The GHSA State Championships are presented by the Governor's office, Memphis of Highway Safety reminding you, heads up Georgia, park your phone while you're driving.

It saves lives as we welcome you back to Mercedes Benz stadium for the 3A state championship game as the 113 Jefferson Dragons take on the 113 Calhoun Yellowjackets.

And with that hello from the booth, Matt Stewart joined by Rusty Manziel of On3Sports and Dogs HQ.

Couple of veteran state championship teams here.

Calhoun gunning for their fifth state title, playing in their 12th state championship game, their second in four years.

Jefferson gunning for their second state title and playing it for the fifth time, the second time in the last five years.

And this is a rematch of the 2012 state championship game when Jefferson won their one and only title, beat Calhoun 3114 in the old Georgia Dome.

We'd have Hal lamb against Team McFerrin in that one today.

We got coaches Travis Nolan and Clay Stevenson.

Should be fun.

Yeah.

This is to tradition, rich communities.

You can tell by the crowd here this is one of those.

They shut down the whole town to come in Calhoun again.

Been here many times, but Jefferson's that program that feels like it's ready to take that next step.

To me, Jefferson the number one seed in the 3A state playoffs even though they were 7 and 3 in the regular season by virtue of their GHC PSR ranking.

And they played like the number one seed in the playoffs led by their quarterback, Gavin Markey, GPB All State athlete slash quarterback.

Nearly 3,000 yards of total offense accounted for 39 touchdowns.

Again, it's going to be one of those quarterback auditions.

He's talking about a 6 foot 3, 225 pound dual threat.

I mean he's got 3,000 total all purpose yards.

This is a guy right now.

Got offers for Murray State, ut, Martin, a few others.

This is going to be the audition for him.

The state of Georgia people will go, wait a minute, who is that defensive side of the ball, the sophomore linebacker, Max Brown, following in the footsteps of his big brother, five star linebacker Sammy Brown, who's playing in the playoffs this weekend with the Clemson Tigers.

Max making a name for himself.

You see the difference already he's got a little more swag to it.

Sammy didn't wear gloves.

He didn't wear anything.

You see Max, he wears gloves.

He spatted up, he's got the headgear.

But I'll tell you this, he's making his own name.

The sophomore linebacker wears number one for a reason.

For Jefferson.

All right, let's Talk about Calhoun.

A rebirth for them.

They missed the playoffs last year for the first time in 23 years.

They started this year one and three.

Folks were not happy in Calhoun when that happened, but they've turned things around and won 10 in a row.

And they've done it with a freshman quarterback, Trace Hawkins.

23 touchdowns and just one interception.

Talking about another audition.

This isn't a singer.

This is a freshman making his start in the state championship game.

You look at Trace Hawkins, this time last year he was playing middle school football.

Matt.

He's had a great season.

Once they turn it over to Trace Hawkins, this has been a different football team.

And look at that.

Nearly 1900 yards passing.

He has been extraordinary this season.

Defensive side of the ball.

Their leading tackler is the linebacker, Alec Offshore.

Alec Upshaw?

Yeah, Alec Upshaw, the 6 foot 3, 220 pound junior.

He's that off ball linebacker.

He can blitz off the edge, he can play in space.

He just has a nose for the football.

When you watch him, he lines up all over the field and they bring him from different pressure packages.

So it's the Yellow Jackets and the Dragons.

This should be a real fun one.

Like you said, two community schools totally invested in their football programs and everything that a school does 365 days a year.

Third member of our team is once again Autumn Johnson.

Autumn's down on the sideline.

Hey, guys.

Well, how special is it to see how freshman duo Trace Hawkins and Isaiah Knowles lead their team to a state championship stage?

But what's even more special is that these guys are Calhoun kids through and through.

They've been around this program for quite some time.

Trace's mom is a part of administration and Isaac, his uncle, played for Calhoun.

And Coach Stevenson told me he already knew these guys were special.

But to see them grow, mature on a varsity football team that's normally upperclassmen dominant has been incredible to witness as freshmen.

The team respects them and takes well to these guys.

So, guys, this is pretty rare that we're seeing freshmen lead the charge when the offensive end.

But hey, they've been more incompetent through and through every single game leading up to this moment.

Yeah, it really is extraordinary when you miss the playoffs and then you turn to a couple of freshmen to bail out your season and get you back not only to the playoffs but the state championship game.

You hear coaches talk about a standard.

There's a standard at Calhoun and Standard is game 15.

They didn't make the playoffs last year.

Coach Stevenson starts one in Three.

But this is a lot.

It's a great coaching job and to have these young players to get this team to this point in the season.

I know that community is excited and we mentioned that 2012 matchup.

Well, Clay is in his six seasons the head coach, but he's been there 20 years.

He was an assistant on how Lamb staff when they played in that 2012 state championship game.

And guess what?

Clay's closest cousin is an assistant on Travis Nolan's staff at Jefferson.

Yeah, he's from that area of the state.

Clay played high school with Commerce, so he's got a lot of connections in that area of northeast Georgia, but definitely has his footprint and his mark.

You see Tommy Atha there, the former Darlington head coach.

He brings him in as the offensive coordinator.

That's a guy with almost 30 years of experience.

He's going to run the offense for these guys.

So, Clay Stevenson, the stage is yours with Calhoun tonight.

So here you go.

Jefferson is kicking off.

Taylor McCall has it teed up and ready to go.

We'll see Calhoun on offense first.

And your opening kickoff is brought to you by.

Heads up Georgia.

Park your phone while you're driving.

It saves lives.

And the opening kick will be out of bounds.

They're going to rule that it did not get to the end zone but went out of bounds instead.

And so they're going to bring the ball out to the 35 yard line.

That's a big difference right there.

You get a 15 yard penalty.

Could have had it at the 20, instead it's going to be the 35.

Yeah, we talked about it yesterday, Matt.

We talked about it all season.

Special team, special team.

Special teams in high school football.

We saw a drop yesterday.

Free kick out of bounds on a kicking team is like to put ball play at the 35.

First down.

He gives Calhoun great field position to open it up for this young freshman quarterback Trace Hawkins, his amazing 6 foot 165 a ninth grader.

Coach Clay Stevenson says he's got the it factor.

69% completion and the one interception he threw.

Stevenson said that was my fault.

Bad playful in the playoffs.

Handoff goes to Hudson Chadwick, the sophomore.

He's number one on the depth chart.

So you're going number one on the depth chart with the sophomore running back.

And number two on the depth chart is the freshman running back Isaiah Knowles.

Although he's been banged up, they don't know whether he'll be able to go today or not.

That's still a game time decision.

Yeah, a lot of kids Banged up.

You see dandruff, beard.

The game before previous for Prince Avenue tried to go.

He only got two carries in the game.

Could not do it.

Let's watch Calhoun early and see if these young running backs play.

Second down and seven after a three yard game by Chadwick to start the game.

And now Chadwick goes in motion.

Hawkins gonna step up in the pocket and run it.

And Hawkins gonna get the first down at the 46 yard line like this early on.

Don't force anything.

He goes through his progressions.

He sees him run off in man coverage and look what he does.

He beats you with his feet.

I like how he finished the playoff.

Moves the chains.

Good start for the young quarterback.

That was their three year starter at linebacker Jaden Yang who made the tackle.

And Hawkins will run.

You see the numbers.

69 carries, 307 and four touchdowns.

He is a dual threat quarterback for this Calhoun team.

Chadwick gets the handoff.

He's their power runner.

Yang makes the tackle.

Short gain on the play, about 2 yards.

And Rusty, let's take a look at your brain to pest management impact players.

Yeah.

First of all you see a more Winston who just signed with Texas.

The three star tight end will be going out to Austin.

You look we talked about Max Brown earlier.

Keelan Butler, linebacker for Jefferson, signed with Georgia State.

So a lot of talent all over the field today for both teams.

Beasley has a phenomenal 69 catches on the season.

Winston has been beat up, has not played a lot during the regular season because of his injuries.

They got him back for the start of the playoffs.

Second down, Hawkins goes to the air and it's called by Beasley.

Words right out of my mouth.

And Beasley makes a stumbling backward catch at the 23 yard line.

Nice easy toss for the freshman to get him up the seam.

Get Beasley gonna get Beasley up the scene.

And he just drops it in the bucket right there for his receiver.

Feet got tangled up or that might have been six.

My matt.

28 yard reception for Justin Beasley.

Look at the numbers.

That puts him over 1000 yards reception receiving here in his junior season with 18 scoring catches as well.

First and 10.

Ball at the 23.

Handoff goes to Chadwick again.

Chadwick big hole.

Touchdown Calhoun.

What an opening drive.

I love the, I love the leg drive here of Chadwick.

You're going to watch him run through a couple of arm tackles.

Jefferson hits him early right here.

Go square him up.

Just runs right through to Jefferson defenders and outruns the rest for a touchdown.

Great opening drive for Calhoun.

Just the fifth rushing touchdown of the season for the sophomore running back.

And the kick from Lopez is up and good.

And what a start for the Calhoun Yellowjackets after missing the playoffs last year.

They are back, man, seven nothing lead here in the finals.

You couldn't script it any better to start a freshman quarterback.

Couple of good throws, couple of good runs, got hit once, got flowing into the game.

Great start by Calhoun.

Just run a little counter, come back in, watch him run right through that arm tackle.

He does the rest.

And love those trapping offensive linemen to open up that hole right there.

Staple from Calhoun.

Both teams are going to run, you're going to see a lot of that.

Hudson Chadwick maybe a strong indication that Knowles won't be able to go today as Chadwick carried the ball on every play that they ran except for one in the quarter.

Hawkins kept it on the other.

But a five play 65 yard drive.

You should take a look at your governor's red ribbon campaign.

Scoring drive and 225 into this game, Calhoun has put Jefferson behind seven.

Nothing for the Dragons ever touched the ball.

Gave him great field position.

Matt off the first play, kicking it out of bounds, little things like that in state championships.

Rhett Hemphill, who's an absolute burner, stands at the goal line to receive this kick from Carlos Lopez.

Both these teams have very good kicking games.

And Lopez sends it into the end zone non returnable.

So Jefferson will start at the 20 yard line and our first chance to see the all state athlete quarterback Gavin Markey, 243 as a starting quarterback.

He transferred from Oconee County.

Yes, when Travis Nolan took the jump from Oconee to Jefferson and because he did that he had to sit out his sophomore year and he knew he was going to sit out.

You know that's, that's very rare.

But transfers in, comes over with a coach, sit out.

Played JV as a sophomore and he's made the most of it the last two years at Jefferson.

1400 yards passing.

He has nearly 1600 yards rushing.

Nothing doing for Dallas Russell the tailback maybe got a yard on the play.

Looks like big Blake Hammett feels Bills.

The alley right here you see number 26, 511 to 18.

Junior with 56 total tackles on the season.

Second down and eight keeper now for Markey.

This is what he does in Markey up to the 26 yard line as we take a look at the Breda Pest management impact players.

Rusty.

Yeah, Dallas Russell's a guy over, over 500 over 877 yards, 11 touchdowns.

You look at Sager Quinn, he's a junior defensive end for Calhoun.

He's got Georgia State, Troy and other offers early on.

He's their kind of game wrecker up front for Calhoun.

And how about one of your impact players being the center Ty Oglesby been offered by Eastern Kentucky.

He has a three year starter on that offensive line.

Markey in trouble.

Drop back at the 16 yard line.

And the quarterback sat by Sager Quinn.

Yep, right on cue there.

He's their game wrecker up front.

Junior defensive lineman, saw him earlier this season.

Got him messed up there.

They stemmed late.

You see that movement now this very popular in college and high school call.

Some confusion.

The ball got snapped.

Jefferson's offensive line wasn't ready for it.

Caused a negative play in a sack.

Taylor McColl on the punt.

He's standing at the six yard line.

McCady Griffin standing deep for Calhoun to take the punt.

It's a good punt.

Fair catch called for and made right there at the 45 yard line.

And Calhoun, after looking very impressive on their opening drive, Rusty now has even better field position to start this drive.

Great field position.

All the momentum early on.

Right now you see Coach Stevenson telling his guys, let's go stay aggressive here.

And I talked to him a little bit this week.

Kind of off the record.

He says Trace Hawkins has the entire playbook.

They're not going to sugarcoat this.

They've been through everything with this freshman quarterback.

They hold nothing back with him.

They turn him loose and let him play free.

It was about the fourth game of the season.

They finally gave the whole game to him.

He was splitting times with Cross Land, their sophomore quarterback, but it's pretty much been his show since then.

Pass goes to Winston.

Big Amari Winston trying to weave through the traffic.

And does as the first down and more.

Winston nearly broke it for even bigger gain.

He's got the first down at the 39 yard line.

Great job, big man.

Move in small space right here.

Making guys miss.

Jefferson had him hemmed up.

Just keeps running.

Runs through another arm tackle.

Takes Max Brown a diving tackle there to save yards.

Had 34 catches for over 500 yards and four touchdowns in limited action.

Very limited.

He is, he is their guy on offense.

The Texas signee.

Yes.

Sign with the Longhorns over 40 other offers.

Handoff goes to Chadwick.

And Chadwick, another nice run down to the 33 yard line.

Let's take a look at Calhoun on offense.

And here's your regions bank Starting lineup, Trey Perkins, that left tackle and Tripp Steele, the center.

6 3, 3, 35 junior.

Your backs and the receivers.

And Jackson Moore's a guy.

We haven't mentioned his name yet, but 11 catches for 154 and a couple of touchdowns for him this season.

They will spread the ball around.

Been watching Calhoun for years.

Man their offensive line, I don't care what year it is, it looks the same.

They're all six 1, 270, 280 pounds and you know they're going to be a very well coached group.

Back to pass and going for the home run.

And contact.

Winston turns and pleads for a flag.

Doesn't get it.

Looked like there was contact.

I believe he got a little bit of the jersey.

But you can take that shot because it's third for your freshman.

Makes the throw.

It's either my guy or nobody.

See he throws that to the corner.

Yeah, that's.

That's.

Yeah, yeah.

That.

That's called impeding.

Yeah, right.

The receiver.

They missed that call in my book.

Non reviewable.

Of course we get the benefit of replay.

Yes, we do.

Third down and four, probably in four down territory right here.

Winston gets the handoff and he's going to get stopped.

They actually lost a couple of yards on the play.

Max Brown leading the charge.

Yeah, good job.

They're kind of a key when they get Winston in.

They're not going to sugarcoat.

They're going to get him the ball.

They're on.

Try to kill me when he's back there.

It's not a lot of eye candy.

