And in the end

Things could have turned for the worse for Cole Calfee and Dalton High’s football team after the senior threw an interception.

But he found comfort in throwing Brandon Dale’s way and the poise to lead his team through a recovery process.

Dalton beat Adairsville 35-14 in Thursday night’s preseason scrimmage at Harmon Field. The starters played the first half, and the second team played the third quarter. Freshmen played the fourth quarter.

It was an effort Catamounts coach Matt Land is proud of considering his squad was not first to score. In the first quarter with the score 0-0, Calfee was picked off by Adairsville’s Aaron Hinkle. Six plays later, the Tigers scored on a 1-yard keeper from sophomore quarterback Marcus Childers with 1:27 to play in the first.

“We had been trying to go against the defense we thought they’d run all week,” Calfee said. “We thought we could run that same route and stick it in a hole, and they kind of did something we weren’t expecting. No excuses on my part, but we’ll definitely get them next time.”

Coming off an interception, Calfee could have let the miscue stick with him. Instead he found Dale for 20 yards on Dalton’s next offensive play when Adairsville forgot about the senior wideout. After 27 yards on five carries from sophomore running back Kelvis Rhodes, Calfee found Dale again on a fourth-and-seven play from the 21. Calfee’s fade pass to the left side of the field floated over an Adairsville defender's head and into Dale's hands for the tying score with 10:50 to play in the half.

“That’s the advantage of having a seasoned quarterback,” Land said. “We talk about having a short-term memory. It’s good to flush it out, and there’s nothing we can do about the past. We just focus on the next play.”

Calfee was 6 of 9 passing for 87 yards, and each completion went to Dale.

“We have really good chemistry we’re developing from the last three years,” Calfee said. “We definitely expect him to be bracketed next week (in the season opener at Ringgold), but we have a bunch of guys who can make plays, so I’m not worried too much.”

Rhodes had a lot of work in the first half. He had 60 yards on 14 carries, including the 8-yard go-ahead touchdown on his final carry with 3:23 left in the first half.

Seniors Marvin Hill and Jerry Moreno combined for only four carries and 5 yards.

“It is a committee,” Land said of the rushing attack Dalton will use. “(Rhodes, Hill and Moreno) each bring a different part of the game. The package that we were going to run tonight was majority for Kelvis. As we move into the season, those (other) guys will become a little more dominant in their roles.”

The one thing Land wishes more of is discipline. The first team had four penalties in the first half, including two times when Adairsville got Dalton to jump offsides. Dalton finished the game with seven flags.

“I’m very upset with the penalties and being offsides, but right now is the time of the year when you figure you’re going to be a little rusty,” Land said. “I am very pleased with our effort, and that’s the only thing I asked these guys to be perfect in tonight. As for execution, there is nothing I don’t think we can fix on the practice field.”

On defense for the Cats, sophomore safety Eder Mora made his presence known. He had two tackles for loss on the opening Adairsville possession and had a big pass deflection on fourth down later in the first quarter. Defensive end Robert Hardaway recovered a fumble by Childers in the second quarter, which set up Dalton’s second scoring drive.

For Adairsville, senior Andrew Ward finished with 30 yards on six carries. Childers finished 6 of 13 passing for 83 yards and 14 yards rushing off three carries. Senior wideout Kyle Adams had two receptions for 32 yards.

“Certainly the turnover that we had helped us, but I also know the turnover that we gave to them helped them,” Adairsville coach Jim Kremer said. “It was pretty much a 7-7 game at that point, but we moved the ball OK. Like I told the guys, usually the scrimmage game is the first game you make a lot of improvements.”

In the second half, Dalton started the scoring on the first drive as sophomore quarterback Payton Veraldi went 5 for 5 passing in a 70-yard march to the end zone. He hit sophomore Peter Sigmon for a 5-yard fade route with 6:23 left in the third quarter. Adairsville’s sophomore quarterback, Colin Bearden, responded only nine plays later. He found sophomore running back Blaine Bishop for a 50-yard touchdown to narrow Dalton’s lead to 21-14.

But Dalton responded right after that with a 54-yard run by freshman running back Jordan Adams with 1:03 left in the third quarter. Another freshman running back, Tyler Noland, combined runs of 20 and 30 yards, with the latter being a touchdown with 48.7 seconds left in the game.

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And in the end

Catamounts win scrimmage against Adairsville

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