Jackets drop tough opener at Harrison

The Calhoun High School basketball team, which is still waiting on a few football players, began the season Tuesday night in Kennesaw with a tough 68-64 loss to Harrison in their season opener.

Head coach Vince Layson’s team didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on it though, returning home Thursday night to play Woodstock in their 2021-22 home debut before the local folks.(Details were not available at press time).

With a large 14-man roster and playing eight guys in the season lid-lifter, the Jackets couldn’t quite get over the hump at the end.

They trailed by 10, 51-41, to start the fourth quarter after getting outscored 19-12 in the third and got as close as a basket in the final minutes, but the home team was able to hold on.

Junior 6-foot-8 point-forward Dylan Faulkner was simply superb in the Jackets’ first game, leading all scorers with 28 points.

Fellow senior Jaylan Harris was the team’s second leading scorer with 15 points as they combined for 43 of the team’s 64 points.

The Jackets made six 3-point shots on the night and Faulkner hit on half of them, making one in the first quarter, one in the third, and another in fourth.

Guard Daniel Streete hit a pair of treys for the visitors and guard Caden Schild connected on one.

Faulkner, Harris, Streete, Shild, and Jake Jones were the starting five for the Jackets. Brooks Crawford, Darian Hayes, and Isiah Jewell came off the bench for Layson’s team.

The Bulldogs, who had already played two games and lost them both, got off to a fast start, scoring 19 points in the first period and taking a 19-14 advantage at the end of one.

Faulkner, on the strength of a three and another bucket, had five points in the period for the Yellow Jackets and Streete added another three-pointer. Harris had four more points on two made shots.

Harrison guard Avery Marshall led the Bulldogs with eight points in the first, including a pair of 3-pointers. They also hit another three with five Harrison players producing points in the first eight minutes.

Calhoun closed the gap to three at the half, 32-29, by outscoring the hosts, 1513, in the second quarter.

Schild had five of his seven points in the quarter and one of his shots was a three. Streete added another three and five different Jackets scored in the quarter.

In the second half, Faulkner and Harris combined for 33 points, but the rest of the team had four points and Harrison was able to get the win.

The Hoyas outscored the Yellow Jackets, 19-12, in the third period with Faulkner and Harris scoring all of the visitors’ points.

Faulkner made a three and was fiveof-six from the foul line in the period while Harris made a pair of shots as the Hoyas’ 10-point advantage, 51-41, was their first double-digit lead of the ballgame.

Both Harris and Faulkner had nine points in the fourth quarter to keep the Jackets within striking range, but they couldn’t quite close the gap in going to 0-1 on the year.

Harris made four shots and a free throw in the final eight minutes while Faulkner was also terrific, making another one from beyond the arch, four foul shots and a short jumper in the lane.

The Hoyas would make three threepoint shots in the fourth period and were outscored, 23-19, but got the win.

Nine different players produced points for Harrison and they were lead in scoring by a trio of seniors. Guards Kanye Daes and Seth Marshall tied for team-high honors with 15 points each and with forward Ahbi Boggarapu dropped in 13 more.

Calhoun outrebounded the Hoyas, 27-23 on the night and had 15 assists in the game. They also shot 47 percent and were 6-of-19 from behind the threepoint line.

After their home opener Thursday, Calhoun is back in action next week with three games, although the third one could change.

First, they are scheduled to play a pair of road games, starting Tuesday night when they bus to Chattooga. Then they are at Darlington Friday night.

They are then scheduled to return home next Saturday, Dec. 11 for an 5:30 p.m. afternoon contest against Paulding County. But if the Calhoun High School football team is in the state championship game in Atlanta, it seems like that game would be rescheduled because kickoff for the Jackets in Atlanta would be 3:30 p.m.

The Yellow Jackets are still over a month away from the start of the 5A Region 7 season.