He's involved in the play and Jefferson was ready for that.

Fourth down, fourth down and five.

They're going for it.

They leave the offense out there was going to be fourth down and more like three.

Then lost two yards on that handoff.

The Winston.

Now Knowles is in the game for the first time.

The freshman running back with over 900 yards rushing passing thrown complete the Winston.

That's a first down.

And Amari Winston down to the 21 yard line.

He's looking good already here in the first quarter.

I'm going to tell you what.

Winston is who we think he is.

But I want you to watch this ball, this freshman.

Watch the velocity on this ball.

Match.

That is a frozen rope to that tight end.

Got a lot of zip, man.

Looks good.

Both of them do.

Calhoun's offense looks good here in the opening six plus minutes.

Yep.

I can see social media now.

There's a freshman in Northwest Georgia.

He's going to run it now.

Inside the 10.

Touchdown Calhoun.

Two touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets in the opening 6 minutes and 49 seconds.

Calhoun has a 13 to nothing lead here in the state championship game.

I love this.

They come up field.

Great block by 60 on the Jefferson linebacker.

He gets to the second level.

And Hawkins, the moment is not too big for him.

Man, two drives, two touchdowns for the freshman.

Just a freshman.

Freshman.

My goodness, a freshman.

See what this call is going to be.

The P was good.

Might be kicking this one again though.

Encroachment defense.

The penalties decline.

Still watch on top down for tr.

So the penalty comes before the kick.

So they kind of kick it again.

Patrick Ingram, our official referee, working this game along with the rest of his crew here in the 3A state championship game.

Kick up and good and it's 14 to nothing.

Color me stunned.

Me too.

Me too.

Surprised.

Not that Calhoun could score 14 that quickly, but they do have a lead of two touchdowns and Jefferson hasn't really done anything yet.

Football Fridays in Georgia is presented by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

Reminding you to park your phone while driving.

Saves lives.

Heads up, Georgia.

You wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh, hey, what's up man?

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team jackets.

And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted?

Driving isn't a game.

When you lose the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free and save lives.

Heads up, Georgia.

I am disciplined physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.

Welcome back to Calhoun taking on Jefferson.

And you talk about that it factor of Trace Hawkins, a freshman quarterback for this team.

He has that it factor.

That's what Clay Stevenson, head coach for Calhoun, has said.

And you might be surprised to think that he is also a point guard for the basketball team.

For Calhoun, he is decision making.

His elite vision, his awareness.

Coach Calhoun for this team said this.

This is what makes him so special and that you can see his decision making out here on the field.

But that it factor comes from that confidence that he has as a leader.

You're exactly right, Autumn.

You can see his point guard skill, talent on display in the quarterback position, in his ability to distribute the ball and also get him some points too.

In my 16 years, I have yet to figure out what it is, but he has.

He does.

You can see he has displayed that here in the first seven minutes of the game and he's got his Calhoun team out to a 14 nothing lead.

He hasn't even taken any tough classes yet.

He's in ninth grade.

He can't go the movies by himself yet.

Man.

Amazing or drive.

He's still two years from driving.

My goodness.

We'll see how Jefferson responds.

Another kick into the end zone off the foot of Lopez.

And so Jefferson starts at the 20 again.

Gotta get Markey involved here a little bit earlier in the drive.

To me, I love the play design.

Last time getting him.

Get him upfield.

6 foot 3, 225 pounds.

Let's see what he can do.

Laying on some guys for a couple plays.

Calhoun 11 plays, 120 total yards.

Jefferson 3 plays, 0 yards.

Markey does have some offers.

Murray State, UT, Martin, VMI.

In fact, Murray State is where Zeb.

Yes, coach.

Travis Nolan's son is an assistant coach.

Ball up in the air and it's caught Childress.

And then the ball is out.

And Calhoun recovers it.

Yellow Jackets a big hitter by Jeff Jefferson for the big pass completion.

But then it was fumbled and Cam Penny was back there to recover it.

We're going to take a look at this, I'm sure, but just I believe.

Let's see how many steps he takes.

I think he took a bunch.

Yeah, I think so too.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

He's got the ball.

Great, great job stripping that out.

33 for Calhoun.

Jake Jordan.

Wow.

Jake Jordan, the cornerback stripped him and then Campini the other cornerback.

I mean that ball was just rolling out there forever.

And Penny streaks down the field and recovers it.

And Calhoun with a two touchdown lead, has the ball again.

And they have all the momentum in the world right here early on.

What a play by Calhoun defensive back.

Amazing start to this game for Calhoun.

Ball goes complete out here to Beasley.

Got a block from Winston and then cuts back dancing around over there and gets driven out of bounds finally at the 26 yard line.

Rhett Hemphill in on that tackle for the Dragons.

Yes, that's a young man at 89 tackles, 1061 all purpose yards.

He is a guy for Jefferson that they have to get involved.

You see he's the overhang linebacker there.

You're gonna see five come in, get involved.

He'll play offense to.

Gotta survive this early right now.

I mean this is a, this is a pretty difficult situation.

Turnover.

Down two touchdowns already and got the ball back.

And Winston in motion behind the line.

You've run four plays and you're down two scores.

Calhoun Looking to put more on the board here.

Ball goes to Winston and did he hold on to it?

It.

Now it's going to be incomplete.

I couldn't tell whether he came down with it with like an Odell Beckham style catch.

See here.

Roll him out.

He's.

He's out.

But man he, he almost.

No, he trapped it to the ground but he almost got it.

I still like that the quarterback threw it as only his guy had a chance.

Well when Amari Winston's out there, six two with the leaping ability showed it to going up for a rebound right there.

Hawkins on the sprint.

Out goes to Griffin.

Griffin not going to get the first down.

Hemphill there to deny him the yard marker and it's going to be fourth down.

Good job getting off the field.

So punting situation here for Calhoun and once again we'll see.

Can Jefferson get something going.

Dalton Dye is standing deep.

Carlos Lopez is punting for the first time today.

They needed that.

Good job by the Jefferson defense.

Come in after a turnover.

A lot of momentum gonna force Calhoun to punt.

Lopez line drive kick.

Fair catch was called for.

Thought he might have a chance to get a return off of that instead.

They do get good field position though as the ball is gonna be spotted at the 39.

That was a 32 yard punt by Lopez.

Still like the play call.

They go after him.

We got a post route.

Ball was completed.

Stripped as a turnover.

But you see Jefferson's mindset.

We got to get going offensively.

Got to take care of the football.

About Jefferson right now with Malachi Starks and Sammy Brown, that's.

That's two pretty special alumni to be representing your community.

That's a couple of headliners in college football.

Both.

I'm going to be playing integral roles in the college football playoffs starting Friday night.

Crazy.

Yep.

Two nights from now, the College Football Playoff, the 12 team college football playoff starts and then Sammy Brown and his Clemson Tigers will be at Texas on Saturday.

Every bit as good as everybody thought he was.

Once they insert him into the lineup at Clemson.

He has left no doubt that he's a freshman all American.

And Malachi Starks of course on that back line for the Georgia Bulldogs has just simply been spectacular since he arrived on campus a couple of years ago.

The Bulldogs await their opponent in the quarterfinals.

Markey gonna run it here.

And Markey, big bull run for him up to the 50 yard line.

And if they can get Markey going like that, the 14 nothing lead is not insurmountable for them to me.

Oh yeah.

Certainly.

But to me he's 225.

Let's get him downhill.

Let's get some guys in front of him.

Just design quarterback run here.

Following his lead.

Lead blocker, leg drive finishes off.

Move the chains.

Six three, two, three five.

He's one of the biggest guys on the field.

Yeah.

Carrying the football.

Business decision to square him up.

See numbers on the season.

Those are his rushing numbers.

Nine games, 100 plus 15, 68.

23 total touchdowns on the ground and six 16 touchdown passes, 39 touchdowns.

He's accounted for for this Jefferson team averaging 34 and a half points per game.

Markey throwing it right there.

Incomplete.

Campini, who recovered that fumble a few moments ago on the coverage.

The crowd wanted a penalty.

Jordan Robinson, the tight end, was the target.

Here's a look at Calhoun on defense.

You mean Sacred Quinn?

We've already talked about him.

Offers from Georgia Southern, Detroit as a quarterback.

Sack here.

Alec Upshaw their leading tackler and Blake Hammett their second leading tackler.

And then on that back line, McCady Griffin is a three year starter for coach Clay Stevenson's team.

Second down and 10.

Heavy rush.

Coming off the edge.

He gets it out of there quickly.

First down catch die gets a couple of more yards after the catch to the 35 yard line.

I believe this goes right through a Calhoun defender's hands.

Watch this.

They go through a Calhoun defender's hand.

Sure.

12 tipped it.

Sure did.

That's Clayton goad the bandit linebacker right there.

Watching almost right through his hands.

And then you had Alex Upshaw bringing pressure off the blindside edge.

Actually got to Markey as he was throwing the ball.

First and ten.

Markie gonna run it.

That's five yards.

I mean that's.

You're gonna have to stop that.

If I'm.

If I'm Cal.

If I'm Jefferson, they're gonna have to stop that.

Yeah, I don't think.

If you can't get to his legs while he's still in the backfield.

He's getting three, four.

He's gonna lean for three or four.

I'll tell you.

That's a break, man, because Calhoun almost picked that pass off.

I'm not sure that was even the detended intended receiver.

Here's Jefferson now.

Second six handoff goes to Russell Dallas.

Russell going to get a couple to the 30 yard line.

Russell is an extraordinary story unto himself.

Back to back.

State wrestling champion 2023.

The 132 weight class.

130 weight class in 2024.

And he's nationally ranked top 10 in his weight class.

Talk about weight room.

A team like Jefferson, Mike Brown, the father of Sammy Brown and Max Brown runs that weight room.

These kids are in this thing year round and they play multiple sports.

Mark, you got a man sitting down in the defense.

And it's Childress redeems himself with a nice catch and run inside the 10, down to the 7.

Great throw, great protection there by the offensive line.

Gave Markey time to get his feet set.

Scan the field and he finds a guy.

Look how much time he's got here.

When you pat it three times, somebody's going to be open.

First and goal to go for Jefferson.

Trying to answer after what to this point has been a pretty disastrous first quarter.

Going power formation here and Markey at the back end of that power down to the three yard line.

This might be the fastest first quarter of the weekend right the week right here.

You Matt, it's been quick.

You got a long night ahead of you.

The football God shined on you a little bit here.

Got to run two teams that can run the football.

And that is the end of the first quarter.

Calhoun jumps out quickly to take a two touchdown lead by second and goal for Jefferson when we come back and start the second quarter.

Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB is brought to you in part by Cigna Healthcare.

CIGNA Healthcare is a proud partner of Georgia Public Broadcasting and Football Fridays.

Cigna Healthcare's mission is to improve the health and vitality of those we serve.

Visit cigna.com to learn how you can support your physical and emotional well being.

Breda Pest Management knows it's the bugs inside that you want gone.

That's why Breda works to protect the inside and outside of your home.

This is my family.

Everyone on my team knows that we're going to fight.

We're going to be relentless, we're going to be aggressive and we're going to be determined to get a great result.

Mabra Law.

Oh, could you give me a.

Give me a soda there.

Start of the second quarter here at Mercedes Benz Stadium.

The 3A state championship game and Calhoun leads Jefferson 14 nothing.

Matt Stewart along with Rusty Mansell and Autumn Johnson are spectacular.

GPB sports team got this one.

And then the 6A state championship game coming up at 7 o'clock tonight.

Gavin Markey, GPB all state trying to get his team back in the game and they've got it.

Second down and goal from the three yard line as we begin the quarter.

Yeah, you look at Jefferson with an answer because I had a turnover.

They're down 14 nothing.

Then they get a stop defensively and made the most of this offensive possession.

Man, that first quarter flew by.

Not used to that in this building.

Ninth play of the drive coming up right here.

I can tell you they're going to tackle nine.

If I'm calling this play, they're going to have to tackle nine and they don't.

Touchdown Jefferson.

Gavin Markey pulls his way into the end zone for his 24th rushing touchdown of the season.

It's 14 to 6.

Just too much downhill to get the lead power in there.

Get the three backs in the backfield and you get him going.

Matt, like you said, if you don't hit him early, he's going to get three yards and they don't touch him until the one and he does the rest.

Great answer by Jefferson to get back in this.

Down 14 to 6.

McCall, the left footed kicker get snapped down.

It's up and good.

It's 14 to 7.

So a nice strong answer there by Jefferson.

Nine plays, 61 yards.

The governor's red ribbon campaign scoring drive summary.

Just over three minutes to get it in the end zone.

For a guy like Gavin Markey and some of the other guys like Christian Langford we saw last night for Langston Hughes, this is just a highly frustrating time for those senior quarterbacks because of the transfer portal.

It is, it is a really stressful time.

But I will tell you, this game in the amount of eyes on this game is invaluable to them individually.

The game.

I know Langford didn't win that game last night, but how he played against Milton, I'm telling you that's going to help him tremendously.

And Markey right here has a chance as well to showcase what he can do because this portal is going to close in a couple of weeks and not everybody's going to get a quarterback.

If they won't, they're going to dig back into this high school level in these 2025, especially in the state of Georgia are going to be on some boards.

Well, you got to have different depth too.

Yeah, you got to have, you got to have a little bit of future because these Porter guys are like rent a year.

They're coming in there going, that kick's going to go into the end zone.

That is going to be a touchback.

So Calhoun's going to bring it out to the 20 yard line and let's check in with Autumn Johnson again.

Hey guys.

Jefferson's quarterback Gavin Marquee followed coach Nolan from Jefferson and when Gavin considered Transferring Coach Nolan was honest with him.

He said, hey, if you know you're the best, you'll play.

If not, you won't.

And remember, you're going to have to sit out for a year.

But Gavin accepted that challenge, working through injury, playing an entire JV season to earn his spot.

And Coach Nolan praised Gavin, saying, knowing how to navigate adversity is what will separate you.

And it's clear Nolan was immense respect for him and Gavin both on and off the field.

And you can see that shining here in the state championship stage.

You're right, Autumn.

And in fact, those attributes that you're talking about right there, Coach Nolan believes will help him at the next level because he knows how to go someplace and sit with no opportunity to play and do nothing but practice.

There's not many parents right now.

They go, okay, we're just going to sit out our sophomore year.

I can assure you that.

So that, that says a lot about how that individual is wired.

And he played the long game and it's worked out for him.

Not many kids willing to play the long game, but playing the long game here in high school could help Gavin Markey down the road in college.

So, second down and one after the completion.

