By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
The Calhoun Middle School Red Devils revamped their offense some during the past week and it took it a while to get going.
But get going it did in the second half and the Red Devils rallied but unfortunately it was not quite enough as Spencer Middle School took a 19-8 victory Thursday night at Mount Zion.
Calhoun's biggest change was moving Soney Wilson to quarterback and sending former quarterback Caden Hicks to the tailback slot. That was the formation CMS used most of the game although it did alternate Hicks and Wilson behind center on a few different series of downs.
In the early part of the Red Devils were getting used to the new alignment and Spencer, 1-1, jumped out to a 19-0 lead.
Spencer had two touchdowns on runs by quarterback Frankie Beckett - from 15 and one yard out - in the first half and a 21-yard touchdown pass from Beckett to backup quarterback Brandon May in the third quarter.
The touchdown pass at a higher level may have been reviewed since it bounced off a Spencer player into May's hands as he streaked behind the defense. Had the player the ball bounced off of been a lineman the play could have been called illegal touching and have resulted in a penalty.
But as it was there was no call and the touchdown stood.
At the time that play appeared very inconsequential but it could have been a major turning point in the game had things worked out slightly differently.
After Spencer took the 19-0 lead Calhoun's offense came to life and made things interesting.
Early in the fourth quarter the Red Devils, who had been pounding the line with runs by Hicks, tried a counter play to Dalton McCune and he rambled 31 yards into Yellowjacket territory.
After Hicks hit the right side of the SMS line for a 12-yard gain to the 21 Calhoun again went to McCune on the counter and this time the 5-2, 105-pound seventh-grader scooted into the end zone for the score at the 7:14 mark. Hicks' extra point run made it 19-8.
Calhoun got the ball back on the next series of downs and quickly moved into SMS territory setting up shop with a first-and-10 at the 20.
But the ball got loose from the Red Devils on the next play and SMS recovered.
Although Calhoun would move the ball following the fumble it would not get into scoring position like that again.
Overall, Calhoun had 193 yards total offense and 10 first downs.
Hicks led Calhoun with 104 yards rushing on 25 attempts while McCune added 52 on three carries. Wilson chipped in with 23 yards on five carries while Hayden Richards had 14 on four attempts.
Calhoun, 0-2, tried two passes but both were incomplete.
Calhoun will attempt to get its first win of the season next Thursday night when Gilmer County comes to Mount Zion. Game time is 6:30 p.m.
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