HARDIN – As someone drives around Hardin, Kampsville or anywhere in Calhoun County, there is about one thing people are talking about – the Calhoun Warriors football team.
The 8-3 Warriors travel to Class 1A southern top seed 11-0 Tuscola today for a quarterfinal game. The winner will take on today’s Warrensburg-Latham-Decatur St. Teresa winner in the semifinals next weekend. That game kicks off at 1:30 p.m. today.
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There will be a large contingency of Warrior fans going on the road to Tuscola today. A fan bus is even taking some to the game and there will be many pickup trucks and family vehicles on the road pointed toward Tuscola this morning.
Coach Aaron Elmore and his dedicated coaching staff have turned the Calhoun football program completely around in a brief period.
“Our community is pretty excited about it and our kids are ready to go tomorrow,” he said. “It’s a blessing to be where we are at now and we are no way through. We want to keep coming to play as long as we can. We have to control the ball and keep the ball out of their hands.”
Calhoun reached the quarters last week with a 22-0 win over Bridgeport Red Hill following an 8-0 upset over defending state 1A champion Arcola in the opening round.
Calhoun has continued to improve each week in the playoffs and its defense has been beyond stellar.
“We have gotten to where we are because of our defense being good at stopping the run,” Elmore said. “We have vastly improved shutting down the pass. Tuscola has been averaging 50 points a game so we will have to bend not break defensively. We will be looking to be ballhawkers and make plays on defense.”
“Offensively, our key is to hold on to the ball and just be able to run it down their throats,” he said. “We have to play ball control. They have big backs and a big line. Their quarterback is phenomenal. He can both run the ball and is an excellent passer. We have to stop him. They are a well-oiled machine on both sides of the ball. This is a big game for our kids going into a hostile environment. We have played most of our big games on the road, so we are used to that.”
In the northern half of the bracket, top seed Ottawa Marquette is at Freeport Aquin for a 1 p.m. contest while Forreston is at Lena-Winslow for a 1 p.m. game; the winners in those games meet next week in the semifinals.
The Class 1A final is set for 10 a.m. Nov. 25 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign-Urbana.
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