By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Friday 13th is a day of bad luck for those who believe.
For the Calhoun faithful there is reason to believe following a 38-27
setback at the hands of Roane County at Mount Zion.
Calhoun's bad luck included at lot of little things and some big things too.
To wit:
Roane County, a team that had been plagued by penalties all season long,
was whistled for four penalties for 17 yards. Calhoun, on the other nailed
for 52 yards in penalties including several on holding plays that killed
drives.
Roane County would call a time out then run a shuffle pass that would go
for 20 or 30 yards and a first down. And this happened almost every time the
Raiders called a time out.
Twice passes went through the hands of Calhoun receivers into the hands of
Roane defenders.
Nick Whytsell, one of the most accurate kickers in the state, missed a
short field goal attempt that would have given the Red Devils a 10-0 lead.
Roane County fumbled the ball into a big patch of open field only to have
the Raiders chase it down for a first down.
A Roane County kickoff went awry as the kicker accidentally topped the
ball only to have the ball careen off a Calhoun lineman. Roane recovered.
The Raiders admitted it was not a planned play but a bad kickoff that turned
into a wonderful thing for Roane.
The last thing was a big thing since it came right after the Raiders had
scored a touchdown to take a lead, 18-14. The Raiders then marched down for
another score and a 24-14 lead.
That was two of the three touchdowns the Raiders scored in the third quarter
as they roared ahead and the Red Devils were never able to catch up.
But the game didn't start out that way.
Calhoun scored 20 seconds into the game when Caleb Hart, who would leave the
game at halftime, hit Josh Deweese on a 71-yard option pass.
The Red Devils drove down the field after forcing a Roane punt but missed a
short field goal attempt when the drive stalled.
Roane then got back into the game with a touchdown but missed the extra
point - one of five extra points the Raiders would miss on the night.
The Raiders took the lead a little later following one of those two strange
interceptions. But another missed extra point made it 12-7 in favor of
Roane.
Calhoun regained the lead right before intermission when Zach Moore took in
a 35-yard scoring pass from Matt Houchin. On the reception Moore took the
ball away from a Roane defender in the end zone.
But that was the high point for the Red Devils as Hart had to go out of the
game at intermission and Roane had that bizarre 18-point third quarter.
With the Raiders leading by 16 (30-14) Calhoun rallied late in the fourth
quarter when Moore caught the second of his three touchdown passes. Overall
Moore caught 10 passes for 184 yards.
That's when Roane decided to go for the touchdown (rather than take a knee)
with: 45 remaining in the contest. The Raiders actually made the extra point
for a 38-20 lead.
Game over?
Not quite. Calhoun roared back down the field and scored when Moore pulled
in a 13-yard halfback option pass from Jeff Goodrich.
With the loss Calhoun drops to 5-2 on the season and will drop from its
current seventh place in the Class A rankings.
With the win Roane goes to 5-3 and should move up from 17th place in Class
AA.
Calhoun travels to Wirt County Friday night in a must-win game if the Red
Devils hope to keep its playoff hopes alive.
Roane plays Oak Hill Friday.
| 
