It was victory helmets last night at Flatwoods
as the Red Devils easily defeated Braxton, with three players out
Coach Sterns praises his team and talks
about next weeks game with St. Marys
It was a "bad" photo night. In a fog so dense that the announcer,
after the play, said "Jason
Cunningham scored ... I think."
Calhoun rolls past Braxton, 35-0
By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
On a night when a cold, dense fog made the second half of the game surreal,
Calhoun played without three starters and had an opponent keep Paul Goodrich
out of the end zone for the first time this season.
Still the Red Devils won.
And won easily, 35-0 over Braxton.
While Goodrich did not score he was a major factor in the Calhoun offense,
as a decoy if nothing else.
Wherever the Kennedy Award candidate went he drew an inordinate amount of
attention from the Eagles' defense. And while the Eagles were dogging
Goodrich the rest of the Red Devils were running wild (and usually open)
against Braxton.
Jason Cunningham scored twice for the Red Devils. Once on a nine-yard
reverse from his flanker position and once with a 65-yard pass interception.
Matt Houchin scored on a 44-yard run, Jeff Goodrich scored on a two-yard run
and Tyler Shartiger caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Paul Goodrich on
the halfback option.
Calhoun played without three senior starters. Tight end/defensive back
Steven Cunningham and two-way tackle Justin Whipkey were sidelined with leg
fractures while fullback/linebacker Chad Conley was sidelined with a knee
injury.
But the people filling in for them performed well.
And Paul Goodrich was a big reason why.
On Calhoun's first scoring drive Braxton keyed on Paul Goodrich. This,
however, allowed Jeff Goodrich, starting at fullback in place of Conley, had
huge holes on a couple of quick openers up the middle as the Eagles chased
Paul Goodrich to the outside.
Jeff Goodrich's touchdown came up the middle.
The next time Calhoun got the ball Paul Goodrich rolled to the right taking
most of the Braxton defense with him and Jason Cunningham was able to take
the reverse and race past the startled Eagles for the score.
Calhoun scored the next time it got the ball when Houchin faked the toss to
Paul Goodrich, tucked it in instead and rambled 44 yards for the score.
Those three quick touchdowns gave Calhoun a 21-0 first quarter lead against
the 2-8 Class AA Eagles.
The next time Calhoun got the ball Braxton completely bit on what appeared
to be a Paul Goodrich sweep only to have the senior tailback hold up and
fired a strike to Shartiger, who grabbed the ball and rambled into the end
zone.
But after that score at 10:21 of the second quarter Calhoun's offense failed
to click again.
Despite getting first downs and despite Paul Goodrich punishing the Eagles
defense (he ended the game with 192 yards on 29 carries) Calhoun failed to
score.
But the Red Devils probably were their own worst enemy as they had a
succession of drive-killing penalties. Overall Calhoun had nine penalties
for 55 yards.
Braxton, on the other hand, was penalized twice.
The only scoring in the second half came when Jason Cunningham stepped in
front of a Braxton pass and hauled it back 65 yards for the score.
That play
came in a fog so dense that the PA announcer, after the play, said "Jason
Cunningham scored ... I think."
With the Eagles going all out to stop Paul Goodrich, Jeff Goodrich and
Houchin had two of the best rushing performances of their career. Jeff
Goodrich had 61 yards on nine carries while Houchin added 57 yards on six
carries.
Overall Calhoun had 384 yards total offense (307 rushing) and 24 first
downs.
The Red Devils' defense was, once again, rock-ribbed allowing Braxton
just 68 yards total offense and five first downs.
With the win the 7th-ranked Red Devils raised their record to 8-1 setting up
a mammoth game against 8-1 St. Marys this coming Friday at Mount Zion.
Should the Red Devils beat St. Marys they should finish in the top four in
the state and be able to host two playoffs games (should they win the first
one) and maybe a third depending on how other playoff games go.
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