First down run for Calhoun as they get the ball to the 32 yard line.

And that is Hudson Chadwick again on the carry.

Got a chance to see Calhoun play early in the year, just, just really never had a flow without winning.

Winston, too.

But you see this young quarterback and where he is right now in game 15, and you, you insert a Maury Winston onto this team.

It's a different football team than what a lot of people saw earlier in the year.

That's an incredible weapon that you add to their portfolio.

When Winston came back healthy, ball goes to Winston on the screenplay.

And Winston shoving guys out of the way, gets up to the 39 yard line.

Let's take a look at Jason Jefferson's defense.

It's brought to you by Regions Bank, Kemp, Porter and Rucker up front.

Keelan Butler, the outside linebacker, signed with Georgia State a couple of weeks ago.

Max Brown, Jordan or Jaden Yang, they all make a lot of tackles.

And Hemp Bill we've talked about.

Chance Payne is a really good cornerback.

And then you've got Gaddis, Keith and Lynch across that back line as well.

Defense gave up only 15.9 points per game for D.C. tom Parker, second down.

Wow.

Got swallowed up right there.

Cole Camp, who just mentioned his name among the starters, just ate up.

Hudson Chadwick.

Yeah, you're Gonna see him come off the backside.

He's unblocked.

But he is not worried about Hawkins keeping it at all.

Just gets up field beats the block.

Nice play there by the Jefferson defensive lineman.

Third down and four 29 tackles on the season.

One TFL six two two ten senior.

Now here's something you'll find out if you follow high school football.

Tackles and defensive stats are not treated equally for program.

Some.

Some are really strict about it.

Some are very liberal with this.

Correct.

So if you see 29 tackles, that might be 50 tackles with another backing up.

Hawkins gonna throw and broken up.

Great coverage out there on Amari Winston.

Matt Gaddis, the free safety interrupted the pass.

It's fourth down.

The first time you're gonna see a young quarterback.

Watch him throw off his back feet and see him backpedaling.

Gotta set your feet and drive through that throw.

That's.

That's the young kind of inexperienced of him.

You want to drive that ball in the hole.

Throws it off his back foot ball float a little bit and gave Jefferson time to get there.

Look at this.

Fourth down and they line up to go forward in their own end.

Maybe they're just trying to pull them offside.

I would be shocked.

They don't call timeout.

I don't know.

Now if you call timeout and the folks over here on the Jefferson side, which is just below us, cheering loudly for their defense, timeout will step aside.

9:57 to play in the half.

Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB is brought to you in part by Georgia's EMCS.

So much more than electricity.

You've seen what your electric cooperative can do for your home, your workplace, your weekend.

What lights us up is empowering your local community and economy.

Georgia's EMCs support 15,000 jobs and invest $16 billion in infrastructure annually.

And because we operate at cost, any extra revenue is reinvested into your co op or return to members investment with impact.

That's the electric cooperative difference.

Georgia's EMCs so much more than electricity.

GPB sports broadcast of this game is made possible by supporters of the ghsa, including National Federation of High Schools.

What?

Come on.

Are you lying?

Oh, come on.

Oh, what a bad call.

You have no business being out there.

You know I'm a person too.

The GHSA football playoffs and championships are brought to you by Alpha Insurance.

We're more than just an insurance company.

We're a part of your community.

Back in Atlanta, 3A state championship game early second quarter.

Calhoun leading Jefferson 14 7.

Matt Stewart, Rusty Manziel, Autumn, Johnson.

This Calhoun team started 13 on the season, but recovered to go 60 and win the Region 738 championship.

Went into the state playoffs as the number six seed in 3A.

Unlike Foray, for example, they seeded the teams 1 through 32 because public teams are mixed in with private teams.

And at that level, the private teams are playing a separate championship.

We just saw it, played the game before where Hebron Christian beat Prince Avenue.

Yeah, Hebron Christian, talking about impressive speed wise.

Beat a very, very good Prince Avenue team that I thought was number one in that private classification all year long.

Booming punt by Lopez.

Gonna hit it.

The 10 go into the end zone.

So not 20 yards off that punt for the net, but a great punt right there by Lopez.

Let's take a look at the Jefferson Season recap.

11 and 3, they won the Region 8 for a championship.

38 championship.

Pardon me.

With a four and one record.

Averaging 34 and a half points per game, 15.9 points per game.

Given up on defense.

Have won eight of their last nine games.

They actually lost their regular season finale in triple overtime to Oconee county and then came back and beat them badly two weeks later.

Right.

Two weeks later in the second round of the playoffs.

Beat them 42, 6.

They got that number one seed.

Might have been a little controversial because of their 73 regular season record.

The run by Dallas gets about six on the play.

They got that number one seed based on the GHC PSR.

That's the postseason rankings that they use to see the teams.

Travis Nolan said after we lost, Oconee county came in on Monday, said, look, we're the number one seed.

We're not going to apologize for it.

Yep.

We're going to take advantage of it and we're going to win our home games in the playoffs.

And they did.

They sure did.

They look like a number one seed in the month of November.

Second down, Mark, he got throw to the far side.

Nearly picked.

That was a low throw.

He had a cornerback breaking on that thing.

Maybe had a shot at a pick six.

And that's Hunter White.

Actually not the corner, but the stinger.

Yeah, a little overhang linebacker out there.

And Mark, he got lucky.

He didn't.

If he throws that a little bit up, that's an interception.

Yeah.

If he throws it to the receiver, it's going to be pitched.

Yeah.

So third down and four movement.

First down.

Great job by Markey to draw the Yellow Jackets offsides on the defense.

That five yard penalty will result in a first down we saw that yesterday with Burke County.

Franklin Stevens had that fourth down and six and they jumped off sides.

And just talking to high school coaches, I mean, you tell these kids over and over and over, it's third and four.

Watch the ball, watch the ball.

And.

And Rusty, I hate to single the kid out, but it's 52.

Aiden Adcock, who is the nose, he is closer to the football, it always is, it always is.

Than any other player on the defensive side of the football.

Not one person in the building literally right in front of his face.

First and ten, Markey on the run.

Watch out, big guy running.

That's a Marcus Spears bmb.

Big man Ballin.

Yep, that's their game.

Get him loose.

You're gonna watch a guard pull, seal off the linebacker.

He runs through an arm tackle once he gets going and.

And tackling him high.

If you're going to do that, it's going to take four or five of you to get him down and they might have to pop your shoulder back in place.

First and 10 ball at the 49 yard line.

Jefferson starting to get warmed up here on offense after a slow start to this game and falling behind 14 nothing.

That's the first carry of the game for Pitt or for Hemphill?

Pardon me.

Just coming right out to Calhoun.

Defense kind of found something they like inside Hemphill.

52 carries, 369, 7.1 and 6 touchdowns.

Playing both sides of the ball.

Rarely comes off the field.

Has one offer though, and that's Black Hills State in South Dakota.

You got to really love football in January.

Down to the 45, Markey again.

You're gonna see a lot of Gavin Markey carrying the football today.

It's gonna be third down, but this is.

They're not an option offense, obviously, but I mean, they, they're in that mode where, you know, three, three and a half yards of carry they're happy with.

Oh, no question.

Run the clock.

Let Markey lay on you for a couple of quarters and see how bad you want that in the fourth quarter.

But here it's a big third and four, kind of a short four with the ball sitting on the 45 to the air and nearly intercepted.

Should have been intercepted.

Alec Upshaw came right at him.

Grab that ball instead of batting it down.

Oh, man.

What he sees.

Watch 20 dropping coverage.

He's in a zone.

Doesn't see him.

That he.

That was.

They got lucky there.

Upshot team leading 81 tackles on the season.

Five TFL and four quarterback sacks.

And Jefferson's drive stalls at the Calhoun 45.

So McCall on the punt.

Straight up in the air.

Rainmaker, great kick.

Let's see if this thing kicks.

It does.

They're set up.

Oh, don't let it get into the end zone.

Did he?

They're gonna rule a touchback.

My goodness.

They were set up to down that thing inside the five yard line.

Oh, my goodness.

You can't let it take that extra bounce when it hits.

You got to be ready to attack that thing and not let it get by you.

They make a mistake on that one right there.

Right there.

Gonna go get it right there.

You gotta get it.

When it took that extra bounce inside the five, it kicked by him.

When he hits the five, right.

That's where you got to get it right.

Snatch it.

Oh, man, that'll drive you crazy.

Say miss an opportunity to down it inside the five.

They may challenge this because.

Yeah, they're going to challenge.

They're going to challenge it because on that angle there.

Be interested in Dave talking with us.

We go back to that.

That one last angle we just had.

If you watch him kind of lay on top of the ball.

Is he down?

So, Dave, we're bringing in Dave Reynolds.

Our officials on the field was a touchback.

Jefferson is challenging that ruler.

Is the play down when he grabs it and has control or does he have to take it to the ground?

There's two parts here on a kicking play where we have first touching versus possession could be two different spots.

Okay.

So where he touches it versus possesses the ball could be different spots.

As far as going to the ground, we're not worried about that piece.

Yeah, he touches it right.

Watch this one.

He's got it right side of the goal line right here.

Here he's got it.

And that is clearly outside the.

To me.

To me, that looks.

That looks like on the one to me.

Yeah, that view there, that angle there is the one they saw.

So it's not like a pass catch that he has to possess and take to the ground.

Correct.

So if with.

With that being the definition, that ball should be the one, I think.

Correct.

And also we're not worried about where the body is or other levels where your body is versus the ball is.

Watch.

Watch his.

When he gets it.

Watches his foot still in.

Yeah, that's to me.

Knee down too.

Yeah, I believe.

Well, glad we have instant replay, man.

I just.

I mean, just because that's a big deal if it's the ball in the one or the 20 with a freshman quarterback.

Well, that was number 11, Dom Bernardinelli, the senior strong safety.

And I said that Dom made a mistake.

But you know what, Dom, you may have made a great play, so I apologize.

After video review, the ruling on the field stands.

Oh, it will be first and 10.

That's a tough break there, Dom, because I thought upon further review that you made the play to down into the one.

Yeah, the Jefferson staff is not happy with that.

And that last angle to me, but is what it is.

Calhoun will start on the 20.

Remember, you got to have the conclusive evidence.

Yep.

And apparently the replay officials felt like that was not conclusive enough to overturn the call on the field of a touchback.

Hawkins going to the air.

They set up a screen to Beasley and Dom Verdun Bernardelli's brother Jacob just made the tackle.

So Jacob Bernardinelli, sophomore cornerback saying, I'll get you brother, I got your back.

Yes.

Come back in a little tunnel screen, but nice job.

Jefferson defense attacking that.

Only giving up a yard on that completion.

And by the way, play by play announcers nightmare to say Bernardinelli back to back.

I'm just gonna say 37 on the play.

I'm let you handle that pass.

Batted down, great pressure by Hemphill right there.

Came in there in Hawkins face and knocked the pass out of the air.

Great job.

You're taught if you can't get there to get your hands up.

He sees a quarterback wind up, look how high he got up that.

But almost picked it off 34.

Watch him.

When he sees him wind up, he goes straight up.

Nice job.

Jaden Yang was 34, who could have had himself an interception.

I don't think Jaden goes through a lot of lot of wide receiver rounds of practice.

I don't think they run the tip drill of him very much.

Third down, Hawkins to the outside and nearly intercepted.

Threw it in the double coverage there to Winston and it was nearly picked off by Avery lynch.

And he had, he had the defender running.

Wide receiver running down the sideline.

Lynch jump, pulls off of his guy, almost jumps his route.

See him come from underneath.

Good job.

They're jumping that route and that was Hemphill who had the outside coverage.

So Hemphill bats down a pass on the pass rush and now he's covering Winston out in the flat.

Confused the freshman there on that coverage he thought he had man to man.

Saline kick by Lopez and fair caught by die at the 38 yard line.

And it looks like to me Jefferson starting to play with a little juice, right?

A little momentum defensively, getting after the freshman a little bit.

They're flying around on defense.

It was a 41 yard punt by Lopez.

And now Jefferson goes back on offense from their own 39 yard line.

Remember when they were trailing big in the yardage department, had zero yards?

Well, now.

Now it's 148 to 146.

Quickly, coach, no.

Yeah, I got a chance to spend some time with his son Zeb, who's a quarterback coach at Murray State the other night.

Great catching up with him.

You might remember Zeb had an incredible story.

Ball up in the air and die couldn't bring it in.

Hit his hands.

Great pass.

Just drops it right in the bucket.

Hit him in the worst possible place.

In the middle of your hands.

Yeah.

Second down and ten.

Markey gonna run it.

Oh, my goodness, he's punishing the linebacker.

He just smashed cast right into Hammond.

They're just running straight, QB counter pulling, pulling the guard, pulling both guards H back, collisions.

And then he just finishes you off.

And that's five.

That's five yards, Matt.

When you want to go to that play, typically you figure it's the defensive player that's bringing the punishment.

In this case, it's the quarterback, Markey bringing the lumber.

Third down and four.

Scramble out to his right.

Throwing on the run.

Too much pepper on it for die.

It's gonna be fourth down.

Good stop by Calhoun.

They choose to punt here.

We were talking a few moments ago about Zeb.

You might remember Zeb, of course, he was a star quarterback in his own right.

Went to Iowa State, then ended up at North Dakota State.

You know, the team that wins all those FCS national championships.

And then he decided he was going to start his college coaching career as a GA at South Carolina.

And he goes to South Carolina and in August, all their quarterbacks get hurt.

He ends up starting the season opener for the Gamecocks at quarterback when he was supposed to be the ga. Oh, by the way, put your pads on.

Ball kicking around out there.

And of course, now he's at Murray State and his assistant coach no doubt pulling for his dad's team here today.

Calhoun getting ready to go back on offense.

Here's their season recap.

11 and 3, 10 straight wins the champions of Region 7 as two region titles now for Clay Stevenson since he took over six years ago, averaging 30 and a half points per game, given up just under 16.

There it is after that one and three start.

Things kind of gloomy there in Calhoun Football City in Gordon county, right?

They lose an early game to Cambridge.

It Kind of made some noise.

And then I think everybody realized how good Cambridge was going to be.

Nothing doing for Chadwick.

Chadwick getting the bulk of the carry.

So you got to figure that knowles is not 100% to saw him a little bit here and there.

But you're right.

They opened the season with that, that Cambridge game.

And they started out 1 and 3, but in the playoff beat Spalding, beat Douglas.

But what got everybody's attention is when they went to number one Peach county in the quarterfinals.

Correct.

Second down and nine.

Hawkins slings it out here to Griffin and Griffin steps out of bounds, going to be third down now.

