Being no more than 30 miles apart, the Cartersville Purple Hurricanes travel to Calhoun to take on the Yellow Jackets as the two-teams renew their long-standing rivalry in this weeks ‘Drive for the GHSA State Title: Game of the Week’ presented by GeorgiaContructionCareers.com.
The game will be broadcasted live on the Peachtree Sports Network starting at 8 p.m., and digitally on Atlanta News First and the ANF app.
The Class 4A No. 3 Purple Hurricanes lead the season series 32-7-1 and are coming off a 21-17 victory against Class 3A Calhoun a year ago. The last three matchups between the two programs have ended with one-score matchups with Cartersville winning 21-14 in 2021 and Calhoun breaking a four-game losing-streak to the Hurricanes, winning 50-48 after three overtimes.
Calhoun and Cartersville are both coming off victories last Friday as the Yellow Jackets improved to 1-1 after their 28-20 win over Westminster. Cartersville remains at an undefeated 3-0 on the season after shutting out Hapeville Charter 24-0 last week.
Being from Northwest Georgia like Foster, he knows what the Calhoun/Cartersville brings to the fans in the northern parts of the state.
“It’s one of the best rivalries in the state,” said Foster. “If you grew up here in Northwest Georgia like I did, you have a lot of respect for this rivalry. Both programs have had a ton of success and are hard-nosed and do things the right way,” Foster added.
Following a 6-4 record a year ago, Calhoun head coach Clay Stephenson enters his sixth year at the helm of the Yellow Jackets after the program missed the playoffs for the first time since 1999.
After replacing legendary Calhoun head coach Hal Lamb in 2019, the Yellow Jackets, led by Stephenson have been looking to bring his storied-program back to prominence. The four-time state champions haven’t won a state title since Hal Lamb’s last in 2017. Stephenson has recorded two double-digit win seasons with 10 wins in his first season in 2019 and a career-high 12 wins in 2021. Stephenson’s second season in 2020 was the first time the Yellow Jackets didn’t have double-digit wins for the first time since 2000.
Senior tight end and 4-star Texas-commit Emaree Winston is hard to look past when scouting the Yellow Jackets. While Winston’s height at 6-foot-1 may be undersized for the position, Winston is more than productive on offense doing just about everything for Calhoun. His 245-pound frame makes Winston a tough tackle in open space when he gets the ball in his hand. Winston has played in the Calhoun football program for four seasons and has started each one of them.
The Yellow Jackets’ leading tackler through two games, junior linebacker Alec Upshaw, has been all over the field for Calhoun, making plays on the defensive side of the ball for Stephenson’s program.
Leading the offensive unit for Calhoun is sophomore quarterback Cross Land who is entering his first season as the starter. Land has led the Yellow Jackets to scoring 38 points this season and a 1-1 record through two games.
Both programs know that Friday’s matchup will be a dogfight, just as it has been the last three seasons.
“We just have to get lined up on defense and play hard, fast and physical, it’s what we did really well last week against Westminster,” said Stephenson. “Limit the big plays, you want their offense to have to learn everything that they get, that’s a big key along with can’t turn the ball over. We’ve had the turnover bug the last few games and you can’t do that against a great team like Cartersville,” said Stephenson on his keys to the matchup.
Cartersville is led by sixth-year head coach, Conor Foster whose Purple Hurricanes enter the matchup between Northwest Georgia rivals at an undefeated 3-0. Foster was hired as the head coach of Cartersville after former head coach and current-Carrollton head coach, Joey King left the program. King, the two-time state champion head coach, left the program in great hands as the Purple Hurricanes have yet to skip a beat since the coaching change.
Dating back to 2012, Cartersville has a 12-year streak of winning double-digit games, with two state championships and 10 region championships won during that span.
Last season the Purple Hurricanes held a 13-game win-streak heading into the semifinals of the GHSA state playoffs where they were defeated, 33-18.
Cartersville is led by junior quarterback Nate Russell who is entering his second season as the starting quarterback. Russell has thrown for 433 yards through three games this season along with four touchdowns through the air and two on the ground.
On the ground, running backs Brayden Long and Jacaiden Leonard have combined for 389 yards on the ground along with six touchdowns to provide a steady rushing attack for the Purple Hurricanes.
On the outside, Jamauri Brice and Brady Marchese lead a talented receiving corps for Cartersville. The two have combined for over 280-yards and two touchdowns early into the season. Brice has received multiple offers from major top programs in the country but decided to stay home and commit to Georgia Tech.
Class of 2027 4-star tight end and linebacker, Cole Crawford, is a name Cartersville would love to have back on the field after the sophomore missed last week with an injury.
Leading the defense for the Purple Hurricanes Cincinnati-commit, cornerback Jordan Woods has lead a talented Cartersville defense along with linebacker Tre’shaun Winters, and sophomore defensive tackle Elijah Peeks to make up a strong defensive unit.
The three have combined for 47 total tackles with Peeks adding two tackles for loss from his position on the defensive line.
The Purple Hurricanes defense has allowed just six points through three games thus far this season while their offense has scored 99., accelling on both sides of the ball.
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