CALHOUN, Ga. – There were enough mistakes Friday night to give coach Hal Lamb a week’s worth of teaching moments for his Calhoun High School football team.
Yet in the aftermath of the 28-20 win over Monroe Area in a GHSA Class AAA second-round playoff game, the positives were also not hard to miss.
The Yellow Jackets (11-1), who will travel to Liberty County for next week’s quarterfinal game, won with special teams and defense. They held prolific Monroe Area quarterback Chandler Byron to 42 yards on 28 carries and 7-of-14 passing for 142 yards a week after the junior had more than 400 total yards.
“We didn’t play that well, but give Monroe Area credit,” Lamb said of the team Calhoun defeated with a running clock in last year’s playoffs. “We kept hitting them and hitting them, but they wouldn’t go away. Sometimes you have to win games like this, even in the playoffs.
“The Byron kid is tough. We couldn’t tackle him. I don’t think our kids quite understood how strong and fast he is, but I also credit our defense for staying tough.”