hopes to have a couple more months to impress the scouts. Beginning with tonight's game at Chattooga, the Trojans will be a win away from clinching a playoff berth.
"It would be great to go ahead and seal the deal Friday," he said. "It's been a while since we've had good playoff football in Chickamauga. That's the dream of any high school football player, to make the playoffs."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow at Twitter @youngsports22.