Yeah, that got everybody's attention when they beat Peach County.

A team that everybody thought might be playing in this game here today.

When they beat them in the quarters, people started to take notice of Calhoun.

They might be for real again.

Well, the sophomore running back, Hudson Chadwick had 237 rushing yards in that game.

He'd only had 300 total the other 13 games.

Yeah, and he'd been beat up.

And they get him back in there and.

And then the next week in the semifinals and their win over Stevenson, he goes for 155.

Third down, heavy rush.

Hawkins gets away from it now he's going to try to get to the sticks.

And he does.

It's a first down run for Hawkins.

Two plays back to back.

Man, we'll go back to the play before that.

He throws a check down instead of forcing it, picks up five yards.

Then he comes back here.

They bring pressure.

You see Max Brown, he beats Max Brown one on one, gets through the arm tackle.

Everybody's run off in man to man coverage.

And what does a dual threat quarterback hurt you on man to man coverage?

He moves the chains.

Max and Trace are very familiar with each other in middle school.

They met and Stevenson says Max dominated two years ago.

But this past year, last year it was Chase's turn to Dom.

Trace.

Yeah, Trace.

Yeah.

The play before, they get chances that they went so quick, but just throwing the ball to the check now got them five yards.

Instead of him forcing something in into the field, he goes to his check down.

You get five yards to make it third and five.

Then he hurts you with his feet.

Very poised, young man.

She Hudson goes to the sideline.

And they've been beat up at that position.

Yeah.

Let's see what they do here at running back.

Knowles is in there now, the freshman.

Second down, Hawkins sprint out and throws for Winston.

Can't bring it in one handed.

Believe.

I believe you're gonna watch Max Brown come in.

Watch one.

CPG is oh little.

Might have been a little trip there.

Yeah.

Yep.

Got hit in the thigh over there in the medical tent taking a look at it.

In the meantime, Nalls, who rushed for 916 yards during the regular season is in there.

Timeout Calhoun.

That's our second charge time out of the half.

So timeout called by Calhoun.

That leaves them with 1, 309 to play here in the opening half and a 147 lead for Calhoun.

If you're just now getting work tuning in the game.

Calhoun scored on their opening two possessions.

Seven minutes into the game they had touchdown drives of 65 and then 55 yards and two minutes into the seven minutes into the game they had a two touchdown lead.

Let's check in with Autumn.

Hey guys.

Well, you can catch number 24, Max Richardson on the sidelines.

He is a huge piece of Calhoun and he serves a role on the video crew and he's been voted captain for every single game of his senior year at Calhoun.

I asked Coach Stevenson what Max means to the team and he said these guys truly rally around him.

The team does a lot of things together in season and they always include and take care of him.

It's never a burden.

He means a lot to them and he's truly the heart and soul of the program.

Win or loss, Max fills every moment for this team.

And he may not have the full pads on on Friday nights, but his impact is truly felt and fun fact.

Max is also a three time champion in adaptive shot put and you can see each ring on his necklace.

That is an amazing story.

His twin brother Rex is an offensive lineman on the team.

Hawkins throws, it's complete.

Nalls picks up the first down.

Freshman to freshman.

Love extends a play with watching.

Get outside the pocket.

Keeps his eyes down the field the entire time.

Just flick of the wrist man.

Easy, easy toss for him.

So first and 10 ball at the 38 yard line.

There's Nalls, his receiving numbers on the season.

So he's over 1,000 yards from the line of scrimmage with the 900 plus rushing for the season.

Not bad for a ninth grader.

Hawkins, his own man ran into him.

He recovers, tries to get to the edge and will not be able to get around that edge as the defense for Jefferson rallies and Avery lynch the corner tackles.

Great job by lynch here.

Keeping contained for a two yard loss.

Busted play, running back runs into him.

But watch lynch keep outside leverage and get the freshman quarterback down for a two yard loss.

You cannot let somebody turn the corner on you when you're the outside man.

Kept his outside arm free, did exactly how he's coached up to do it.

Lynch 571-65-Senior, 36 total tackles on the season.

Second down and 12 now Hawkins to the air and in tight coverage completes it.

Ball goes to Jackson Moore.

It's hard to say this over and over, but he threw that absolutely perfect in the window against zone coverage.

The ball has to be on time, Matt.

And when his receiver got into the one space that was open, the ball was there when he came out of the break.

12th catch of the season for Moore.

And you're right, Hawkins has been extraordinary in this first half.

10 of 16 for 99 yards on time.

Hard to do as a young quarterback.

Good job.

Chadwick back in there.

He gets stonewalled.

And that was Yang who meets him there in the hole.

There's no doubt Chadwick is bringing a different dimension at that running back spot.

A solid 30 pounds heavier than Isaiah Knowles.

Second down, less than a minute to play in the half.

Hawkins backpedaling, ball is tipped.

Second time they've been able to tip a pass.

Job got great pressure.

And that was the defensive lineman or linebacker getting to it.

Watch his feet.

Never gets his feet set.

Going to his left.

Watch him throw off his back foot.

There's a jump pass.

That was Darren Pinkrum.

Pinkard.

Pardon me.

Darren Pinkard.

The six 2, 2, 15 junior defensive end who batted that pass down.

Now it's third and 10, 49 seconds to play in the half.

First time I've seen this ago.

Quads up top empty.

Hawkins gonna run it right up the middle.

Max Brown gets him on the ground at the 22.

They are in field goal range for Carlos Lopez.

Fourth down.

Let's see what they do.

They're staying on.

Don't want to settle for the field goal right here.

Under 20 seconds to play in that.

They do have one timeout remaining.

He's going to call it.

He's standing beside the ref.

Yeah, they're just going to run it all the way down.

Clock run to under five seconds and then kick the field goal.

That's an NFL move right there.

Yes, sir.

From a time management standpoint, that is their third and final time out of the half.

Run it all the way down to three seconds.

Now you bring on the field goal unit.

Have you done a game at Calhoun last couple years?

Bill Reed?

No, I have not.

They have that.

I have been there before.

But they don't have a track, so you Want to talk about a crowd that is on top of you?

I don't know that there is a crowd in the state of Georgia that is closer to the field of play than in Calhoun.

Yeah, you get a lot of stadiums where there is a track around the field.

For obviously track and field season you go to Norcross, I mean you, you're away from the field now you go to Calhoun and you literally can reach out and touch somebody on the sideline from the press box because that, that is a very tight corner.

They got a huge video board.

It's loud.

I mean it is a great high school environment at both of these programs.

Of course.

Calhoun, Jefferson, great home, great home home game experience as well.

Place Stevenson.

His connection to how Lamb led to him taking over as the head coach six seasons ago.

And he's gone 57 and 20 with two region titles and twice now he's had the Yellow Jackets in the state championship game.

They are in the state championship game for the 10th time in 20 years.

So Lopez attempting a 39 yard kick from the left hash.

And now Jefferson's going to come out.

Take Jefferson the ice first time out of the tight out timeout.

So here's Calhoun and their road to the finals.

Opened up with the win over Spalding 31 to 6 in the first round.

Then beat Douglas John Tay Gilbert who was named to the gpb.

Also you talked about a really good football team.

The Astros opened up with a win over lagrange in the Corky Kelp Classic.

Yes, really got everybody's attention.

And then they went to Peach county and that's the one that kind of set the stage.

And while this Calhoun team might really be able to get back to the state championship game when they beat Peach county then Stevenson, Marcus jokes, did a super job with the Jaguars this year.

They got to the semifinals until the Yellow Jackets into their season.

Hal Lamb, now the athletic director Calhoun, he's here today obviously with his school and what he did for this school, this community, this program, the tradition.

Calhoun has produced so many great players.

And also now the head coach of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

Trey Lamb, the former quarterback, now the head coach at an FBS school.

Kick is on its way.

And Lopez sticks it through the upright from 39 yards out on the final play of the first quarter.

And Calhoun has a 17 to 7 lead.

How about that?

Not sure how to predicted that, Matt, to be honest with you.

Very impressive first half for Calhoun.

And it's time now for our coaches interview is delivered by Johnny's Pizza.

Your original Neighborhood Pizzeria Autumn standing by with coach Clay Stevenson.

Coach Stevenson, a hot start for Calhoun so far.

Trace Hawkins coming in for his debut on a state championship game.

11 for 18 right now.

How would you assess your offense in the first half?

Great.

This is great state championship atmosphere.

We obviously got off to a great start.

They're a great team.

They're not going anywhere, but Trace is doing a great job of managing the offense and defense.

Got some big stops there like Jefferson's defense, though, bringing some pressure.

How do you make adjustments in the second half?

They're very tough when they try to get on the perimeter more.

We had a couple of balls batted down.

If we can get on out a little bit on the edge and maybe get those guys, that'll be the.

That'll be the recipe, hopefully.

Thank you, Coach Gluck.

And right after this break, we'll be with John and Hannah right after.

Don't go anywhere.

Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB is brought to you in part by DBHDD and the Governor's Red Ribbon Campaign.

Life is a movie, film, drug free.

DBHDD and the Governor's Red Ribbon Campaign is all about Georgians standing together for substance misuse prevention.

Life is a movie, film, drug free.

Learn more about healthy alternatives and live a drug free lifestyle@garedribbon.org let me know if I can help you with anything.

Just looking.

I only buy local and sustainable, so.

Oh well, that shirt's not local.

You should be wearing cotton.

Georgia's a major supplier of cotton worldwide, so if you'd like to buy local to support Georgia, buying cotton is a great place to start.

It's renewable and sustainable naturally.

Thanks.

That's a polyester fiber made of oil, by the way.

Where's your dressing room?

Come over here.

The 35 Georgia Electric membership cooperatives congratulate all winners of the GHSA Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award for the past cycle.

This award honors schools that exhibit exemplary sportsmanship during competitive events.

Only one school in each region in each classification is chosen to receive this annual award.

The GHSA takes into consideration all aspects of sportsmanship, making the award a tribute to the entire community.

Introduced in 2006, this award reinforces the GHSA philosophy that everyone associated with high school activities, from athletes to spectators, should adhere to the fundamental values it represents.

Georgia EMC and the 35 participating Georgia Electric Membership Cooperatives are proud to sponsor the Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award.

Congratulations to all the winners this year.

Welcome to the Football Friday in Georgia Halftime show presented by Regions.

Get Back in the game with Regions bank.

That's John Nelson.

I'm Hannah Gooden.

We live from Mercedes Benz stadium for the 2024 GHC boys and girls football state champions.

We are at the half of the triple A matchup between Calhoun and Jefferson.

Let's take a look at the halftime score on our Georgia's EMC scoreboard.

Georgia's EMCs so much more than electricity.

Calhoun gets a couple of scores early, gets a little distance.

Jefferson comes back with yet another score.

Then Calhoun gets the 3 right at the buzzer.

17, 7, 177 right now, halfway through.

Right there at the break, Calhoun up 10.

They were up seven.

They get three more to finish up the first 24 minutes.

And we'll see what happens as we hear from Travis Nolan coming back from Autumn Johnson in just a bit.

Coming up Next is the 6Amatchup between Grayson and Carrollton.

We have a very special coach standing by.

But first we have to go down to the field for a special presentation.

The very first ever mascot contest.

And here, John is our mascot of the year, Mary Persons High School.

I don't know.

Is Ethan supposed to take the the head off of Samson there?

Are you supposed to divulge your identity?

Earned the award, John.

Okay, well, you know, Samson from Mary Persons in Middle Georgia down in Forsyth County.

He got the award.

So Ethan Robinson.

That is what Ethan looks like with the head of the Bulldog with Sampson and without.

So there you go.

Mascot of the year Ethan Robinson at Mary Persons, the mascot winner.

And that is what he looks like when he's not Samson for Mary Persons.

All right, well, as promised, coming up after this game at 7:00, it's the 6A boys matchup, Grayson versus Carrollton.

We have Rams head coach Santavius Bryant here.

Hey, Coach.

Thanks so much for joining us.

How y'all doing?

Thank y'all for having me.

How you feeling?

Feel good?

It feels great to be.

Yeah.

Yes, ma'am.

Did you guys have class this morning?

Yes, ma'am, we did.

We had final exams this morning.

Nikki Noto Palmer gave me that little nugget that you guys had finals and now you're playing in the final game of the year.

I guess the.

The guys are just so amped.

Yes, ma'am.

Again, I think they're excited to be here and a great opportunity, ready to take advantage of it.

How do you keep them from getting too amped in a situation like this, considering that it is a state champion championship, Considering that we're hounding you all week and week and a half.

Long for stats and notes and conversations and things like that.

And everybody wants to talk to players.

How do you keep them from getting too amped?

The biggest thing is just understanding that it's important because it's the next game and not putting too much on it.

I mean, we have to approach this game like we've approached every other game this year.

I mean, our kids know that, and that's the mindset that they come into the game with.

So let me ask you this.

What concerns you the most about Carrollton?

What are you the most confident about tonight?

I mean, they're a great football team, but again, at the same time, we're a great football team.

So again, I'm confident our guys going to come out here, they're going to play hard, they're going to do the things their coach to do.

We're going to have a great night.

Coach Bryant, thank you so much for stopping by.

We cannot wait for this matchup.

I know a lot of people can't wait for this matchup.

Biggest one of the week.

So good luck, coach.

Thank you.

All right, guys, we have more to talk about for the triple A matchup, though.

Stick and stay right here on gpb.

We'll be right back.

It I am disciplined physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.

I am American soul.

The GHSA football playoffs and championships are brought to you by Alpha NFL Insurance.

We're more than just an insurance company.

We're a part of your community over here.

Welcome back.

It's time for the you save it pharmacy Georgia player spotlight.

And we're featuring Monroe high school basketball standout K.J.

acrey.

She led her team to a final four and has five power five scholarships.

John and we've been doing these spotlights all season long.

And players like this are so special.

Big choice to make, no doubt about it.

And the relationship that our friends at you save it have with us here at Georgia Public Broadcasting.

If you missed it earlier in the afternoon, they were able to provide a $5,000 grant for one of the stories that you've been able to see over the last couple of days.

So it's been really interesting to see what you save it has been looking at all around the state and trying to help folks out making those impacts in their community and bringing these features to you as we do all season long.

Here's KJ's story.

I want to see, you know, how she was gonna make that transition from middle school to high school and all the hoop and holler that has come with being KJ Achrey and I've been amazed.

When she enter High School, KJ already had eight Power 5 Division 1 offers.

She's just an animal out there.

She just, she just turns into this vicious animal, especially when she gets mad.

Are you the best player on the team?

