By Robert F. Bonar
After falling to an early 21-0 deficit, Calhoun mount-ed a furious comeback last Friday night, but finally suc-cumbed, 42-24, to the St. Marys Blue Devils at Bill Hanlin Stadium.
The win was the Blue Devils’ first in four games, while the Red Devils slipped to 1-4.
Neither offense moved the ball well for most of the opening quarter, but with three minutes left in the first, the Blue Devils forced the Red Devils to punt from their own end zone, granting the home team a short field.
Four plays later, St. Marys threw a touchdown pass on a 4th-down play to take a 7-0 lead. The hosts scored twice more in the second for a 21-0 margin.
On the ensuing kickoff, Travis Richards collected the ball at his 14 and raced down the right sideline to score the Red Devils’ first points of the game. Adam Parsons ran straight up the middle to tally the extra points, and Calhoun cut the lead to 21-8.
St. Marys drove the ball to Calhoun’s 19 on its next drive, but surrendered possession on downs.
Four plays after CCHS took possession, Parsons fired a pass to Mason Bailey, who had to fight a Blue Devil defender for the ball. After an initial bobble, Bailey secured the pass while hurdling the fallen defender and scampered down the field to score. The play covered 68 yards.
Parsons once again bulled over for the extra points to make the score 21-16 at halftime.
The Blue Devils took the kickoff to start the second half. After a drive that chewed nearly six minutes off the clock, St. Marys scored on a 10-yard pass play to increase its lead to 28-16.
Following a St. Marys punt later in the quarter, Calhoun took possession near midfield. On a second down play, Bailey streaked past the Blue Devil secon-dary and Parsons launched a perfect pass that Bailey caught in stride. The Red Devil receiver outran the defender for his second long touchdown of the game.
Richards ran for the extra points and Calhoun narrowed the deficit to four points, 28-24.
That would be as close as the game would get. St. Marys blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown near the start of the fourth quarter.
The Red Devils blocked a field goal on the Blue Devils’ next possession, but the hosts tallied again on their next opportunity to set the final score at 42-24.
Parsons completed seven passes for 166 yards, in-cluding three to Bailey for 145 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Bailey was also named Player of the Game.
Kyle Persinger led CCHS in tackles with nine, followed by Richards (8), and Dalton McCune and Parsons (7 each).
On Friday, Calhoun will host Clay-Battelle in the annual homecoming game. It will be the Cee Bees first ever trip to Mt. Zion. The Red Devils will be looking for their first home victory of the sea-son. Game time is 7 p.m.
