After two straight weeks and two straight convincing victories in the friendly confines of Phil Reeve Stadium, it’s time for Calhoun to take its show on the road again.

The destination for this Friday is Armuchee as the Jackets look to take another step toward a 12th straight region title and remain undefeated for the season.

The defending Class AA state champion Calhoun (7-0, 4-0) comes into the matchup with the Indians coming off a win against another set of Indians last Friday with a 69-0 victory over Murray County.

In that game, the Jackets got to play almost everyone on the roster, and coach Hal Lamb said that it was a productive night for this season as well as the future.

“Friday night football is a lot different than playing on Thursday afternoons in JV games, and getting those younger guys experience on Friday nights is vital to our program,” said Lamb. “I thought a lot of the kids that played did a good job, and we were able to get a lot of them in the game so it was a good night.”

There were a lot of contributors in the win on both sides of the ball with 33 different players making at least one tackle on defense, and 10 separate players being a part of touchdowns on offense.

Now, the Jackets get ready for an Armuchee team whose only region win so far this season came against the same Murray County team that visited Calhoun on Friday. The Indians (1-6, 1-3) are under the leadership of head coach Preston Cash, who took over during the middle of the season in 2011 after John Mullinax left the job for personal reasons.

“Coach Cash and his staff will have their team well-coached, and their kids will be in the right position on the field,” said Lamb. “Offensively, they struggled earlier in the season trying to find their identity, but the last few games they’ve seemed to find it.

“Armuchee is playing improved lately so we will have to go in there and play well, which is something we didn’t do last year when we played down there.”

Lamb is referring to the slow start the Jackets got off to at Armuchee last season in the first half, before a big second half allowed them to win 38-7. The game is also a rematch of the Region 7-AA championship game in 2009 ago when the Jackets won 49-10. Calhoun leads the all-time series 12-7, including winning the last nine in a row.

Even with the 7-0 start this year, Lamb said there is still room for improvement.

“I still don’t think we are clicking on all cylinders offensively,” said Lamb. “Defensively, I feel like we’ve gotten a little better each week, but the offense, even though we’ve have played well, I don’t think we’ve been as good as we can be.”

While Calhoun is thought of by many as the clear favorite with no real opposition in the region, Lamb and the Jackets do not want to have a let down, especially this Friday on the road.

“We’ve got to go in there with the right frame of mind,” said Lamb. “We can’t expect it to be easy and just go through the motions. We’ve got to be ready to play every week because they aren’t just going to roll over because we’re Calhoun.”

Prediction:

The Jackets continue to roll along toward their 12th straight region title, and this game shouldn’t present much of a challenge.

Like Lamb said, the Jackets still have to come ready to play and use the remaining region games as opportunities to improve before the playoffs start.

Calhoun will be 8-0 after this one. Sorry Armuchee, this team is the best in the region for a reason.

Score:

Calhoun 42, Armuchee 10