Yes.

So F15 FFC when it's time to play, I feel like the ball should be in my hands.

We can't wait to see where KJ is going to play at the next level.

Congratulations to all of your success and thank you.

You save it Pharmacy for another great spotlight.

Okay, one more quick break, but we're going to take a look back at what happened in this first half right here on GPB right after this.

Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB is brought to you in part by Regions Bank.

Get back in the game with Regions bank at Regions Bank.

We're here to listen to your needs and we'll customize a plan to help you reach your financial goals.

Our service to Georgia goes beyond banking to creating more inclusive prosperity in our communities.

From education to financial wellness to economic development, we're working to level the playing field so more people can succeed and our communities can thrive.

High school seniors, your Georgia Match letters have been nailed and the possibilities are endless.

Visit your student dashboard on gafutures.org to see which of the 45 colleges and universities made your list and claim your spot today.

DBHDD and the Governor's Red Ribbon Campaign is all about Georgians standing together for substance misuse prevention.

Life is a movie film, drug free.

Learn more about healthy alternatives and live a drug free lifestyle@garedribbon.org Cigna Healthcare is a proud partner of Georgia Public Broadcasting and Football Fridays.

Cigna Healthcare's mission is to improve the health and vitality of those we serve.

Visit cigna.com to learn how you can support your physical and emotional well being.

Come over here, Sa.

You wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh, hey, what's up man?

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team jacket.

And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted?

Driving isn't a game.

When you lose on the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free and save lives.

Heads up, Georgia.

Welcome into the region's halftime show.

If you're just now joining us, that's John Nelson.

I'm Hannah Gooden.

We are live from the bins for the Triple A matchup between Calhoun and Jefferson.

We are at the half.

Let's take a look at the halftime score on Georgia's EMC scoreboard.

Georgia's EMC.

So much more than electricity.

Once again, your margin.

10.

It'll be interesting to hear what Travis Nolan has to say about giving up the field goal right at the buzzer to give Calhoun the 10 point advantage.

17 7.

Halfway through the Triple A championship.

Remember 6, 8 coming up just around the corner.

It is game three of day three.

Here's what happened earlier John, take us through it.

First ever Division 4 flag championship went to McEachern.

They ran the table 11th nationally or higher depending on the poll.

Top ranked team in Georgia.

I'd love to see Pope play McEachern.

That would be a fun one.

Or maybe even head.

Give a call to Central Phoenix City, the top ranked team in the country.

Have them come on over and have a bit of a party.

McEachern over Lambert.

So McEachern gets the title in D4 in flag, then Hebrew and Christian.

First ever championship for Hebron Christian as a school.

I think it's the seventh for Jonathan Guess.

Remember his time at Eagles Landing.

Christian Prince Avenue had a big injury coming in and they were kind of working a two quarterback system trying to figure out how to do things off.

Hebron Christian gets the title.

Congratulations to Jonathan Guess and Hebron Christian.

And I want the pictures of the steak dinner between the two heads of schools.

Calhoun, Jefferson, you know the score there and Grayson and Carrollton coming up just around the corner yesterday.

Going back a page and we'll let you know what happened there on Tuesday.

Once again Pope back to back for the Greyhounds and the Frazier family, the father and son coaching duo there.

Northeast Macon Tombs County.

First ever title for Toombs county as a school.

Bulldogs won one back in 1975 as the Lions Bulldogs.

So a title goes back in class A division 1 double A.

Carver Columbus.

A dominant performance for Pierre Coffey.

First championship since 2007 for Carver Columbus on the western frontier.

We'll catch up with Jack Patterson I think on Monday and find out about a great season for the Burke County Bears as well.

Langston Hughes and Milton, they just scored again by the way.

77 points in the first half.

866 total yards.

That was in the first half alone.

Milton ends up getting the Duke and they get to solidify their national exposure and their national ranking as well.

Beating Langston Hughes then back on day one, SCB goes back to back to back to back.

So four championships for SCB in flag division one, back to back for the Wolf Pack in division two.

Great showing for North Oconee in flag as well as they tried to chase after the daily double on day one.

Bowden Red Devils, Rich Finley Jr. Rare air.

One of 10 coaches in the state of Georgia to go back to back to back as the head coach.

Wright Bazemore, Jess Simpson, Larry Campbell, Rich Finley Jr. Bowden over Brooks county in Class 8D2 and then North Oconee.

First ever state championship.

21 years as a school.

The Titans win it in class 4A 14 7A great game.

It wasn't a whole lot of scoring but it was a nice back and forth game as well.

So really cool to see all these different communities so far be here at Mercedes Benz.

A lot of different results, some first timers and also some folks that get to repeat especially in the growth of flag football.

We're going to catch up with Dr. Tim Scott, the executive director of the GHSA and the legislative liaison, Dr. Robin Hinds and find out about flag and the week and we'll catch up with them coming up at halftime of the final game here on the day.

Yeah, Dr. Hines has a special announcement.

Yes he does.

Do we have.

We do, we do.

We're going to say.

We're going to say we do have photographic evidence of this event.

Okay, just what's been the highlight so far?

I've loved having the coaches on.

Oh yeah, I loved having Coach Boone Williams on telling telling Milton the only way they were going to win is if they packed packed it up.

If y'all stay, go pack back to Milton.

Hey, that was an awesome game and a tough fought battle and Boone and Hughes will be back.

And the cool thing is that there are photos existing of Coach Boone and of Coach Reeves.

You know the camaraderie that coaches have all around the state of Georgia after the game.

They got arm in arm.

And by the way, I don't know if you saw it if you were here late enough last night, but there's a particular restaurant chain that gives out crowns if you get certain meals.

Coach Reeves from Milton was wearing one of those crowns on top of his Milton baseball cap.

So he is a king and he is also a champ.

And so just the camaraderie that you see from folks like Boone Williams and Ben Reeves, it's great to see all weekly Cole Reeves family stop by the Calhoun Yellowjacket Band is performing right now, doing an amazing job.

All of the bands have showed out.

There's been bands for the flag football, the fans taking up the entire screen.

Look, the bowl is filling up for not only the triple A matchup but the 6A boys much anticipated game between Grayson and Carrollton.

Fans are starting to kind of fill up behind the set here.

So.

Oh, I mean, I mean it's, it was, it was the.

You have the blue of Jefferson, the black of Calhoun, and now you see the folks from Carroll that are coming in here.

Is it going to be a coronation for juju Lewis and all the attention that we've seen?

Juju Lewis now heading to Colorado.

Is it going to be the perfect ending for them or does the story change?

Well, they ride off into the sunset.

Yeah, well, you know, you got to get on a horse if you're going to do something like that.

But is it going to be, you know, catching up with coach Bryant here from Grayson just a little bit ago finding out that yet they're ready?

They're as ready as they can be.

We're just as excited to bring it to you and it's been a great, a lot of effort from a lot of folks.

At the end of the night, you're going to see a massive credit roll from everybody here at GPB that has helped put this together in front of the camera, behind the scenes, everybody from cable to the truck and piecing all of these elements together, editing things lickety split, the sports unit, the news unit, behind the scenes all across.

So everyone in that credit role, it is the cast of thousands.

Matt says it is the GPB army that puts on this kind of a championship for this three day period.

But it's a long time before that and I swear yesterday it was just August 1st.

Yes.

And thank you to our producers and directors, Lori, Alima, Fatina.

You guys are amazing.

Also, there's too many names to name.

There's 11 gifts up here on our set in the truck down on the field.

It really is the gc.

Just watch the credit roll.

We doing social media now?

We are.

Okay, so John, you're doing so good at it.

I'm going to, I'm going to let you do this one.

So let me see.

It's the F, it's the X, it's the picture, it's the play button and it's the thought and it's the talk button.

There you go.

Facebook.

Autumn just made us do a really funny reel.

So the YouTube.

Check it out.

The Twitch gpb.org sports gpb sports app.

As always, thanks for joining us for These three days, it's been fantastic to be able to bring it to you.

Enjoy the second half, everybody.

Yeah, we'll see you after the.

I am American soldier.

I am disciplined physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.

I am an American soldier.

The GHSA Football playoffs and championships are brought to you by Alpha Insurance.

Insurance.

We're more than just an insurance company.

We're a part of your community over here.

Welcome back.

It's halftime at Mercedes Benz Stadium, the 3A state championship game, and Calhoun leading Jefferson 17 7.

Matt Stewart upstairs with Rusty Mansell of One Three Sports and Dogs HQ.

And what a first half.

Exciting first half.

And Calhoun comes out and jumps him right off the bat.

Scores two touchdowns in the first seven minutes.

They've led the entire half.

I mean, it's kind of the story.

The freshman quarterback, Trace Hawkins, a moment, wasn't too big.

He had two great opening drives and all of a sudden Calhoun's up 14 to nothing.

He's got a lot of momentum, a lot of confidence, and that's kind of been the story of the first half so far.

Let's take a look at it, see how it happened.

Opening drive, started the 35 yard line.

They end up going five plays, 65.

Chadwick rumbles in from 23 yards out.

Hadn't had a ton of success running like that, but it's been this young man right here, his legs, his arms, his decision making.

You see that run for a touchdown puts Calhoun up 14 to nothing, but you're going to see Jefferson answer.

They come back with their quarterback and he rumbles in to make it 14 7.

Don't forget, Matt, that was after a turnover.

They held Calhoun, so that was a big stop in the game and this was big.

A field goal, 39 yarder as the clock ran out to give them a 177 lead here at halftime.

And Autumn Johnson is standing by with Jefferson.

Head coach Travis Nolan is brought to you by Johnny's Pizza, your original neighborhood pizzeria.

Coach Nolan, what did you share with your team in the locker room?

We just talked.

Tried to make some adjustments defensively.

There are a couple formations they're giving us problems with and, you know, just talked about some mistakes we've made offensively and hopefully, hopefully we can settle down and play a little better the second half.

What about that offense that you need to get going?

What are the adjustments that need to happen in the second half?

You gotta catch the ball, number one.

You know, we've had some big drops that stop some drives.

And we fumbled the ball and we just gotta be consistent in who we are and what we do and just try to be patient, you know, we're not a, we're not a Milton, we're not gonna score 65 every, every time we play.

So we just gotta make our plays when we have a chance to make them and play good sound defense.

Thank you coach and good luck.

Coach Nolan is a no nonsense coach.

Question about respected coach.

The former president of the Georgia Athletic Coaches association for four years.

He's well esteemed around the state and held in high regard.

He's been a head coach for 27 years.

Started out in his home state of North Carolina, then Stevens County, Oconee county.

Went to two state titles there and now here at Jefferson got him in the state championship.

First time I ever met Travis Nolan, he told me got a 6 foot 513 year old.

I went to see Ben Cleveland at Stevens County's first time I met coach Nolan and he wasn't lying.

He was 6 foot 5 at 13 years old.

Love his passion for the game and a no nonsense coach.

They've got 24 minutes to make up a 10 point deficit.

As we take a look at the Alpha insurance halftime stats, what jumps off the page at you?

I think you start looking at the back balance of Calhoun.

81 rushing yards, 111.

You look at the time of possession though math to me that's the big thing.

14 minutes time possession for Calhoun and, and listen if you're Jefferson, if I'm going to lose this game, they're going to stop my quarterback.

I mean that's going to be to me the focus.

Second half you got a 225 pound running back basically playing quarterback here.

He's also can throw the ball, he's got all these yards, total purpose yard, all purpose yards starts the season.

This is a state championship.

You got 24 minutes left.

I'm gonna put it in the hands of my best player and we're gonna see what happens.

Gavin Markey, 3 of 8 passing for 92 yards in that first half.

Eight carries for 51 yards and the one touchdown for Jefferson, scoring from three yards out.

And on the opposite end you look at Markey, he's the big senior, 235.

And then you got the skinny little freshman Trace Hawkins over there getting it done in his own way.

11 of 18 passing for 111 yards, five carries, 43 yards.

And you saw the 2321 yard touchdown run he scored on in the first quarter.

Yeah, I think to me Kind of, you know, looking through social media, I knew there'd be some people talking about him and his performance.

I think in talking to my good buddy chad Simmons from Own3.com as well.

Who's here?

Our national director recruiting.

He goes, rusty, he's on time.

And that's something I talked about earlier.

I mean, he's throwing the ball, coming in out of brakes.

Moment doesn't look too big for him.

This is a big half, though.

There's a lot of football left to play and somebody's going to leave here at 24 minutes.

As a state champion of 3A classification in Georgia, I got a feeling we might be going down to the final play and I like it.

17 7.

And the third quarter kick is brought to you by.

Heads up, Georgia.

Park your phone while you're driving.

It saves lives.

No return opportunity on this one as Lopez hammers it into the end zone and Sue Jefferson brings it out to the 20 yard line.

Interesting to see what kind of adjustments you heard coach Nolan say.

Offensively, pretty simple.

We got catch a football number two.

He said at Calhoun was giving him some trouble with formations.

And we'll see what adjustments they have made on both sides.

Sides of the ball.

But I would imagine here they're going to get Gavin Markey lathered up, for lack of a better term.

Yeah, you got 24 minutes left in the season.

You got 24 minutes left in his high school football career.

He is the big man on campus.

You've ridden him now for two years as your starting quarterback.

And now you got one half left to use him, use him a lot.

And there you go, Mark, you gonna take that first snap and fall forward for a couple of yards.

That's what Calhoun's gonna have to do.

They're gonna have to be able to get off blocks, not allow him to get downhill and get going.

You know, that's really a kind of what you would consider a successful play.

But Matt is second seven.

You know, I mean, they.3 yards in the cloud of dust.

They can, they can go with that, but you gotta be.

Yeah, you got to get stops on if you.

Yeah, you can do that as long as you get stops on defense.

Because you're down 10.

Yes.

You got to make up two scores here in this half.

And running that style will eat up time very quickly.

And off goes to Dallas Russell.

Not much there.

Barely got back to the line of scrimmage.

You're going to see Caleb Adcock, number 10.

They're going to blitz him and watch what he does to the pulling guard.

We have that replay.

I'd love to see that.

Takes on the guard that was pulling.

Did not allow them.

Watch, watch 12:12 there.

Sorry.

Even though he got knocked down, he makes the tackle and he.

He does not allow the offensive lineman to get going upfield.

Good job there.

And 12 is Clayton Goad Markey drop.

They got to him back at the 20 yard line.

That defense eaten right now.

Aiden Adcock and 26 Blake Hammond he's slow getting up and he looked a little sure if he keeping him in the pocket.

Not going too far up field.

Great pass rush.

