CEDAR GROVE 47, CALHOUN 21
The star: Cedar Grove quarterback Jelani Woods passed for 261 yards and three TDs and scored twice himself.Up next: Cedar Grove is in the Georgia Class AAA state semifinals.
CALHOUN, Ga. - The Cedar Grove Saints have done a whole lot of winning since Calhoun's Phil Reeve Stadium became their personal house of horrors in 2014.
But with a gifted quarterback named Jelani Woods running things, the Saints put those ghosts to bed with a wire-to-wire, 47-21 victory over Calhoun in the Class AAA state quarterfinals Friday night. Woods, who has committed to Oklahoma State, threw for three touchdowns and scored two himself.
The Saints have come a long way since that 38-14 loss two years ago. They made it all the way to the Class AAA semifinals last year under coach Jermaine Smith and now find themselves back in the final four.
Calhoun's season ends at 10-3 and with a quarterfinal loss for the first time in three years.
Woods and the Saints wasted no time finding the matchup they wanted and went to it twice. Dennis Bell, a Division I-bound wideout, caught a pair of streak patterns from Woods on consecutive possessions in the first quarter to stun the Calhoun crowd with a 14-0 lead.
In between, Calhoun's Malik Lawrence had a spectacular one-handed catch ruled just out of bounds.
Sophomore Gavin Gray, splitting quarterback duties with senior Baylor Spector, got the home team on the board at the end of the opening period, senior Bryson Davis snatching Gray's pass away from a defender and taking it the rest of the way for a 61-yard score.
A second chance to draw even was erased in the second period after the Yellow Jackets reached the Cedar Grove 1. First, Spector bobbled a snap and a Gray touchdown pass was erased on offensive pass interference. Juan Palmerin then clanged a 35-yard field-goal try off the upright.
The rest of the half belonged to Cedar Grove. Or, specifically, to Woods.
He accounted for 72 of the 81 yards on the ensuing scoring drive, running the final 18 on a scramble. The Yellow Jackets smothered the PAT try, but when Woods connected with Jadon Haselwood with seven seconds left in the half, he doubled down on the tall wideout for the 2-point conversion.
Woods and Spector swapped TD sneaks in the third quarter, but a sack and fumble deep in Calhoun territory allowed Cedar Grove to post a quick six early in the fourth quarter. That rendered Gray's touchdown pass to a wide-open Luke Moseley as little more than window dressing.
Grant Walker was a workhorse for the Saints, finishing with 23 carries for 163 yards and a touchdown. Calhoun's yardage came almost exclusively by air, with Gray throwing for 334 yards and both Davis and Luke Jones topping the 100-yard milestone.
Contact David Jenkins at sports@timesfreepress.com.