A top-tier matchup between No. 2 Carver-Atlanta and Class 5A No. 7 Calhoun Friday will open the fifth-annual Great Atlanta Bash at Eddie Henderson Stadium at Midtown and will be shown on PeachtreeTV.
It’s one of the top games of the high school football Week 2 weekend.
“I am looking forward to seeing if our guys are going to answer the bell and match their physicality,” said Carver’s Darren Myles, when discussing playing up in classification. “Because we know they are going to be physical. We want to play with tremendous effort and make sure that we match theirs.”
Carver defeated Class 4A No. 10 LaGrange 28-12 on the road in its opener, and Calhoun, which began the season ranked No. 5, lost to Blessed Trinity 17-7 and dropped to No. 7 in the standings.
But in recent history the teams have been playoff stalwarts.
Myles, who is entering his 19th season at Carver, has coached the Panthers to the playoffs every season since 2012, advanced the team to the semifinals in 2017 and the state championship game in 2021. Carver lost in the semifinals last season.
Calhoun is no stranger to late-season games, either.
“We were adjacent to each other in 2021,” Myles said. “We were playing for the 3A title, and Calhoun was playing for the Class 5A championship against Warner Robins. We relish the opportunity in taking advantage of playing them.”
Clay Stephenson took over at Calhoun in 2019 following the retirement of legendary coach Hal Lamb, who coached Calhoun to state championships in 2011, 2014 and 2017 and didn’t miss the playoffs from 2000 to his retirement in 2018.
Stephenson also has had success, leading the Yellow Jackets to the second round in his first season and then the quarterfinals in 2022. In 2021, Calhoun lost to Warner Robins in the state championship game.
Playing against an Atlanta Public School is something that hasn’t happened many times in Calhoun’s history, which dates to 1925, and this will be the first meeting of the two programs.
“They are walking into a different environment,” Myles said. “But then again, the environment is what you make it. Based on what they have been used to and gone into, I don’t think that’s going to be a big factor in the game. Like I always tell my players, work ethic eliminates fear. So if you have been working, the environment doesn’t matter. It’s a road trip, of course, but at the end of the day, I think it will come down to play-makers making plays.”
In Carver’s opening victory against LaGrange, playmakers made plays. The Panthers were nursing a 14-12 halftime lead when Calik Hill returned a fumble 99 yards for a touchdown to expand Carver’s lead, and Joshua Stone, an Arkansas State commitment, returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown to put away the game.
Two other ranked programs, No. 4 Thomasville and No. 7 Stephens County, will face ranked opponents from other classes.
Thomasville will travel up three classes to Class 6A No. 8 Thomas County Central to try to keep the lead in the rivalry and avenge last year’s 31-0 loss. Thomasville holds a narrow margin (28-27) all-time against its local rival and won three of four games from 2018 to 2021. The programs first met in 1962, when Thomasville won 34-0.
Stephens County will play host to Class A Division I No. 3 Rabun County for the 12th time in a series dating to 1951, when Rabun won 41-7. The programs played from 1953-1955 and from 1958-59. At the time, Stephens led the series 4-2. But the teams didn’t play again until 2016. Since then it has been all Rabun County.
But last season’s 14-7 loss was the narrowest margin of defeat in the rekindled rivalry.
Class 3A Top-10 schedule
1. (1) Cedar Grove (1-0) at Coconut Creek (Fla.) on Thursday.
2. (2) Calvary Day (1-0) Off.
3. (3) Carver-Atlanta (1-0) vs. Class 5A No. 7 Calhoun.
4. (4) Thomasville (1-0) at Class 6A No. 8 Thomas County Central.
5. (6) Sandy Creek (1-0) vs. Greenwood (S.C.).
6. (8) Savannah Christian (1-0) vs. Class 4A Islands.
7. (5) Stephens County (1-0) vs. Class A Division I No. 3 Rabun County.
8. (9) Monroe Area (1-0) vs. Class 4A Cedar Shoals.
9. (10) Carver-Columbus (1-0) vs. Class 4A Spencer.
10. (NR) Dougherty (1-0) at Class A Division II Randolph-Clay.
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