And you see Markey and going back to this now we can talk about this.

Coach Nolan said he's been playing hurt.

Yep.

He said he's not going to be healthy.

The season's over.

Wonder how hurt he is right now because it took him a while to get off the field on that play.

So they end up getting no yards on that possession.

Fourth down and punting away.

McCall high kick, fair catch is called for and made in traffic at the 36 yard line by Griffin.

43 yard kick by McCall and that's where Calhoun goes back on offense.

And they have been very successful in this game.

Rusty with field position like this.

Remember their opening possession that resulted in a score started 35.

Their next possession that resulted in a score started at the 45 and you got the clock on your side.

You started.

If you win the time of possession right here and you don't have turnovers, there's a very good chance you're going to go home and state champions.

So Jefferson, let's see what they do defensively on some adjustments.

Yeah, I know you want to think, wow, it's still early in the third quarter.

We got a lot of a lot of football to play.

But if Calhoun scores on this possession, the game suddenly gets very short.

Yes, quickly they ran this ball the first Beasley gets the jet sweep handoff and Beasley's got the first down up to the 48 yard line.

Nice run by Beasley.

Deshaun Keith the safety making the tackle.

But they get 11 on the play.

They show that empty set in the first half and they run quarterback draw this time they go jet motion out of impact quads up top and Beasley gets North south running through a couple of tackles.

Moves the chains.

First and 10 ball at the 48.

Still just Uber impressed with the poise of this freshman quarterback Trace Hawkins gonna whip it out here to Winston.

Winston trying to find some place place to run.

They got four hats on him.

That's how you run to the football.

Takes more than one guy to get the Texas tight side e down.

Just an easy ball to him.

But watch the amount of Jefferson defenders you're going to see in the screen right here to get on him and get down pursuit to the football.

You do that drill from June until now for that particular reason.

Just a two yard pickup.

That, that was Gattis on the tackle.

He's rated as high as a four star number 13 tight end in the country.

Second down from the 50.

That's a pass to Beasley.

Beasley flag out, gets to the 45.

Might be coming back though.

I don't look out on the edge.

You have to block for a long time on something like that.

See this out on the edge.

I think it's gonna be on Winston.

Yeah, told Winston.

So the holding call on Amari, Winston's gonna back it up.

Yeah, the one thing like that, on a play design like that, you have to hold your block a long time when he's coming to the wide side of the field.

So now it's gonna be second down and 18 from the 40.

Max Brown, super sophomore season, second year as a starter.

Has 12 offers including Tennessee and Ohio State.

Hawkins gonna go out of bounds.

Hemphill was there to keep him from racing up the sideline.

It's gonna be third down.

Another good job of pursuit.

Using the out of bounds as you're advantage there.

Sam.

Sammy Brown.

Max Brown was the spy in the middle of the field.

And you see Hemphill come up to keep contained.

Team leading 140 tackles, 66 solo team leading 13 TFL third down.

All kinds of time for Hawkins.

Now it breaks down gun jump pass and dump it off there for more.

Going to be well short of the first down however.

Boy, Calhoun staff is hot because they got away with one right there.

They pushed the Calhoun wide receiver to the ground.

You see Clay Stevenson, they were hot about that call.

Watch the top of the screen.

If you can see it, it's going to be in the left corner just out of play.

You're gonna see the receiver on the ground.

Beasley punning situation here for Lopez.

A lot of movement there at the line of scrimmage.

Now everybody gets set.

Lopez gets it out of there, kicks it away from die, has it hit and still rolling.

This time it's gonna be down to the one yard line.

That's how you do it.

Get in between the ball and the goal line.

We're going to take a look at this last play.

I want Dave to look at this one as well here, look at the top here.

Got Dave in here.

Is that a pass interference?

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

There he goes.

A defensive passive variance starts when the ball is in the air.

Okay.

So on that camera angle I can't really put the two pieces together with balls in the year versus shove.

Okay?

The ball wasn't in the air.

Ball is not in the air.

No.

Then it's nothing.

Okay.

That's why I got you up here with the big bucks.

So Jefferson deep in their own in at the one yard line.

99 yards away with 726 to play here in the third quarter.

Markey up top trying to connect with Schultz.

Yeah, I believe that's where he wanted to go, Dave.

So he looked and I was watching that receiver.

He went to the ground, he went to the next.

Next check down for him.

See that a lot Matt backed up in the end zone.

Take a shot.

Yeah, get it out of there.

Maybe hit a big play, shot play.

Put your name in the record book.

With a 99 yard catch.

Third all time meeting between these two teams.

2011 state playoffs in the 2012 state championship game and Markey barely got it out of there, barely got it to the one yard line.

See what autumn's got.

Hey guys.

As the state championship game approached, Jefferson's head coach Travis Nolan noticed a fire in his players.

A chip on their shoulders as well.

Typically a quiet group, Nolan noticed from conversations they felt disrespected, possibly for falling to two state championship teams earlier this season.

But this team is determined to prove something Coach Nolan shared with me.

They feel like they have unfinished business after last year's semifinal loss to Creekside.

From day one their goal has to been get here.

Now they're trying to finish that business.

Markey runs it out to the seven yard line and it's going to be fourth down.

They're going to be punting out of their own end zone.

You see him, you see him grimace a little bit there?

Yeah, yeah, he's playing, he's playing through it now.

No question he's playing through it.

But he, he, that young man is, he's leaving it all on the field for Jefferson, I can tell you that right now.

And the first season the Travis Nolan was at Jefferson they had the tragedy.

Elijah to wit wide receiver tragically got shot to death.

And then they got bumped in the first round of the playoffs.

Got surprised by a red hot casting.

Second year they go 13 and oh, lose to Creekside in the semifinals you know, this year as autumn reference they lost.

They went 3 and 2 in their non region schedule losing to the two teams that played for the 4A state championship.

I loved coach Nolan.

Let's see we get the call here.

I'm talk about him deciding to play Marist and the rest of his staff not being real happy about it.

Flag on the field on that punt.

It's going to be a procedure call and I think Clay Stevenson is going to make him punt it again.

Yeah.

Coach Nolan said he scheduled Marist and said the rest of the staff on the kicking team they'd elected to enforce a half to listen to the goal and re kick.

But he said it made you focus, focus so much on discipline and keys and your eyes with defense playing them.

Said it was just a great opportunity for his team to play that that type of football team.

You see McCall standing just a couple of feet from that back line.

This is always a very dangerous proposition when you got to pump this deep in your own end zone.

So Clay Stevenson wisely for forcing them to do that again because of the penalty referee step in and blow it dead.

Did not see a flag.

There is no flag.

Resetting the game clock.

That's what it was.

So the game clock goes to 5:45.

Now it's going again.

High kick.

Going to get great field position out of this fair catch was made at the 49 yard line line by Griffin and that's where Calhoun will have the ball with five and a half minutes to play in the third quarter.

When we get back from this time out.

Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB is brought to you in part by Georgia's EMCs.

So much more than electricity.

With boots on the ground and suspended midair, our line works workers are everywhere.

Behind every turn switch are those who put it all on the line to illuminate lives down the line.

Their job is as honorable as it is rigorous.

As we look on with admiring eyes, we want them to know we are grateful.

Georgia's electric membership cooperatives celebrate the life sustaining contributions of our line workers.

Storm or shine.

Thank you for being our lifeline.

Georgia's EMC's so much more than a land electricity over here.

Five and a half minutes left in the third quarter.

We're still at 10 points on the separation between these two teams.

Calhoun leading 17 to seven.

Their two touchdowns came in the opening seven minutes of this game.

First two drives they went 120 yards and scored 14 points.

Last five drives rusty 79 yards and three points and they're just they're happy with this clock running.

Defensively, they're getting stopped.

And you said it four minutes ago, Matt.

Now we'll come back and say at 5:30 in the third quarter, if they get a touchdown here, this game shrinks really quickly for Jefferson.

Well, it already has because 10 points right now that means you got to have two possessions that result in scores for you.

And we're down to 17 minutes of regulation clock to work with.

And Jefferson is not necessarily the fastest team with the ball.

Yeah, they definitely grinded out.

So first and 10 ball at the 50 yard line.

Chadwick with a big strong run, picks up nine yards on the play, down to the 41.

Deshaun Keith making the tackle for the Dragons.

Good job blocking up front.

Nobody really hit him until he was about six yards past the line of scrimmage.

Gonna bring up an easy second too.

We talked about Carver, Columbus.

A lot of people coming back.

A lot of people watching this Calhoun game tonight going, wait a minute, they got a freshman.

Freshman sophomores.

Chadwick, just a sophomore, looked like a.

It was double pass Isaiah Knowles and that's not a bad move.

Nulls actually started the season as their third string quarterback.

And you see here, he thought about passing that ball.

Yeah, Winston released late.

So now third down and four, See Nulls on the season is rushing.

He's been hampered today and has not been able to go really 100% because of his injury.

He's had some spot duty in this state championship game.

Third down and four.

Hawkins on the sprint out.

Pass complete to Winston.

And that's a first down at the 34 yard line.

Gaddis making the tackle, but that's gonna be good for first down for Calhoun.

Getting the young quarterback out of the pocket.

You're gonna see Jefferson blitz late.

Watch one of the linebackers coming.

I believe it's Max Brown.

You're gonna see one come up.

Stands right in there in a pocket and delivers for a third down conversion.

First and 10, 34 yard line.

Winston now a team high, 5 catches, 47 yards.

Toss goes to Chadwick.

Here comes Max Brown closing fast and tracks him down.

Good job.

Wow, he covered a lot of space in a real big hurry.

Watch him get underneath the.

Watch and get underneath everybody and go chase him down.

That's what they called nose for the football.

Just a sophomore, his recruiting already well underway.

Double digit offers, we mentioned earlier, Tennessee and Ohio State, some of the big timers on him already.

Second down handoff goes to Chadwick right there.

Yang bottles him up, he's had a good game.

34.

Yeah.

Yang is that guy.

You know everyone end of all of our conversations, our zoom calls with the coaches always ask that one last question.

Is there somebody we haven't covered yet that we need to know about and need to talk about?

And Jaden Yang was the guy that Travis Nolan said you need to know about this guy.

He's got five tackles, three solo here today.

And now it's third down, two and a half minutes now, less than that to play in the quarter.

Hawkins downfield overshoots.

Had two guys in the same spot.

Yeah, they sit zone this time.

Oh, Winston grabbing an ankle and he jumped up for the ball.

See, I'm sitting in the zone.

See Max Brown there is the spy.

He's gonna try to drop it in.

Watch they get tangled up.

The two Calhoun.

See them get tangled up.

Oh man.

See his foot there just kind of stuck in the turkey turf, still clutching that right ankle.

You see his numbers for the day.

6 for 57.

One of the top wide receivers slash tight end in the entire country.

He's a tight end.

They use him as a wide receiver.

Yes, much like Milton uses Ethan Barbour.

Correct.

Fourth and seven.

This is going to be a 48 yard kick from the left hash.

And this is a boomer right here.

Kick is on its way.

And the kick is good.

With plenty of distance to spare.

Carlos Lopez nails a 48 yard field goal to make.

Make it 20 to 7.

Matt.

That was good.

From 50 plus easily.

See how far this comes over this crossbar?

Oh yeah.

That easy.

That's easy.

55.

Wow.

It's straight down the middle to what a kick.

And Clay Stevenson.

That's about as much as gonna get out of a coach right now.

They go up by 13.

So that now takes the field goal out of the equation for Jefferson.

They've got to score two touchdowns here in the final 14 minutes of the game.

I like the official.

They're telling him.

Both of them are smiling.

Everybody understands that was a really good kick.

So what a weapon in high school if you can do that, man.

Well, not only that, but what he's probably getting ready to to do here again like he's done the entire game and that's bomb it into the end zone for no return.

You got a kid that can kick field goals.

That's the bonus.

And Lopez on its way and it will be non returnable.

And Lopez such a weapon in high school.

He is.

He totally is.

We'll name our all finals team.

That'll come out on Friday.

Morning.

On social media, I'd say Lopez has a pretty good chance to be our kicker.

He has been phenomenal today.

Has accounted for eight of their 20 points.

And Gavin Markey comes back out with the offense.

Is he healthy enough to rally this team to a victory?

Russell gets the handoff and a short gain for Dallas Russell.

Only 157 yards of offense for Jefferson in this game.

Second down and seven.

Markey throws over here at short for die.

And it's quickly third down and seven.

He's been off passing and I'm pretty sure that's part of the issue with him being injured.

Yeah, he's 56.6% completion rate for the season, but today he has completed just 30% of his passes.

He's three for 10.

He is really struggle with accuracy and that.

That's a telltale sign of not being able to follow through and get your feet in there.

Now wants to run.

Not going to get there.

And the ball is fumbled forward.

It is going to be recovered by Ty Go Oglesby, their center.

But it's going to be fourth down.

But that's a big fumble recovery because Calhoun takes over there.

They can almost put this game away with another score.

Bring up Shaw.

He goes through the back, strips a ball.

Man, that was a nice play by Upshaw.

Comes right through the pass.

Pro.

Then he strips the ball.

Called on the pun.

He's standing at his 13 snap.

Gets back there.

No problem.

Kicks gonna hit at the 41.

Kind of bounce straight up and down.

Be down to the 40.

So Calhoun again with good field position.

That's really been one of the stories.

One of the big stories in this game has been the field position difference.

Calhoun since that opening kick.

Yes.

Went out of bounds and gave him the ball.

The 35.

They've been dealing with better field position than Jefferson the entire game.

Where I'm at in this game, Matt, I'm up 1355 seconds ago.

You trust your defense.

I'm not so sure they don't take a shot right here and see if they can get a chunk play.

They go empty.

Winston's in the game, in the slot.

So he's back in.

Let's see if they take a shot here.

They got all the momentum in the world.

Hawkins scrambles instead.

Gonna run.

And Hawkins picks up three on the.

Yeah, he's limping a little bit, but she's back in.

And that's good news.

Yeah.

We got two of the big stars in this game.

Winston for Calhoun and Markey for Jefferson.

Not able to go 100%.

Of course nulls for Calhoun as well.

Their freshman running back who has played just a few snaps.

I mean it's the season is so long.

Andrew Beard for Prince and get to play carried a ball twice today.

Couldn't.

Couldn't do it.

Travis Nolan pointed out they've been going for 18 weeks now.

Do you know when you count preseason practice and Max Brown, he's still in rare form, gets the big tfl.

I'll get a chance to see him next week at Georgia League Classic with a sophomore team.

But he just sees it, man.

You know what I mean?

He that he can track it the F fast enough to get there.

