I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 5, 2015
By James Beach
Correspondent
CALHOUN, Ga. – The third-ranked Calhoun Yellow Jackets found themselves in a very unfamiliar situation Friday night on their home turf with a trip to the third round of Georgia’s Class AA state playoffs on the line.
Against visiting eighth-ranked Westminster and before a slightly nervous overflow crowd at Phil Reeve Stadium, the Jackets had found a worthy opponent capable of sustaining Calhoun’s best punches – almost.
Calhoun overcame its first halftime deficit since the season opener and went into a fourth quarter trailing for the first time this year before rolling off a 22-point outburst to win 36-19 and secure its fifth trip to the third round in six years.
“We were down 13-0 to a really good football team, but we showed our true character out there tonight. We played like a champion in the second half,” Calhoun coach Hal Lamb said after his team improved to 12-0.
For a team that had given up just 22 first-half points all season and hadn’t allowed more than one TD in any of its last nine games, Westminister’s early surge definitely got the Jackets’ attention. In fact, the Wildcats (8-4) ran 23 of their first 32 plays in Calhoun territory thanks to a botched punt and a fumble, and they easily could have led by more at the break.
Westminster got its first possession at the Jackets’ 9 after the punt went for negative 20 yards and scored on a fourth-down run by John Eagan. The second score was much more impressive with the Wildcats driving 89 yards on 12 plays, converting all three of their third-down plays into firsts, including William Lingerfelter’s 19-yard strike to Dylan Jeffay for the 13-0 lead.
“We knew we had it in us, and we had to bring the fight to them in the second half,” said Calhoun tailback Dustin Christian, who cut the lead to 13-6 with a 5-yard run before halftime.
But even when the Jackets finally secured their first lead on Christian’s speedy 52-yard dash with Landon Curtis’ screen pass, the Wildcats shook it off and regained the lead with an 80-yard drive highlighted by a 51-yard pass on a fake punt.
That one though seemed to push the on switch for good as Calhoun as the Jackets scored three times within four minutes. Alex Kirby caught Curtis’ second TD pass from the 2, and Christian’s conversion run made it 22-19. Christian then scored from 31 yards on the first play after Calhoun held Westminster to a three-and-out. Hunter Knight provided the celebration TD after Reed Allen sacked the Wildcats QB to force a fumble; Knight scooped it up and ran it in from the 29.
“From here on out, they’re all going to be tests. We played like champs tonight,” Lamb added, his team set to host Fitzgerald next Friday night.
Christian wound up with 240 all-purpose yards, rushing for 134 on 19 carries and catching three passed for 106 more. J.T. Palmer hauled in three passes for 88 yards, and Curtis was 13-of-21 for 264 passing yards.
Contact James Beach at sports@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6273.
