ATLANTA — It always comes down to the little things.
And in Jefferson’s frustrating 20-7 loss to Calhoun in the Class 3A championship game Wednesday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the little things definitely were the difference.
At least the way Dragons’ head coach Travis Noland saw it.
“We didn't get off the field on third down. We didn't make plays on offense when we needed to. Field position was critical, and we had crucial penalties,” Noland said afterwards
The stats show that the Dragons were actually much closer than it appeared for much of the contest. Jefferson was 3-of-10 on third down and 1-for-1 on fourth down. Calhoun was just 3-of-12 on third down and 1-for-2 on fourth down.
After a rough first quarter on both sides of the ball for Jefferson, Calhoun ended up with 281 total yards to 225 for the Dragons for the game. Jefferson had just 1 penalty for 3 yards (but several others were not accepted by Calhoun) to 3 for 25 yards for the Yellow Jackets.
But a lightning-quick start for the Yellow Jackets (12-3) set the tone and put the Dragons (11-4) behind the 8-ball right from the start.
Calhoun, who got the opening kickoff, showed off their offensive firepower in a hurry. Freshman quarterback Trace Hawkins connected with Justin Beasley for a 28-yard pass to the Jefferson 23 and one play later Hudson Chadwick raced in for a 23-yard touchdown run, capping a fast 5-play drive in just 1:25 for a 7-0 lead.
The Calhoun defense then stuffed Jefferson’s opening drive on a quick 3-and-out. The Jackets needed just six plays to extend their lead to 14-0 on a 21-yard touchdown run from Hawkins less than 7 minutes into the game.
After its first two drives, Calhoun had amassed 120 yards to the Dragons’ 0. But the Jefferson defense adjusted and the offense came alive.
“(Calhoun) had a great game plan and executed it well,” Noland said. “Getting behind like that so quickly definitely made it tougher. Our defense really played well at times but it really was a lot of little things that eventually made the difference.”
The Dragons responded on their third drive, taking a 9-play drive 61 yards with senior quarterback Gavin Markey going 2-for-3 passing for 37 yards and rushing for 20 yards on the drive. He capped it off with a 2-yard TD run on the first play of the second quarter to close the gap to 14-7.
And it certainly looked like momentum was switching as the Dragons defense stymied the Jackets offense on their next three drives, holding them to just 24 yards with a pair of 3-and-outs.
But the Jackets found some traction late in the half and moved to the Jefferson 22 on their final possession, converting on two third downs that ended with a 39-yard Carlos Lopez field goal on the final play for a 17-7 halftime lead.
After holding a huge yardage advantage early, Calhoun finished the first half with 191 yards to 152 for Jefferson. Markey was 3-of-8 passing for 92 yards and had 51 yards rushing for the half for Jefferson.
But three times in the second quarter the Dragons got into Calhoun territory. Only once were they able to punch it in.
The second half was an even bigger defensive slugfest. Calhoun had just 90 yards of offense and Jefferson managed just 73 yards after halftime. The teams combined for six punts and five turnovers (two on downs) combined in 12 total second half drives.
The only scoring came on a 48-yard field goal from Lopez with 2:15 left in the third quarter.
The Jefferson offense was making some progress early into the fourth quarter but Markey was picked off by Hunter White at the Jackets’ 37 to kill the drive with just under 9 minutes left in the game.
After stopping Calhoun on another 3-and-out, Markey was picked off again, this time by Jake Jordan at the Jackets’ 20 with 6:51 left.
The Jefferson defense got the ball back on last time for Markey and the offense but the drive stalled at the Calhoun 23 on Markey’s third INT in the end zone.
The Yellow Jackets would run out the final 3:26 to clinch their fifth overall title and first since 2017.
Markey finished with 91 yards rushing and 123 yards passing but was hampered by a foot injury he has been battling for much of the playoffs.
“Gavin's a warrior,” Noland said. “He gave us everything he had, but just couldn't make it happen tonight. Calhoun was just a better football team tonight.”
The senior class finished their careers with a 41-10 record with one state final and two semifinal appearances.
“They were a very hard working group and very unselfish,” Noland said. “I can't say enough about them. They're in there hurting because none of us wanted it to end this way. But that's life sometimes."
