Calhoun wins Class AA championship

By Stan Awtrey

For the AJC

Calhoun finally got a chance to turn the tables on its biggest tormentor.

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Jason Getz, jgetz@ajc.com Calhoun quarterback Taylor Lamb (11) attempts a pass in the first half.

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The Yellow Jackets ended three years of frustration against Buford on Friday, surviving a last-minute implosion to defeat the Wolves 27-24 in overtime and win the Class AA championship at the Georgia Dome.

It was the fourth consecutive season the two teams played for the championship, but the first time that Calhoun won, and it didn’t come without a few uneasy moments.

Calhoun led 24-10 with two minutes remaining, but Buford drew within a score on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Sam Clay to Paris Head. After failing to recover an onside kick, Buford’s defense held Calhoun on downs and forced a punt.

That’s when it got crazy.

The snap to punter Zane Rhodes was short, and by the time he picked it up, Buford’s Andre Johnson was there to knock the ball away. Dillon Lee then picked up the loose ball and ran 40 yards for a touchdown. David Petroni tacked on the conversion to tie the score at 24-24 and send the game to overtime.

“In my mind, I’m thinking this is a nightmare. We just gave away the state championship. It happened so fast, it was just surreal,” Calhoun coach Hal Lamb said. “But we found a way. We huddled them up and told them about a turnover and if they came up with one, just go down and we’ll kick it.”

He got his wish on the first play of overtime.

Buford’s Johnson ripped through the line for an 11-yard gain, but lost the ball around the 4, with Calhoun’s Heath Everett recovering. Calhoun didn’t even try to run an offensive play in overtime, opting to send kicker Adam Griffith to attempt a 32-yard field goal. The Alabama commitment, who sent last year’s championship game into overtime with a field goal, calmly drilled his fourth field goal of the game to give Calhoun its championship.

“I didn’t think about anything other than just kick the ball,” said Griffith, who also made kicks of 29, 46 and 36 yards. “I wasn’t nervous. I was confident.”

The kick ended Buford’s 27-game winning streak and stopped the Wolves short of winning a state-record fifth consecutive title. It gave Calhoun its first state title since 1952 and enabled Lamb to join his father, Ray Lamb, as the second father-son duo to lead schools to a state championship.

Taylor Lamb, Hal’s nephew and son of former Furman coach Bobby Lamb, threw for 196 yards and one touchdown and ran for 73 yards and one touchdown to lead the attack. Ben Lamb, Hal’s son, caught two of the passes and proudly held the trophy as the team celebrated outside the locker room.

“We knew we could do it,” Ben Lamb said. “And we knew it would mean a lot more if we beat the four-time state champs.”