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By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Calhoun Middle School's 2011 football season "probably" came to an end Thursday night when it rolled to a 40-20 victory at Walton. The operative word being probably.
Calhoun could have finished in a three-way tie for the CWVAC West Division title with Clay and Spencer if Spencer beat Clay Thursday night, forcing some tiebreakers which Clay owns the advantage in most.
If Clay won, the Mustangs are the outright champions with Calhoun finishing second.
No matter what happened in the Clay-Spencer game Calhoun did what it needed to do against the Tigers and did it decisively and basically did it all in the first half.
The Red Devils, 5-3, raced to a 40-6 halftime advantage and played virtually all substitutes in the second half as Walton's starters scored twice in the fourth quarter to cut the final deficit to respectable.
Calhoun took the opening kickoff and made a machine-like drive down the field on the cold and rainy night with Cody Ritchie going the final three yards for the first score. Casey Ritchie then hit Jonathan Taylor for the extra points making it 8-0 and the route was on.
Walton's first offensive possession ended quickly and Calhoun made it 16-0 when Taylor broke away from the crowd for a 49 yard score.
The Red Devils stopped Walton on the Tigers' next possession and this time it was a Casey Ritchie 14-yard pass to Seth Moore making it 24-0.
Then Walton had its only highlight of the first half when Dale Locklear broke containment outside and raced 60 yards for a touchdown. The missed extra point making it 24-0.
Calhoun wasn't quite through with the first half mayhem however as Taylor scored shortly thereafter, this time on a 23-yard run. Taylor carried the ball seven times for 127 yards in the first half. He never touched the ball in the second half.
On the season Taylor has carried the ball 124 times for 1,228 yards. He has 13 rushing touchdowns, one pass touchdown on a pass reception, four touchdowns on kickoff returns and seven extra point conversions for 116 points.
Calhoun's final touchdown of the half, and the night, came on a 26 yard run by Casey Ritchie.
In the second half Calhoun's second team kept Walton off the board in the third quarter but the Tigers finally broke through with a couple of long runs in the fourth period as Locklear had a 55-yard touchdown and Caleb Greathouse added a 17 yard touchdown. | 