He's got two more complete years of high school football left in him.

Eight total tackles, six solo and a TFL for Max Brown that was nulls on the carry.

And now it's going to be third down and 12 to the air and drop by Beasley.

Beasley, the sure handed wide receiver could not hold on to it.

It's fourth down.

Huge break for Jefferson right there, Matt.

Huge break.

He might score on.

That's a touchdown.

Yeah, because the defender.

What's a defender?

Fall down.

Yeah, he's going to score a touchdown if he holds on to that mark that one down with four seconds to go in the third quarter because that would have been 27 to 7.

Now we might be saying game set, match at this point but instead it's a punt for Calhoun.

Heavy rush, Lopez gets it out of there.

Going to be taken on the hop by die.

Die coming to this side of the field and die out of bounds and basically the 30.

That was the final play of the quarter as well.

Heading to the final 12 minutes in the 3A state championship game.

Calhoun gunning for their fifth state title.

They lead it 27 high school seniors.

Your Georgia match letters have been nailed and the possibilities are endless.

Visit your student dashboard on gafutures.org to see which of the 45 colleges and universities made your list and claim your spot today.

Cigna Healthcare is a proud partner of Georgia Public Broadcasting and Football Fridays.

Cigna Healthcare's mission is to improve the health and vitality of those we serve.

Visit cigna.com to learn how you can support your physical and emotional well being.

Squirrels, bats, rats or mice in your attic.

Breda pest management will work to protect you home and kick those critters out.

Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB is brought to you in part by Regions Bank.

Get back in the game with Regions bank at Regions Bank.

We're here to listen to your needs and we'll customize a plan to help you reach your financial goals.

Goals.

Our service to Georgia goes beyond banking to creating more inclusive prosperity in our communities.

From education to financial wellness to economic development, we're working to level the playing field so more people can succeed and our communities can thrive.

Oh, could you give me a.

Give me a third of that.

Start of the fourth quarter.

Calhoun leading Jefferson 20 to 7 here in the 3A state championship game in the Dragons road to the finals.

Beat Monroe in the first round 45 6.

Then got the rematch with Oconee county who had beaten them just two weeks earlier in overtime 32:30.

This time they beat the Warriors 42 seconds six quarterfinals.

Second time they played Cherokee Bluff as well.

Swept the series from Cherokee bluff and then Lagrange in the semis 21 13.

Travis Nolan, his team has 12 minutes left to make up a 13 point deficit.

And Markey on offense with the Dragons as we start this fourth quarter.

Short gain for Markey.

Just look, just.

Just doesn't have that burst that you see on tape and obviously playing through whatever he's going through and.

And you know he is.

There's no way he's coming out of this game.

On their three possessions so far in this half.

Three straight.

Three and out.

Nine total yards in the second half for the Dragons at three man front marque to the air and is complete to die.

He gets hammered out of bounds.

Going to be short of the stick.

It's going to be third and short though.

Reefer match of the 2012 state championship game.

Jefferson led by head coach T. McFerrin.

The legendary coach beat how Lamb and Calhoun that day.

And now here in 2024 yellow jackets trying to return the favor.

Look at this battle.

And Calhoun will not let Markey get the first down.

McDon Griffin.

You want to see a weight room play right here.

What a play by Griffin.

They keep the offense on the field 4th and 1 at their own 40.

They bring quarterback power out of this formation all night.

Trying to get him to jump off sides.

No flag Play.

Clock at 2.

Got to do something.

And the play did not get off in time.

They called a timeout.

Timeout came from the sideline.

So with the timeout being called, fourth and one will step aside while they think about what they're gonna do.

Breda Vest Management customizes a treatment plan for the inside and outside of your home.

Breda.

They handle bugs and critters.

No need to be afraid of bugs.

Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB is brought to you in part by Cigna Healthcare.

CIGNA Healthcare is a proud partner of Georgia Public Broadcasting and Football Fridays.

CIGNA healthcare's mission is to improve the health and vitality of those we serve.

Visit cigna.com to learn how you can support your physical and emotional well being.

DBHDD and the Governor's Red Ribbon Campaign is all about Georgians standing together for substance misuse prevention.

Life is a movie film drug free.

Learn more about healthy alternatives and live a drug free lifestyle@garedribbon.org sihood you wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh, hey, what's up man?

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team jackets.

And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted?

Drive.

Driving isn't a game.

When you lose on the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free and save lives.

Heads up, Georgia.

Oh, could you give me a soda there?

1 minute and 31 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Calhoun has been leading since basically the start of the game.

Scored touchdowns on their first two possessions in the opening seven minutes and enjoy a 20 to 7 lead.

And now it's fourth and one for Jefferson in their own end at the 40 yard line.

Big play in this one.

Flip flop formation.

See if they go right back to quarterback Markey.

He got the first down.

Yeah, I think he got the first down.

The Calhoun side believes they got it.

Stop.

But I think he got it.

Yeah, he stopped as well.

Let's see where he gets to where they hit him at.

He had to get to the 41.

He got there.

It's pretty close.

Let's see where that spot is.

They haven't put that ball down yet.

Now I see the ball.

Yeah, it's measure.

It's the nose of the football.

Oh boy, oh boy.

If he got it, it's really the nose of the football that gets got it.

This is large.

It was a bad snap to it.

He was unable to get his feet up underneath him.

Get a little more, a little more momentum, stretch out the chains and he got it.

What you say by that's less than the nose of the football.

That's the skin of the nose of the football.

Their last first down in this game came with eight minutes left in the first half and they just got their most Recent here with 1023 left on the game clock.

But they got it by the skin of the Nose of the football.

So they're still alive here.

They take a shot on first down.

Had they not gotten that, they might have been done.

Yeah, I agree, it's hard to say for sure, but Mike have been hard to recover from.

Giving the ball up on downs.

Right there.

First and ten from the 41 yard line play action.

Markey looking, going for the shot and broken up by the cornerback, Jake Jordan.

Super play by him on that back line on the deep receiver.

Way to track the ball.

Plenty of time.

Post route.

Watch him come over the top.

Absolutely perfect defensive back play there.

Yeah, that was textbook by Jake Jordan.

Look at eyes on the ball the entire time.

Reached in there last second and knocked it away from Dalton dye.

Second down and 10, low snap.

Markey has to go down to get it.

Markey running with authority.

Gets eight, maybe seven on the play, depending on the spot.

Gonna bring up third down and short.

Punter can go ahead and take off his gear.

They won't be punting the rest of the night.

No, unless he can run routes.

Third down and three, clock under nine and a half left in regulation.

Markey on the run, did not get the.

Oh, he got the first down.

Wow.

Oh my goodness.

What great effort by Gavin Markey.

Hammond had him stopped about 3 yards short of the marker.

And Markey willed himself to the first down.

There's your weight room.

First down.

They stopped him a series ago.

Watch him after contact.

Drive his legs and extend out.

This young man's playing through it, man.

All the credit in the world to him right now.

You can tell on his face, he's going through it.

76 yards rushing from Markey.

Now wants to go back to the air.

And intercepted.

Hunter White gets the pick.

Markey overthrew his wide receiver.

Calhoun has the ball.

He had pressure in his face.

Ball sails on him.

Calhoun brings the blitz.

Watch him.

He can't step through because he's got a right there.

He had to short arm.

It causes the ball to float.

And cap Calhoun with a massive turnover here late in the game.

Up 13, eight minutes to go, Hunter White.

First interception of the season.

Nice time to do it.

He was playing running back for them the last two years.

They moved him over to the defensive side of the ball.

Alec Upshaw was the guy that got in Markey's face and forced him to float that ball in space for White to.

Interception.

Intercepted.

Now Hawkins on the run.

Have a block in the back here that's going to have Calhoun on retreat.

But now they've got the ball and they got the clock on their side and their quarterbacks got fresh legs.

He had some juice to him right there.

Check the call from Patrick Ingram clocking the back on the offense.

A 10 yard penalty will be a 4 from the previous spot and we'll replay first down.

So first and 20 now I wouldn't be surprised if we just see three straight runs by Calhoun right here.

Yeah, you're playing the clock right now.

You're playing the clock.

Just burn two minutes off the clock, if not more.

Unless you can pick up something here that Calhoun typically is a big screen team.

I haven't seen them do a lot of that to night.

See if they try to run some kind of screen.

They got trips here to the bottom formation and try to pop something.

Well, they have not totally set the ball down yet.

Not sure what the issue is here.

Correction.

The foul occurred beyond the line of scrimmage.

Therefore the 10 yard penalty will be enforced from the spot of the foul.

Replay first down.

That answers the question.

So the ball has been put down at the 29 yard line.

What a great performance by this Calhoun Yellowjackets team today.

Handoff goes to Chadwick.

Not going very far.

Right there.

Trip Porter.

The nose makes the tackle.

Now the clock is running.

They run this on all the way down.

They don't have to snap the ball until under eight minutes to go on second down.

Yeah, they're not in no hurry right now, is it?

And they should be.

You see him standing around waiting on the signal.

Get the signal from the sideline.

Still 10 seconds on the play clock.

Second down Chadwick.

Was he inbounds or did they rule him out?

They ruled him out.

That's a.

That's a mistake right there.

Cost you 30 as a mistake sake.

Because he falls out of bounds and that stops the clock with 7:53.

And like you said, that cost him 30 seconds.

Yep, right there.

That's what's important right now.

See the coach there to green hats that stay in bounds.

So third down.

The yard marker says third down.

The stadium is showing fourth down, but it is indeed third down from the 31 screen.

Screen pass going there to Chadwick.

Chadwick gonna get growled from behind by Max Brown.

And now it's gonna be fourth down.

So cow should not have to punt this until around the seven minute mark.

Look at Max Brown.

You talking about closing speed.

He has been impressive today.

He has indeed.

That's nine total tackles.

Six solo with a TFL for the sophomore linebacker.

Game clock now down to 7:10 and the punt away taken by die24 dye trying to get around the edge and steps out of bounds at the 39 yard line.

And that's where Jefferson will go on offense with just seven minutes to play and needing two touchdowns.

Football Fridays in Georgia is presented by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety reminding you to park your phone while driving.

Driving saves lives.

Heads up, Georgia.

You wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh, hey, what's up, man?

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team.

And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted?

Driving isn't a game.

When you lose on the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free and save lives.

Heads up, Georgia.

At Regions bank, we're here to listen to your needs and we'll customize a plan to help you reach your financial goals.

Our service to Georgia goes beyond banking to creating more inclusive prosperity in our communities.

From education to financial wellness to economic development, we're working to level the playing field so more people can succeed and our communities can thrive.

GPB Sports broadcast of this game is made possible by supporters of the ghsa, including the National Federation of High Schools.

This high school gym used to be padded most nights.

Not anymore.

Do you know why?

Because bad behavior by fans, especially adults, has caused a shortage of game officials across the country.

You see, without officials, we can't have sports.

Don't let this become reality.

It's time for a change.

Let's bench bad behavior for good.

The GHSA football playoffs and championships are brought to you by Alpha Insurance.

We're more than just an insurance company company.

We're a part of your community.

7:01 left in regulation.

Calhoun has led the entire game since scoring on their opening possession.

Still leading 20 to 7 as Jefferson goes back on offense in time running out on their season.

Markey going deep and it's intercepted by Jordan.

Jake Jordan, another big play from his cornerback position, picks off Markey.

He has answered the bell each time.

He has been challenged with a deep ball.

He's tracked it.

He's made a play.

He stripped the wide receiver and this time look at him position himself and go get that football stays in phase.

High points.

It perfect DB play by Jake Jordan the senior as an interception and a forced fumble here in the state championship game.

Two big turnovers to get the ball back for the Calhoun offense.

And now it's going to be very difficult outside of A miracle now for Jefferson to win this game that ran quarterback draw out of this twice.

Hawkins slides down.

Play, young man.

Make sure the clock keeps running.

Smart play.

And the Jackets doing their very best to milk as much time out of the play clock and game clock as they can on each and every every snap.

See Justin Bishop there.

Coach Justin Bishop in a blue hat.

His son's a freshman pitcher at Tennessee.

Jack's Bishop.

Oh, he's a proud dad.

Clay Stevenson.

It's not easy to follow the legend.

No, sir.

And he did that at Calhoun with Hal Lamb.

Beasley down the sideline, cuts back in the middle of the field.

Finally tackled at the 37.

Matt, watch the gear by Beasley because they have him pinned up.

Watch this gear right here.

When he sees the opening.

And when you can get to fifth gear that quick, you can make plays like that.

43 yard pass play to Beasley.

Most of it.

Beasley running down the sideline.

And now the handoff to Chadwick.

He dives forward to the 33.

And the first ever state championship for coach Clay Stevenson is drawing nearer and nearer.

He played for coach Hal.

Like Lamb at Upson Lee.

Commerce.

I thought.

No, Ups and Lee.

Ups and Lee.

Thought he was.

Well, their family out now?

No.

How.

How?

Lamb.

Hal Lamb family?

Yeah.

No question there.

From Commerce.

Yep.

Ray Lamb.

Let me make sure I got that history right.

Don't want to leave that unattended to.

Please, please don't.

Because Ms. Linda Lamb will let both of us know, I can assure you, if we're wrong.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he played for him at Upson Lee.

Might have been the case.

And then when Hal Lamb went from Upson Lee to Calhoun, Stevenson joined him as a head coach or as an assistant coach.

Yeah.

Played for Hal Lamb at Upson Lee and then spent 15 seasons as Hal Lamb's wide receiver coach prior to becoming the head coach himself in 2019.

There was a lot of people that wanted that job.

Great job.

Great job.

And here in season number six as the head coach, looks like Clay Stevenson is going to get himself a state championship.

Barring an incredible, incredible comeback by Jefferson, which just has not come close to material.

Realizing here today, you see played wide receiver at Upson Lee, played golf, is shorter.

And Calhoun's wide receiver coach during their three state championship runs under Hal Lamb.

And now looking at win number 58 in his sixth season as Calhoun's head coach, it'll be the biggest one of his 58 for the state championship.

And how sweet.

Sweet for his program challenge It's a fourth down.

How sweet for his program after they had their 23 year playoff streak snapped last year, going 6 and 4 and not making the playoffs.

He said the first conversation he had with his team was do not listen to the outside noise.

The standard has not changed here.

Calhoun is challenging the previous spot.

Yeah, they're challenging the spot here because I think they want to decide what they're going to do.

It's fourth down right now as things stand.

Fourth and four at the 32 yard line.

Let me ask you, because we're going to get busy here at this plate.

Let's see what we got here.

