Soccer season heads into stretch run

With a second consecutive playoff berth within reach for the Calhoun boys soccer team, the regular season heads into the final month of 2023.

The current season is already a success with the club having won more games this year — five — — than they did all of last year — four. But this is a group, led by head coach Tino Hernandez, looking and working for so much more, after surpassing the midway point of the Region 7-5A schedule Friday night with their home game Friday night against Cartersville. (Details of that Calhoun-Cartersville match were not available at press time).

The Yellow Jackets went into that contest 1-1 in Region play and needing a win to tie the Purple Hurricanes in the standings after Cartersville began league play with a 3-1 win over Hiram, making them 1-0 going into that game.

Dalton, which won the GSHA 6A state championship just two years ago, and Cartersville were both 1-0 in the 7-5A to start last week and they were just ahead of Calhoun, which split its first two matches. Woodland and Hiram had yet to play a league game but Thursday night, Dalton played Woodland in the Warriors’ league opener.

Hiram is scheduled to kick off the Region agenda this week.

The 7-5A has been solid through the first five weeks of this winter, with four of the teams .500 or better and another just below the break-even point.

Dalton has, by far, the best overall record in the Region, entering play against Woodland with a 9-1 record. And the Catamounts have been just about unstoppable, having outscored the opposition 35-8 in those 10 games.

Their first Region win was a 7-0 victory over Calhoun a couple of weeks ago in Gordon County. The Cats’ only setback was a 4-1 loss to undefeated 10-0 McIntosh out of Region 3-5A and according to topdrawersoccer.com, they are two of the top seven teams in the state with Dalton ranked second while McIntosh is seventh.

After Dalton, Cartersville was playing well with just two losses in their first eight matches, despite being outscored 19-15 in those games.

And there is actually a distinct reason they have been topped and that is a 10-0 loss to powerful Northwest Whitfield, which played in the GHSA 3A state championship game last April. Take that game away and the Purple Hurricanes have topped the other seven teams they have played, 15-9.

They came into Calhoun game Friday

with a two-game win streak, beating Sonoraville, 4-1, and then Hiram, 3-1 last Friday in both of those teams’ 7-5A openers.

Overall, the ‘Canes were 4-2-2 after their first eight matches.

Woodland was 3-1-1 through its first five matches and was hoping to throw the Region into chaos by pulling off the upset Thursday night against Dalton.

The Warriors have been most efficient on the defensive end, having allowed just nine goals in their first five outings. And six of those scores allowed came in just two games — a 3-0 loss to Cedartown and a 6-3 win over Adairsville.

Cass has also been very competitive to this point, standing 4-6 after its first 10 games. The Colonels notched 31 goals in those outings, but that is a bit deceiving because they had 15 wins combined in victories over New Manchester and Pickens County.

Hiram is the only team in the Region that has really started slow, dropping its first eight matches. The Hornets have not been bad defensively, but they scored just five goals in those losses.

For Calhoun, head coach Hernandez has played the toughest teams he can find since he took over the reins and it

appears to be paying dividends with the Yellow Jackets having wins over big name teams this year like Rome and Gordon Central and Cedartown.

But part of any growing process is a setback here and there and playing elite programs like Dalton, Southeast Whitfield and Sprayberry, while the scoreboard may not reflect it, can help that growth by showing players what they need to do to compete

with those teams.

And the schedule will not get any easier because, besides their Region games, they will also take on defending 3A state champion Southwest Whitfield and Coosa, which was a 2A Final Four team last year, Monday night in Rome.

So another playoff berth is in view, but with the clubs they still have to play, the Calhoun boys soccer team have to keep their eyes wide open.

Tim Godbee Calhoun senior defender Gannon Hood takes the ball away from an opposing player and looks to pass it to a teammate during a recent Yellow Jackets match at the high school.

Tim Godbee The Calhoun goalkeeper makes a nice save in a recent game as sophomore defender Jacob Dupree closes in to help. The Yellow Jackets are 5-5 after their first 10 games and 1-1 in Region 7-5A action going into their Friday night contest at home against Cartersville.