ATLANTA – State championship football teams are supposed to be purebreds, the top of the line. Teams that flash elite speed, perfect execution and the size to impose their will.
The Calhoun Yellow Jackets are the 2017 GHSA Class AAA state champions after a 10-6 win over Peach County on Friday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but they are, by coach Hal Lamb’s own admission, much more mutt than blueblood.
A team that gains only 158 yards of total offense is not supposed to carry home a championship trophy. Neither is one that commits 10 penalties and commits a turnover inside its own 30 while nursing a precarious lead.
But Calhoun (14-1) did, taking the team’s season motto of “Find a Way” to the extreme.
“Nobody gave us a chance,” an emotional Lamb said after a wild and controversial final few minutes. “I love this team. They fight and fight the entire game, and they just find a way. When we got beat by Cartersville early, everybody wrote us off, but here we are state champions and nobody can write these kids off again.”