Peach County attempting to end Calhoun's winning streak

When the Peach County Trojans take the field Friday against Calhoun, they will be looking to accomplish something no team has done against the Yellow Jackets in 721 days: win.

Calhoun enters the GHSA Class AAA second-round playoff matchup riding a 26-game winning streak, unbeaten since suffering a 35-14 defeat at the hands of Benedictine Nov. 29, 2013 in the quarterfinals.

After going undefeated and winning the state championship in 2014, Calhoun is 11-0 this season. But the Yellow Jackets haven't simply eked by opponents.

Calhoun is winning by an average of 40 points per game, outscoring its opponents 533-87, including 159-14 the past three weeks.

Even though the Trojans (9-2) won their first-round game 42-0 over Josey, head coach Chad Campbell said his team will need to play much better than it did against the Eagles if it wants to end Calhoun's winning streak.

He said the Trojans have to "play perfect" to win.

"We're going to have to click on all cylinders," Campbell said. "We have to do all the things right to have a chance. You have to have field position, you have to flip the field, you have to make them go the distance, don't give up big plays, don't turn the ball over. Offensively, you have to have explosive plays."

But ending the streak is not Campbell's goal. He is simply focused on preparing his team for a chance to move on in the playoffs.

"I don't worry about that," he said. "I just worry about if we can play well and something good happens and you happen to come out on top. It's just one more step closer to the goal we always have in mind when we start the season."

Campbell said his program won't prepare any differently this week. Calhoun has won 15 straight region championships, but Peach County has had plenty of success, as well. The Trojans have lost three or more games only three times since 2003, and they have won three state titles since 2005.

"We're just going about our normal day process," he said. "We just hope we can play mistake-free football and get some breaks here and there."

And since Campbell said it's "hard to find any weaknesses" on Calhoun's team, mental preparation will be key this week. The Yellow Jackets are balanced on offense and aggressive on defense, according to Campbell, and the Trojans will need to respond to their size.

"They're a lot bigger than us, but hopefully, we can do some things that can keep us in position to win," he said. "You can't sit there and have mental breakdowns or mental bursts and have any chance of winning, so we have to be mentally sharp this week.

"They're one of the top programs in the state regardless of classification. It would be a huge win for us, no doubt about it."

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Peach County attempting to end Calhoun's winning streak ."