|
By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
This time a year ago Calhoun County was riding on top of the world with a 2-0 record heading into a matchup with Doddridge County in the wvmetronews.com Class A game of the week.
What a difference a year makes.
This year Calhoun is 0-2 after dropping a 23-15 verdict on the road at Sherman High School in Seth Friday night heading into next Friday's contest at undefeated Doddridge County.
Last year Calhoun saw Doddridge complete a touchdown pass right before the half that seemed to take the wind out of the Red Devils' sails starting a downward spiral that resulted in a 2-8 season.
This year the Red Devils are in desperate need of a turnaround against the Bulldogs to rescue the season.
In the season-opener, a 31-18 loss to Gilmer County, Calhoun pushed the Titans all over the field statistically dominating the game yet turned the ball over six times while suffering several costly penalties to nullify all the good work.
The same thing happened Friday night.
Calhoun had 330 yards of total offense, nearly twice Sherman's 183, yet was on the wrong end of things when the final whistle sounded.
What happened?
Three fumbles (one lost), nine penalties and a safety surrendered by the Red Devils happened and those things, once again, nullified the good things.
And once again Calhoun played good enough to win ⦠but didn't.
The Red Devils started out with a bang and finished with a flourish but in between the game belong to the Tide.
Seniors Mason Sheldon and Logan Moore combined on a 59-yard touchdown pass and Sheldon supplied the extra point kick to give Calhoun a 7-0 lead.
But after that the Tide rolled.
First Bailey Kirk hit Jacob Stewart with a 23-yard scoring pass. The extra point failed and Calhoun held a 7-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Then there was the safety as Logan Moore was trapped in the end zone and the Tide took a lead it would never relinquish, 8-7.
Sherman padded the lead early in the third quarter when Aaron Lowe broke loose and rambled 62 yards for a score. The final Sherman score came midway through the final period when Kirk sneaked in from a yard away.
Calhoun had one last hurrah and it came with 4:43 left in the contest when Moore connected with Joseph Richards for a nine-yard touchdown. Moore hit Sheldon with the extra point pass to make it 23-15 but that was as close as Calhoun would come.
Moore led Calhoun's rushing attack with 57 yards on 22 carries while completing 11 of 24 passes for 185 yards. Sheldon was the recipient of five of those passes for 113 yards.
Calhoun will try for its first win next Friday night when it travels to West Union to face the unbeaten Bulldogs while Sherman travels to Wyoming East.
| 
