Calhoun City outlasted South Delta on Friday night to advance to the third round of the playoffs with a 21-12 final score.
The Wildcats had strong performances from some of their senior class, being led in rushing by Jayden Griffin with 84 yards and Hayden Goodson with 74. Both Griffin and Goodson accounted for a score on the ground, as well. The other City touchdown came via a fumble recovery by Emariun Clayton.
As a senior, Hayden Goodson commented on his thoughts about his team’s success on Friday night and the win being another step towards a state championship.
“I’ve been a member of a team [for four years],” Goodson said, “and it means the world to me that we all just come together and step up as a team and play hard and come out with a win like this.”
Most of the game was a defensive struggle between City and South Delta with the Wildcats’ only touchdown of the first half coming from Clayton’s fumble recovery. In the second half, however, offensive coordinator M.D. Jennings dialed up an adjustment offensively that helped lead to some Wildcat points.
“We went to a different formation,” Jennings said. “You’ve got to give [South Delta] some credit. It was a tough challenge; that’s why they were playing this time of year. We told [our players] right there at the end we were going to put it on the guys up front and told the backs to just take care of the ball. It worked out pretty good for us.”
Jennings also bragged on the performance of Goodson and Griffin and stressed the importance of the entire senior class here in the postseason.
“We’ve got a lot of seniors,” Jennings said. “We told the seniors, ‘We’re going to put it on you guys’ shoulders. We’re going to go as far as you guys will take us.’”
Head coach Chad White was also complimentary of South Delta’s team following City’s victory on Friday and praised his players’ execution in the win.
“[South Delta has] a really good team,” White said. “Just very proud of our kids for making plays when we had to. Just very proud of the kids and their effort.”
This Friday, Calhoun City will travel to take on 9-4 Charleston in the third round of the playoffs. The winner of this game will advance to the North Half Finals and will face the winner of North Side and East Webster. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.