Carrollton climbs back from 0-3 record to 4-3, topping Calhoun 34-6

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CARROLLTON - It seems like the Carrollton Hawks have journeyed through the mountains of Mordor in order to reach the point where they are now, especially the seniors.

“There’s something about when you coach a group of kids that have that edge,” Carrollton coach Nick Flowers said. “These seniors have been in some huge ball game settings, but they haven’t been by themselves like they are now.”

In a must win game, the Hawks turned in their best performance of the season and road out winners over the their rivals, the Calhoun Warriors 34-6 on Friday night in Carrollton.

Carrollton’s spread offense has been pouring in points all season long, but the defense, in particular the defensive line has been exposed a time or two, however they came to play. Jerrett Smith scored on three rushing touchdowns even though he rushed for 54 yards and he was everywhere on the other side of the ball.

“I think we have the same mindset now,” Smith said. We have to win. We know our offense can score some points, but we need to step our defense. Everyone realized that and they put in the work in practice to get it done.”

This was by far Carrollton’s best game of the season, especially defensively and it blew Flowers away.

“Defensively we flew around tonight, Flowers said. “Their toss-sweep had really been giving teams trouble and I was a bit surprised how we flew to the ball like we did and that’s a great sign.”

Carrollton was 3-3 going into the game and was a loss away from no playoffs for the first time since 2011, and the senior class doesn’t want to be the group that ended the run.

With the Warriors knocking off Greenfield 18-14 the previous week and on a four-game winning streak, they were considered to be slight favorites despite their recent history against the Hawks. Calhoun goes to 5-2 with the loss.

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“I think they outplayed us most of the game, definitely disappointing,” Calhoun coach Aaron Elmore said. We’ll be fine, but we made too many mistakes. We’re trying to learn how to win and these guys know how to win. It’s just the way it is.

“I knew we could do this tonight, but I think we probably shocked some people with this game,” Flowers said.

After picking up an interception on the opening drive, Calhoun marched down field and scored on a 27-yard run by fullback Jacob Watters to put the Warriors 6-0 midway through the first quarter.

Carrollton struggled to get anything going on offense early on which had been a reoccurring theme, however they cranked up their production. Within two minutes in the second frame, the Hawks took advantage of a short punt and Jerrett Smith scored on a 1-yard run out of the wildcat formation. He converted on the two-point conversion to give the Hawks an 8-6 lead.

For the rest of the game Carrollton contained the Calhoun offense who consistently powered the ball through the Hawks defensive line, but the Hawks were almost always there.

“They went from running a true triple-option offense to more power football. We had to load the box up on them and encourage them to throw the ball,” Flowers said. “That’s what we wanted to do.”

After two big pass plays from Wade Prough to Alex Bowker, Smith scored again on another short run and successful two-point conversion to put the Hawks up 16-6. Calhoun nearly scored on a Hail Mary when Wes Klocke hit Easton Clark, but he was tackled at the one-yard line as time expired.

After getting a three and out to start the second half, Carrollton drove into Calhoun territory and failed to convert on a fourth down coming up just short. However, two plays later, the Warriors gave the ball right back on a fumble by Ty Bick on a hand-off exchange. A couple plays later, Smith scored from 5-yards out make it 22-6.

Early in the fourth quarter on a fourth and goal from the three yard line, Prough maneuvered his way around the pocket, ran to the goal line and was flipped in the air, but landed in the end zone for a dramatic three-yard score to give the Hawks a three score lead at 28-6.

After stopping a long Calhoun drive with time almost out, Prough tossed it to Byron Holmes for 5-yard touchdown pass to put the icing on the cake at 34-6.

“Being at home Homecoming with all the fans here, even their fans, it was great,” Smith said. That was a huge part of it, playing in front of your hometown, having your town behind your back. It was unbelievable. Great game, great atmosphere.”

“When it’s all said and done, we got bigger things out there that we want to do with this group,” Flowers said.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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