Calhoun, Sonoraville hit the road Friday night
The Calhoun Times
In local high school football action this week, both Calhoun and Sonoraville have road trips this Friday night, while Gordon Central is on a bye. The Yellow Jackets travel to Hiram to take on the Hiram Hornets, and Sonoraville travels to Fort Oglethorpe to take on Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe. Both kickoffs are set for 7:30 p.m.
Calhoun (4-1) is fresh off a bye week after a big win over Woodstock the previous Friday. Hiram will be the first region foe the Jackets have faced this season, and although the Hornets are 0-5, Calhoun head coach Clay Stephenson is not taking them lightly.
“We’ve tried to stress to the kids that Hiram is 0-5, but they’re not your ordinary 0-5 team that we’re used to back in our old region,” Stephenson said. “They’ve played some really tough non-region games. To them and everybody in our region, we’re all 0-0. We’re starting region play, and we’re on the same playing field. I’m telling them to not look at the first five games for us or them. Just start fresh and ready to play on Friday.”
After reaching the second round of the GHSA playoffs in 2019, Hiram has clearly not had the start they have wanted this season but have had a bye week to regroup and are looking to get back to winning. That is something Hiram’s third-year head coach Pete Fominaya is no stranger to doing. Stephenson expects a valiant effort from a Hiram team that knows what they are about.
“Even though they’ve started the way they have, they’re going to be ready to play,” Stephenson said. “Everything I hear about their coach — he runs a great program. He’s won a few state titles down in Florida. They know what they are doing. They’re well-coached.
FOOTBALL,
They’ve lost a couple of games they could’ve won, so that 0-5 could be 2-3 or a 3-2 record and the outlook is different.”
Hiram’s spread offensive attack is led by big-framed quarterback Qamar Grant and a talented running back in Jirah Douglas.
“Grant’s not much of a runner, but he’s a good thrower,” Stephenson said. “He does a good job of getting the ball out to guys in space. Their back – Douglas — he leads the team in rushing. He’s very quick and very shifty. He’s a weapon for them. They’ve got several receivers out there that they can get the ball out to in a hurry.”
One of the guys that stands out the most on Hiram’s roster is nose guard Brandon Maina. Maina is the leader of the Hornets’ 3-3 stack defensive unit. He stands out on film above everyone else according to Stephenson.
“Their nose guard — he’s a player,” Stephenson said. “He plays tight end for them too. He was the defensive player of the year in their region last year. He’s one we got to make sure we put two people on when we’re on offense and know where he is when we’re on defense.”
Above all, Stephenson stressed how important it is for the Jackets to focus on themselves and sees fixing mistakes as the main key to victory on Friday night.
“We got to take care of us and take care of the football,” Stephenson said. “I stressed
today after practice about eliminating the concentration penalties — meaning the pre-snap penalties of an offsides or delay of game. We got to shore those up heading into the region and not turn the football over.”
Even though it would be easy to overlook a Hiram team that looks to be an easier game for the Jackets and look ahead to tougher tests in the future (including Blessed Trinity on Oct. 23), Stephenson is clear that his team is focusing solely on Hiram.
“It is (easy to look ahead), but one thing is that Hiram is going to give several teams in our region a run for their money,” Stephenson said. “Like I said, we’re not looking at next week or back at last game. We’re focused on the next day’s practice then hopefully going up there and executing on Friday.”
Sonoraville
Across the city limits, Sonoraville (2-2, 0-2) rebounds from a tough twogame stretch against Rockmart and North Murray and will play their third region game of the season on the road at LFO. The Warriors (0-4, 0-2) are fresh off a 2016 heartbreaking loss to rival Ringgold and are looking to get revenge against the Phoenix this week and earn their first win of 2020.
After getting beat pretty solidly in their first three games, LFO head coach Bo Campbell sat veteran quarterback Malachi Powell and made the switch to Will Carroll at quarterback. While the game against Ringgold
was much closer, Sonoraville Coach Denver Pate says his team is preparing for either quarterback in this game.
“The first three games they’ve played with the same kid they’ve had the last couple years — No. 4 (Malachi Powell) at quarterback,” Pate said. “When he’s the quarterback, they are more under center. They run a lot of veer and a lot of triple option. In their last game against Ringgold, they played No. 5 (Will Carroll) at quarterback. They were more of a shotgun/ read-option team with him at quarterback. We’re trying to get ready for both of them. We’re preparing these kids to see both offenses.”
Whoever plays quarterback on Friday night will be tasked to make sure and get the ball in the hands of talented rushing duo Jacob Brown and Jevonnie Womble. Slowing them down will doubtlessly be important for the Sonoraville defense.
“No. 2 Jacob Brown and No. 3 Jevonnie Womble are two pretty dominant players as far as speed and having some wiggle,” Pate said. “Those are their two bigplay guys.”
The biggest keys to getting in a victory in Pate’s eyes are cutting down on mistakes and getting back to what the Phoenix do best – running the football, especially with Zach Lyles.
“Obviously, you got to eliminate mistakes, and that entails turnovers,” Pate said. “You can’t turn the football over against anybody, especially when you’re on the road and give their fanbase any reason to be part of the football game. Eliminating turnovers and winning the turnover battle are key. We got to establish the run game to begin with and let it open up the passing game. We’ve kind of been in the reverse order the past two weeks, and we haven’t had a lot of success. We got to be able to run the ball in between the tackles with success and get Zach (Lyles) going better than we have the last couple of weeks.”