CALHOUN, Ga. — Beset by injuries and the inexperience that often follows, Calhoun might have seemed ripe for the upset Friday night against Kell in the second round of the GHSA Class AAAAA playoffs.
The Yellow Jackets (9-3), however, turned to a tried-and-true game plan to dominate the visitors en route to a 34-7 win. Calhoun will travel to Ware County in next week's quarterfinal round.
With leading rusher Caden Williams already out and second-leading rusher Emaree Winston getting injured early in Friday's game, the Jackets didn't miss a beat against the Longhorns (10-2). The defense forced five turnovers, and sophomore quarterback Trey Townsend was an efficient 11-for-15 passing for 111 yards and three touchdowns.
"I told them a couple of months ago that we were a team of weeds and that people were going to keep trying to put us down," Calhoun coach Clay Stephenson said. "I'm as proud tonight of any team I've been around in the black and gold."
Calhoun dominated from the start, going 64 yards on its first drive, all but 20 on the ground as Corbin Fuller, Winston and Kaleb Ray took turns gashing the Longhorns. After Ray ran three consecutive plays for 31 yards, Winston scored on a 3-yard run but was injured on the play and did not return.
The Jackets forced a three-and-out series defensively and then blocked Kell's punt at the 11, but they had to settle for a field goal to make it 10-0, a lead that stood at halftime after forcing a fumble at the Calhoun 19 with less than a minute to play.
Kaleb Ray had the first of his two interceptions to end Kell's first drive of the second half, leading to a 56-yard drive featuring three Townsend completions and Fuller's 31-yard run on fourth-and-1 from the Kell 47. Townsend ended the drive with a 16-yard pass to Dustin Kerns for a 17-0 lead.
After Kell scored on a short pass after a wide receiver pass that covered 66 yards, Calhoun's offense had a three-and-out series. After a long pass from Bryce Clavon to Peyton Zachary, the game was close to turning before Kristyane Gregory read a screen play, stepped in front of the pass and ran it back 47 yards for a 24-7 Calhoun lead.
The Jackets allowed 32 yards the rest of the way and added a forced fumble by Alec Upshaw and Ray's second pick of the game to seal the win.
"They got after it all night," Stephenson said of his defense. "We knew it was going to take all 11 tonight to shut them down and, except for a trick play, we did that. It wasn't pretty, but we knew if we just moved the ball a little on offense that we would handle them."
Calhoun will travel for the second consecutive year to Ware County (11-0) after winning 49-42 there last year in the quarterfinals en route to a runner-up finish.
Creekside 61, Dalton 0: Creekside outgained Dalton 562 yards to 45, with Travis Terrell leading the winners with 205 yards and four touchdowns rushing. Roderick McCrary added 142 yards and two scores for the Seminoles (10-2), who move on to the Class AAAAA quarterfinals.
Dalton (6-6) played without injured senior running back Tyson Greenwade, who had nearly 2,000 rushing yards in 10 games this season.
Class A (Division I)
St. Francis 34, Trion 20: Three big plays proved to be the Bulldogs’ undoing in Alpharetta. Kevin Maven-Winchester had 166 rushing yards and three touchdowns, two coming on runs of 63 and 30 yards, and quarterback Jaiden Jenkins hooked up with Cameron Robinson for a 62-yard scoring play as part of his 209-yard night for St. Francis (9-3).
Trion (9-3), after gaining nearly 500 yards of offense last week, was held under 200 on Friday, with Logan Eller leading the way with 79 rushing yards and a touchdown. Kade Smith passed for 73 yards and a touchdown to Logan Stokes.
Class A (Division II)
Johnson County 26, Christian Heritage 14: One of the state’s leading rushers, Germivy Tucker, ran for two touchdowns and quarterback Dalton Brantley connected with Jakelvis Whatley for a pair of scores as the Trojans (12-0) ended Christian Heritage’s season.
Eli Thomason ended his football career for the Dalton private school by rushing for 103 yards and scoring a touchdown. Wyatt Brumlow also scored for the Lions (6-6) on a reverse as they ended the first half down 18-14.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.
Updated with more information at 12:45 a.m. on Nov. 19, 2022.