Calhoun football slate looks so different
The 2024 Calhoun High School football schedule has been released.
And with the Yellow Jackets residing in the 3A classification when the next school year begins this August, the people they’ll be playing for at least the next two years are all new opponents.
Besides Calhoun, the revised 7-3A is a seven-team league with, Adairsville, Ridgeland, Northwest Whitfield, Gilmer County, Ringgold Heritage and LaFayette. Four of those seven were playoff teams last year with Adairsville, Northwest Whitfield, Gilmer County and Heritage each reaching the postseason.
The Jackets have been in the 5A division for four years now, but are dropping down two classes for the upcoming new two-year cycle and that means that pretty much from who they scrimmage to how many non-Region games they have has changed.
For example, during four years at the 5A level at least half or more of their 10 games have been against 5A opponents or higher, but this season the Jackets have just one 5A team on their new schedule — and that is their season opener Friday, Aug. 16 at Creekview, which they have defeated the past two years and beat, 28-24 last September.
The Grizzlies are just one of two teams — Cartersville is the other — that are on the schedule again this coming year as the Jackets and Purple Hurricanes remain part of the Region 7-5A through the end of this year. The Jackets and Purple Hurricanes have developed quite the rivalry the past couple of years with close games and exciting finishes before a statewide television audience.
The team’s byes will also change as for the past few years, the black-andVegas-gold, in a six-team league, played its five games non-Region games, took a bye week, and then played league contests five weeks in a row before taking its second bye the last week of the regular season to start playoff preparations.
This fall, the Jackets have their two byes within the first several weeks of the 2024 season and no time off between the last game of the year and the first week of the playoffs.
All four of the teams Calhoun faces in the 2024 non-Region slate were playoff teams last year, but only Cartersville and Westminster made it to past the first round with Westmin
ster making it to the second round and Cartersville getting to the 5A state semifinals before being eliminated by Coffee County in its only loss of the year.
Head coach Clay Stephenson’s team will scrimmage on Friday, Aug. 9 at the Jamboree at Allatoona High School and that will be a first for the team because the past few years they have scrimmaged Northwest Whitfield, but the Bruins are now a Region opponent.
They also have had that scrimmage the first week of August the past couple of years and then two weeks off before the season opener, but that has also changed this season when they begin the 10-game regular season exactly one week after the scrimmage on Friday, August 16 on the road at 5A Creekview High School.
The Grizzlies were 7-4 last year and have been a 6A school the past couple
seasons, placing third last season in Region 6-6A with a 4-2 record in 2023. They lost to Blessed Trinity, 2410, in the first round of the 2023 6A playoffs and Creekview will be in Region 6-5A starting this fall.
The Jackets then take their first bye the following week before they finish August on Friday, the 30th with their home opener at Phil Reeve Stadium against Westminster. The Wildcats are in Region 6-4A and were 8-4 and second in the 6-4A with a 4-1 league mark last fall. After beating Ringgold Heritage, which is now a Calhoun Region opponent, in the first round, they were eliminated by Stockbridge in the second round of the 4A playoffs last year.
Calhoun remains home on Friday, Sept. 6 to host Cartersville in a big game that won’t have nearly the importance of the last four years because they are no longer Region opponents. But two years ago, they played a triple overtime classic that Calhoun won 50-48 in Bartow County
and last year, the ‘Canes scored 21 straight points in the final 15 minutes to rally for a 21-17 win over the Jackets in the 7-5A opener on Hal Lamb Field in a pair of instant classic. Cartersville has also moved down one classification level as well and will be part of the revamped 7-4A starting this fall.
The Jackets are back on the road the following week to complete their non-Region part of their schedule, going to Cambridge on Friday, Sept. 13. The Bears were 6-5 last fall and 4-2 in Region 6-5A and lost to Hiram, 31-24, last November in the first round of the state playoffs. (Both Cambridge and Westminster will play in the Region 6-4A when the new classes starting face off in the fall).
At that point, the Jackets have their second and final bye of the season with two weeks off to prepare for their 7-3A opener Friday, Sept. 27 at The Reeve against Adairsville. It also means the Jackets will play six weeks in a row to finish
the regular season because they have the first bye in Region play.
Calhoun and Adairsville were last Region foes in the 2019-20 school year and the Tigers have been in the 6-3A for the past four years. They were the Region champ last year, going 7-0 in the league and 8-3 on the year.
That game also marks the halfway point of the schedule and they begin October the following week with a trip to Ridgeland on Friday, Oct. 4. Ridgeland was winless last year and is another team the Yellow Jackets were region mates with back in 2018 and 2019 and the first half of 2020. They also played them on the non-Region schedule just two years ago.
The Yellow Jackets are back at the Reeve the following week, Friday, Oct. 11 to face a familiar foe in Northwest Whitfield County, a team the Jackets have scrimmaged the past few years. The Bruins were in Region 7-4A the last two years, going 6-5 last season
and were the fourth place playoff team out of that league, falling 62-15 to Stephenson High School in the first round of the state tournament.
The Jackets play their last road Region game Friday, Oct. 18 when they are at Gilmer County and the Falcons were 7-5 last year and 3-3 in Region 7-3A for the fourth seed out of that league. They eliminated Adairsville in the first round of the playoffs, but were knocked out by Monroe Area, 42-24, in the Sweet 16.
Calhoun is back in Gordon County for their final
two games on the schedule, facing Ringgold Heritage, Friday, Oct. 24 at the Reeve. Heritage is presently in the 7-4A and the Generals were 6-5 last year and 3-2 for third in their Region before they were knocked out by Westminster, 2717, in the first round of the postseason.
Calhoun completes the 2024 regular season schedule at home on Friday, Nov 1 when they host LaFayette. The Ramblers have been members of Region 6-3A for at least the past four years and they were 3-7 in 2023 and 2-5 in the league.