By Michael A. Lough

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Sean Calhoun knows something about big-boy high school football.

          He was offensive coordinator at Colquitt County for two years and helped the Packers to consecutive state titles. Before that, he had the same job at Collins Hill and helped the Eagles to a quarterfinal and semifinal trip, coaching a pair of all-state quarterbacks in four years. Both are Class 7A programs, and Colquitt County is playing for the title on Friday.

          Calhoun graduated from Berkmar in 2000, and then was a member of Valdosta State’s Division II national championship team, coached by Chris Hatcher, following up years later by being on the staff of the 2007 national title team.

          And he has the distinction, as it were, of being the head coach whose team lost to Friday’s Class 5A state finalists, by 21 to Rome on Sept. 29 and by 29 to Warner Robins on Nov. 24.

          That the championships are delayed doesn’t make him a happy man.

          “I was sure ready for football to be done,” he said with a chuckle. “Then it gets postponed for a week and I get to be (hacked) off for another week.”

          Yet he was happy to talk about the two teams that made his season a little less enjoyable than it could have been, Rome and Warner Robins.

          The Wolves and Demons have some similarities, starting behind center with Knox Kadum of Rome and Dylan Fromm of Warner Robins.

Kadum completed 9 of 16 passes for 190 yards, a touchdown and interception in the 45-24 region win, adding two touchdowns from five carries for 34 yards.

Fromm was 25 of 35 for 357 yards and three touchdowns in the quarterfinal win.

          But Kadum had several games where he had a major impact with his legs, en route to 664 yards on 79 carries and 10 touchdowns. He went off for 143 yards on 14 carries with two touchdowns in the semifinal romp over Buford.

          Fromm has 80 yards on 75 carries for the season. Note that sack yardage in high school and college comes off rushing yardage – and Fromm has been sacked 25 times - while it’s subtracted from passing yardage in the NFL.

          “The Rome kid, golly, he just gets it done,” said Calhoun, a quarterback in his playing days. “The Warner Robins kid, he’s having a good season.

          “The Rome kid scares you in the aspect of he can take it the distance. He can pull it down and really run that thing.”

          Kadum, listed at 6-2, 175, has had positive yardage in every game and cracked 50 yards rushing in seven games.

          “He’s actually a little bit of both,” Calhoun answered to whether Kadum was a power runner or squirrelly. “They do a good job of running that power read.  His decision-making is very good.”

          Kadum will sprint out, sit in the pocket, or run the zone read or power read. Warner Robins keeps Fromm more in the pocket, although he has some mobility. Ironically, his best game on the ground was getting 77 yards against Carrollton.

          “Yeah, that surprised us a little bit,” said Calhoun, who lost  his quarterback in the first quarter of the Warner Robins game. “They hadn’t shown that much this year.”

          But the passing numbers weren’t all that surprising, and Fromm ran the offense well.

          “They do a really good job of getting good matchups,” Calhoun said. “The running back on a linebacker. They did a good job.”

           Calhoun was particularly impressed with back/receiver Jaeven West – like Fromm, a transfer from Houston County – and wideout Julius Cobbs, who have teamed for 1,858 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns through the air.

          “I’ll tell you what, their No. 1 (West) and No. 3 (Cobbs), they are really good,” Calhoun said. “They are really good and really fast.”

          The respect Calhoun showed for Warner Robins was countered by the “wow” factor Rome brings up front, especially on defense.

          The foursome of Adam Anderson and Jamarcus Chatman on the outside and Quon Griffin and T.J. Cammack on the inside is as good as any line in the state.

          In Rome’s equation for defensive stats combining solos, assists, tackles for loss and sacks, Anderson, a Georgia commit and projected outside linebacker, is third with 77 stops. He leads the team with 13 sacks and 20 tackles for loss.

          Griffin, a recent LSU decommit, has 13 tackles for loss. Chatman, who just got a visit this week from Michigan State after decommitting from Tennessee, is second with 6.5 sacks. Navy commit Cammack, who head coach John Reid told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before the season might be the best of the four, has 36 tackles and four sacks.

          That appears to be where the game will be won.

          “Rome puts so much pressure on you, because if you get into a passing down and those four animals they got up front – they’re four really good football players, all four are going to be playing on Saturdays – they just get to pin their ears back, that’s not good,” Calhoun said. “They put so much pressure on you just from a personnel standpoint on first and second down.”

          The foursome, which averages about 6-foot-1 and 240 pounds, teamed for 12 tackles in the semifinal rout of Buford. But weakside linebacker Derricus Smith leads the team with 108 tackles and middle backer K.J. Hicks has 87. Cornerback Trai Hodges has five interceptions and 13 pass breakups.

          Calhoun saw first-hand Warner Robins’ ability to strike quickly and take advantage of what it was given, and he’s aware of how the Demons constantly find ways to win. But the pressure will be on that offense that averages 410 yards a game, and the offensive line in charge of it.

          “When you have four defensive linemen like that, there aren’t too many offensive lines that can withstand that for four quarters,” Calhoun said. “If Warner Robins can get it out of their hands and get completions, they’re going to have success. They really are.

          “But if they can’t …”