Yeah, I think it's the 32.

His four moment momentum was clearly stopped in my mind at the 32.

You got an all eyes on me game.

Next, Grayson and Carrollton.

Much pressures on Carrollton to finish this thing off.

Well, I mean, I don't know about the pressure, but I know this.

They haven't won a state title since 1998 and that's their only state title in the last 49 years and they have seven of them.

Yes.

So there was a time when Carrollton ran the state.

Correct.

After review, the former progress spot stands.

So let me ask you the question right here at hand.

It's fourth down and four.

This would be essentially a 49 yard field goal.

Now Lopez hit a 48 yarder earlier in this half.

That was clearly easy.

Still think too many things can go wrong there because how good your defense is played all day.

Yeah, well, but if you get the field goal game over for sure.

And the game might already be over with 332 to go.

But if you get the field goal now I just, I got too much old school.

You got to snap the ball, somebody's got to hold it, then you got to kick it and it's got to be good.

Yeah, but if you do it, then Jefferson's got to score two touchdowns and get two two point conversions.

The game clock will start on my ready click.

Stephenson's thinking like you and they're gonna go for it here and not bring on the field goal unit.

Just too many variables for me.

The game clock will start on the snap.

So they will pass up what would be a 48, 49 yard field goal attempt here and go for it on fourth down and four.

Running a reverse for Beasley and he's going to be tracked down by Butler and the ball is going to go over on downs.

Keelan Butler, the Georgia State signee, makes the tackle and now the ball goes over on downs, Jefferson has two timeouts remaining.

They need two scores.

Impressive play there for a 6 foot 5 edition defender to chase that reverse down.

So the door remains open for Jefferson.

But they got to generate some offense like they have not been able to do all day.

They still have less than 200 yards of offense.

I trust in this game.

I trust my defense all day after what I've seen.

So back to work for the Calhoun defense.

And Markey in a deep drop back, fires, incomplete.

Die was the target.

And you're right, there's no doubt he's hurt.

And the injury, which I'm guessing is kind of a lower leg injury, has affected his passing significantly.

Sees four for 1598 yards.

He's a much better passing quarterback than that.

Yeah, he's unable to really plant and drive the ball.

Second down and 10.

Markey is going to run it.

And Markey dragged down by Upshaw.

It's going to be third down and Calhoun's perfectly fine with this.

This pace where they are clock running third and three.

They'll give up seven yards on every play from here on out.

They're thinking we can, we can deal with that.

We can win the game like that, no problem.

Markey to the air.

That's a first down catch by Die.

He lunges forward.

Other side of the 50 now to the 45 yard line.

Other than the turnover, we hit the post route early the game.

That's the best ball he's thrown tonight.

Nice job.

Delivers that.

Whereas receivers moving upfield and get.

Move the chains.

First and ten blitz.

Marquis gonna run out of it.

Gets tackled forward on the play by Jackson.

Williams got nine on the play.

Clock continues to run.

Yeah, I've got to have some pace here.

I know we're trying to get the play in, but we.

I've got to go second one.

I mean, we're still running.

There's 10 seconds off.

Now a timeout.

Oh, man.

Timeout, Jefferson.

That is our second time out of the half.

Yeah, you hate that.

You're thinking, if we had had the foresight just as soon as the play was over, let's call the timeout.

Yep.

Since we obviously are not on the page, where we need to be to run the next 12 seconds.

Ran off there.

And let's check in with Autumn.

Hey, guys.

We talked a lot about the freshmen, but Coach Stevenson believes that Calhoun wouldn't be where they are without their senior class.

Out of 20 seniors, not many are starters, but their impact goes beyond the field.

They've been dedicated for four years and they stepped up to clean the locker room, maintain the field, and do not hesitate to volunteer in the community, despite the playing time they may or may not get.

And Coach Stevenson says it's rare to have a group so bought in.

But he's proud of these seniors and they've contributed just as much to their success.

Thanks, Autumn.

And those seniors are now 123 seconds away from celebrating a state championship.

Second down and one ball goes to Russell.

Russell on the cutback.

All the way down to the 23 yard line.

Now let's go.

Let's get on the ball.

Let's get, let's get up, get in formation and go.

Clocks run a minute 56 when they start, when they spot the ball.

That's a great play call too, because it's a safe call.

It's a, it's a forward pass is what it is.

A lot better pace here.

Marky to the end zone.

And Childress popped up into the air.

Intercepted by Jordan again.

Jake Jordan comes up with the game ceiling interception in the back of the end zone.

And in all likelihood, Calhoun is going to win its fifth ever state championship.

You want to talk about a football game from a defensive back?

Jake Jordan from Calhoun, I mean, he has been locked down on his side of the field.

What a game for Jake Jordan.

The senior, two interceptions and a force fumble.

All of them huge in this game.

I love that he got down in the end zone.

See what happens here.

Great play on the ball by Jake Jordan and then he sticks the landing.

What a great play.

You talking about senior class not playing on the field.

That senior has played tonight for Calhoun, the game of his life in the state championship.

The kneel down and you see the emotion now comes flooding out.

Calhoun's gonna win the state championship.

It'll be their first state championship since 2017.

He's gonna get emotional and he should.

I can tell you.

He's fighting it, right?

He is.

He's going to get emotional and they.

He has every right to be.

Man, they went through a devil of a time last year.

Place like Calhoun, you don't miss the playoffs without there being some hurt.

They missed it last year, but they got the payback this year.

Known Clay a long, long time.

He and his wife hope he is a great person.

Yeah, he's one of the best guys that we deal with on GPB Sports Football Fridays in Georgia and we deal with a lot of great ones.

To put this on your resume this young in your career.

At last program snap victories celebrations for the Calhoun Yellow Jackets Take a bath.

Clay Stevenson.

Yeah, he's gonna hug that freshman.

I can tell you that.

Calhoun finishes the season on an 11 game winning streak after going six and four last year.

And starting this year one and three, they run the rest of the table, winning 11 in a row with a freshman at quarterback who is also our Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game.

Listen, what a decision.

You're one in three and you say, you know what?

We're going to ride with this freshman.

We're going to see what happens.

They got a ring out of it.

You see him take a deep breath.

Finally.

I'd say their future might be kind of bright.

Yes.

And I can tell you, as I said about Carver Columbus last night, you want to talk about college coaches in spring practice.

Practice, they gonna go through Gordon County.

I can assure you that with that group, Calhoun improves to five and seven in the state finals.

For so many years under Coach Howland, they kept running into that juggernaut Buford.

Yes, then, then they ran into what a Robbins a couple years ago, wouldn't it?

Yep.

But here today is his wife and son.

They defeat Jefferson 20 to 7.

You just love to see it at the end of the day.

It's your family.

When you go at home at night after a long day of practice, your family, man.

Listen, both of these.

Every team in this building, Matt, has started in January.

I mean, you start lifting weights in January and you don't stop this schedule until right here tonight.

It's a privilege to be here, but to win it.

So much goes into it.

And Amari Winston, who signed with the Texas Longhorns a couple of weeks ago, leaving this week.

His team is playing Saturday in the College Football Playoff against Clemson.

He's got his Texas gloves on.

What a way to cap your high school career and head into your college career.

Bitter into the season for a Jefferson team that really played like a number one seed in the month of November.

Correct.

But the injuries to Gavin Markey certainly did not help them today as he was not able to operate at 100% capacity.

But it's part of the game.

Absolutely.

Game 15 in State of Georgia, everyone's gonna have bumps.

And Bruce Cruises.

Gutsy performance by Jefferson and their quarterback tonight.

Calhoun finishes the season 12 and 3.

Will tell you, if I tell Clay STEVENSON when they're one in three, coach, you go real off 11 to win this thing.

I'm not sure he'd believed.

No, at that point he was just hoping to get a win the next Friday.

Yes, he was absolutely one in three but just kept stacking those wins, one right after another until he reached 11.

The moment his son will never forget.

Now, Clay Stevenson, Amari Winston McCady.

Griffin climbing up there on the stage.

Clayton Goad, Carlos Lopez.

Lopez, the kicker.

He absolutely.

They better have Jordan up there.

I can tell you the kicker and the DB better be there.

And how about this?

Look who's up on the podium.

The guy that wins Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game doesn't even make the podium for the state championship trophy.

Let's.

So let's send it down to John Nelson.

Thank you very much.

Matt Stewart.

Time to hand out another trophy to a community that has gotten them in the past.

But it's been the first time in a long time tonight.

And to do it it is the executive director of the Georgia High School Association, Dr. Tim Scott, and our friends from Alpha Insurance.

Thank you, John.

First, I want to say congratulations to a great season for Jefferson High School.

Give them a big round of applause.

And also to the community of Jefferson, great job supporting your team.

Thank you for being here.

We appreciate it so much.

And now for the folks of Calhoun, thank you for being here.

Congratulations.

So, coach, on behalf of Alpha Insurance and the Georgia High School association, want to say congratulations on being the 2024 state champions Calhoun High School.

As that gets passed down.

Clay, you join me for a second?

Yes, sir.

I know that you love those kinds of bats that you get at the end of a season.

No doubt.

Following the end of the game, please exit down through the Mercedes Benz and Delta clubs again.

Reminder, following the end of the please exit down through the Mercedes Benz and Delta clubs as all things work together for good.

Doesn't matter what we're doing.

For call to point according to his purpose.

So want to make sure that those guys understand their purpose is far greater than what we do on a Wednesday afternoon or Friday night.

But our purpose tonight was coming here and win that.

And that's what we did.

So super proud of these guys right here in black.

And the Calhoun community out there in the stands.

You know what winning the last game of the year means.

2011, 2014, 2017 with someone named Lamb.

And 2024.

And 2024.

Yes, I was building to that, sir.

What does it mean to the community to see that?

What does it mean to you guys to see that?

What does it mean to the community to see this?

Oh, it's awesome.

You know, the guys in black and gold did the work, but our Cal community supported us for.

For a long time.

Our cheerleaders, our band Our administration and the fans showed up.

So super proud of everybody from Calhoun and glad to get this trophy back to Calhoun.

And I know that one person in particular, after you got your bath, hugged you and said, I am so proud of you.

What's it like to get that kind of of a response?

Probably the best hug you could ever get.

Yeah.

Oh, these guys are who I'm proud of.

A lot of blood, sweat and tears go into games, 15 or 15 games and to come out on top, just super proud of those guys.

Super proud and reason to be.

Calhoun trophies heading to your home.

Let's send it back upstairs to Matt.

Fifth straight, fifth state championship for the Calhoun Yellowjackets as they defeat Jefferson by a final score of 20 to 7.

And our Cotton Commission player of the game is Trace Hawkins, the freshman quarterback.

And Autumn Johnson will be talking to him during our tailgate party postgame show.

So we're going to give Jake Jordan the flowers right now, you and I and what a defense performance by Jake Jordan with two interceptions and a force fumble in this game.

I mean, watch the, this sets up Tone today.

Got beat on a ball, then he stripped it for early turnover.

I want you to watch the plays he made at defensive back.

Stays in phase, fights through it.

Interception here, this, this last one though, to fight over the receiver.

Catch the ball toe down.

This is what I love right here to get down on it.

It's the ball game's over.

Don't do anything crazy.

That young man right there will remember this night for the rest of his life.

And one of the 20 seniors at Autumn Johnson talked about playing their final games ever in the black and gold.

And they win the state title.

Calhoun, one of the true blue bloods in the state of Georgia, back on center stage and wearing the crown for the first time since 2017.

I'm gonna tell you, it's gonna be an Easy ride up I75 tonight.

Gordon county will not sleep easy.

That place was celebrated.

How about Trace Hawkins?

He's not even old enough to be on the podium yet.

You gotta be 16 to get on the podium.

That super win here for Calhoun, they come out and shock the world by scoring on their first two poss of the game in the first seven minutes.

And hold on to it by playing suffocating defense and getting a great kicking game from Carlos Lopez as well.

20 to 7, the final score.

We've got Carrollton and Grayson coming up in the 6A state championship game.

That's about 45 minutes from now, the tailgate party post game show is coming up next.

And now for my partner Rusty Mansell and Autumn Johnson, who we say goodbye to now.

I'm Matt Stewart.

I'll be back with Wayne Gandy in just a few minutes.

Football Fridays in Georgia is presented by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

Reminding you to park your phone while driving.

Saves lives.

Heads up, Georgia.

You wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh, hey, what's up, man?

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team jacket.

And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted?

Driving isn't a game.

When you lose on the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free and save lives.

Heads up, Georgia.

At Regions bank, we're here to listen to your needs and we'll customize a plan to help you reach your financial goals.

Our service to Georgia goes beyond banking to creating more inclusive prosperity in our communities.

From education to financial wellness to economic development, we're working to level the playing field so more people can succeed and our communities can thrive.

GPB Sports broadcast of this game is made possible by supporters of the ghsa, including the National Federation of High Schools.

This high school gym used to be packed most nights.

Not anymore.

Do you know why?

Because bad behavior by fans, especially adults, has caused a shortage of game officials across the country.

You see, without officials, we can't have sports.

Don't let this become reality.

It's time for a change.

Let's bench bad behavior for good.

The GHSA football playoffs and championships are brought to you by Alpha Insurance.

We're more than just an insurance company.

We're a part of your community.

Welcome to the GBP tailgate Party.

I'm Hannah Gooden.

We are live at Mercedes Benz stadium for the 2024 GHSA girls and boys State championships.

We just wrapped up the AAA boys game between Calhoun and Jefferson.

Let's take a look at your final score on Georgia's EMCS scoreboard.

Georgia's emc.

So much more than electricity.

So there you see it.

Calhoun beat Jefferson.

Yellow jackets win at 20 to 7 to win their first title since 2017 and fifth in school history.

Let's head down to the field where Autumn Johnson has the Cotton Commission player of the game and a certain freshman quarterback.

Autumn?

Absolutely.

The Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game is trace Hawkins, a freshman.

16 for 25, 184 passing yards, 47 rushing yards and a touchdown.

When the ball is in your hands how are you able to make magic?

Well you know we got great people aside of me, you know Imar, Winston, Judd, you know all those receivers, you know just get it in their hands and make big plays and then I'll feed off of them.

I said it.

I mean just a freshman to take on the national championship stage for a state championship.

How would you describe the journey to do it with these guys?

You know it's just great.

You know since day one during the summer we've been working so hard.

It just feels so good to win the state championship with the boys and look at this community behind you.

How special is that and what does it mean to you?

No, it's great.

I've been in this community so long I've always been wanting to do this and today's the day.

Absolutely.

Congratulations.

Well deserving a bright future for.