122 and counting: Can anyone dethrone Calhoun in Region 6-AAA?
The date was Oct. 19, 2001.
It was a crisp fall evening at Phil Reeve Stadium in Calhoun. The homestanding Yellow Jackets had come into the game riding a season-opening five-game winning streak and they were sitting at 4-0 in Region 6-AA play.
But visiting Darlington held the Jackets to just a single touchdown that night, scored two of their own and went back to Rome with a 14-7 victory. Calhoun, however, would reel off four more wins to end the season, while Darlington would later suffer a 35-17 loss to then-region foe Cartersville, a team Calhoun had beaten, 2419, a few weeks earlier.
A series of tiebreakers would be employed and the Jackets would eventually be crowned region champions. Calhoun would go on to win 11 games and advance to the state quarterfinals that year before losing to Cook. Not a bad run for a team that had managed just two wins two seasons earlier.
No one knew it at the time, but the loss to Darlington turned out to be significant and it still is.
Over a decade-anda-half later, Oct. 19, 2001 remains the last time Calhoun has lost to an opponent from its own region.
Calhoun, winners of four straight region championships from 1950 to 1953, including the 1952 Class C state title (the Jackets had to win just one playoff game that season), had managed just one region title from 1954 to 2000, that one coming in 1995 (Region 6-A).
But that all changed in 2001. Calhoun has won every region title since then (16 and counting) and currently rides an unfathomable 122-game winning streak against region competition.
Which begs the question: who will finally be the team to step up and kill the Jackets’ buzz?
This year’s major contenders to dethrone the king appear, at least on paper, to be North Murray, Sonoraville and Ringgold.
North Murray has a potential All-State caliber quarterback in Preston Poag, Jr. directing the offense, while the Phoenix have a new coach, but have made the playoffs four straight years and have won at least one playoff game in each of the past two seasons.
Then there are the Tigers, who have plenty of offensive firepower to go with speed and depth on defense. Ringgold will play both North Murray and Sonoraville in the regular season and if they can claim the subregion title, they would potentially get a chance to end Calhoun’s region winning streak and their championship reign on Don Patterson Field on Nov. 3 as the teams in 6-AAA North will host the region crossover/play-in games this season.
Here’s a look at the other teams in the region. More in-depth previews of Ringgold and LFO can be found elsewhere in this edition.
Adairsville Tigers Head Coach: Eric Bishop (5th season, 31-15) Last Year: 3-7 overall, 1-3 subregion Last Five Years: 38-19 (3-4 in state playoffs) Last State Playoff Appearance: 2015
The first order of business for the Tigers is to try and forget what happened in 2016. After a 12-win season that saw them advance to the state Elite Eight in 2015, Adairsville managed just three wins last fall after they were decimated by graduation losses. The next thing on the agenda will be to find a replacement for two-year starting quarterback Robert Redd, who was lost to graduation.
For the time being, expect Adairsville to run the ball a little more with junior Mason Boswell and senior Christian Steele, while senior receiver Ethan Blecher and junior athlete Travon Branch will try and provide options on offense. Senior Dakota Hughes will help out at linebacker, while Branch and Boswell are expected to start in the secondary. In the trenches, the Tigers will look to senior Maddox Teems and Brock Holland for depth on both sides of the ball.
Bremen Blue Devils Head Coach: Davis Russell (2nd season, 7-5) Last Year: 7-5 overall, 2-2 subregion Last Five Years: 27-27 (0-2 in state playoffs) Last State Playoff Appearance: 2016
Under second-year head coach Davis Russell, Bremen went 7-5 a year ago, advancing to the second round of the Class AAA state playoffs before falling to Pierce County. However, the Blue Devils will have work do to on offense this fall as they try and replace the graduated Kyle Bailey, a first-team All-State performer at running back after rushing for 1,837 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2016.
Bremen might have to look more to the air, at least to start the season. Junior quarterback Wade Cartwright will be back under center, while junior receiver Jalen Dallas will be Cartwright’s top target in the passing game. The Blue Devils’ seven wins last fall were their most in the past five seasons.
Calhoun Yellow Jackets Head Coach: Hal Lamb (19th season, 206-35) Last Year: 10-3 overall, 4-0 subregion Last Five Years: 63-7 (16-4 in state playoffs) Last State Playoff Appearance: 2016
Even in a season that some thought would be something of a rebuilding year, the Jackets claimed 11 victories, won a 16th consecutive region championship and made it back to the Elite Eight of the state playoffs.
Calhoun suffered some significant graduation losses, most notably Clemsonbound Baylon Spector, but plenty of AllRegion talents returns, including sophomore quarterback Gavin Gray, senior defensive linemen C.J. Fuller, Andrew Clements and Zeke Nance, senior linebackers Bailey Lester and Owen Williams, junior linebacker Davis Allen, junior defensive back Brannon Spector and junior offensive lineman Ben King.
Coahulla Creek Colts Head Coach: Caleb Bagley (1st season, 0-0) Last Year: 0-10 overall, 0-4 subregion Last Five Years: 6-44 (0-0 in state playoffs) Last State Playoff Appearance: None
The Colts are just 6-44 in their first five seasons of varsity football and will hit the reset button again with a new head coach. Caleb Bagley, the offensive