CALHOUN, Ga. – Peach County got its football revenge Friday night, though Calhoun had a big hand in the Trojans’ redemptive win in their GHSA Class AAA semifinal at Phil Reeve Stadium.
The Trojans, who lost a highly controversial championship game to the Yellow Jackets by four points last December, used a dominating defense and a myriad of Calhoun mistakes to win 22-7 this time around. The Trojans (12-2) will face Cedar Grove (13-1) in the title game Dec. 11 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Calhoun coach Hal Lamb praised the Trojans’ defense, which had seven sacks and forced the Jackets into minus-15 rushing yards.
“Their defense was just unreal. We couldn’t block them,” said Lamb, whose top-ranked team finished with a 13-1 record. “Our defense did a good job and kept us in it, but we just made too many mistakes on offense and on special teams. We had several chances in the first half to score points, and we felt like we should have scored three touchdowns.”
The Trojans managed just 196 total yards, but they took advantage of a pair of plays on special teams to score their two offensive touchdowns. The game was scoreless in the first quarter when Jamir Best, part of Peach County’s elite defensive line, blocked a Calhoun punt and returned it to the 6. One play later, quarterback Jaydon Gibson scored on a keeper.