By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
For years there had been an unspoken gentlemen's agreement between Gilmer schools and Calhoun schools that went something like this: Gilmer can't beat Calhoun in football and Calhoun can't beat Gilmer in basketball.
Thursday night Gilmer broke the "agreement" with Calhoun by pounding the Calhoun Middle School football team 30-12 at Morris Stadium in Glenville.
The Titans jumped all over Calhoun out of the gate and by the time the early carnage was over Noah Aviles had three long touchdowns and Chandler Ferguson had another and Gilmer had a 30-0 lead.
Aviles scored early in the game when he broke loose on a fourth down attempt and rambled 47 yards for the score and a 6-0 lead.
Ferguson then stepped up - on the first play from scrimmage following a Calhoun punt - and romped 38 yards for the score. Aviles' extra point run made it 14-0 with seconds remaining in the first period.
The next time Calhoun punted Aviles grabbed the ball and raced 59 yards for a score. He also added the extra points on a pass from Seth Shuff making the score 22-0 at halftime.
It wasn't like Calhoun was doing nothing even though the running of Aviles and Ferguson did make the tackling look a little suspect and the fact that Gilmer had bottled up the CMS offense made the blocking look a little suspect too.
But Calhoun did move the ball after Aviles' punt return touchdown and had a first down inside the GMS' 20 yard line before a flurry of penalties - the big one a 15-yarder - took the ball back to beyond midfield, essentially killing the drive.
That - the penalties - added the third part of the Holy Trio of winning football: Tackle on defense, block on offense and don't make mistakes. Calhoun was guilty of all three in the first half.
The second half didn't start any better for the Red Devils as Aviles broke around left end and was off to the races for a 75-yard touchdown. Ferguson added the extra point run and Gilmer was on top 30-0.
Aviles had a good game for the Titans with 144 yards on seven carries and a 75-yard punt return.
But statistically he was not the game leader.
That honor would belong to Calhoun's Seth Moore, who had 229 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Unfortunately Moore did not break loose until Calhoun's blocking improved. But by then it was too late.
Moore got the Red Devils on the board after the defense tightened up and improved its tackling and stopped Gilmer on a fourth quarter drive inside the 10 yard line.
Moore took the ball deep in his own territory and rolled 96 yards for the score. It was Calhoun's longest run of the year and it did end the shutout the Titans were trying for.
A little later Moore slashed off the left side and went in from 26 yards out to set the final score.
Calhoun, 1-2, will try to get back on the winning side of things when it plays host to Ritchie County next Thursday while Gilmer, 3-0, will try to continue on its winning ways against Parkersburg Catholic.
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