It’s an untouchable streak, one that will never be matched or beaten in modern Georgia high school football. From 2001 to 2019, the Calhoun High School Yellow Jackets did not lose a single region football game. That’s 119 consecutive region victories, the longest streak in GHSA history.
Calhoun’s first season of organized football came in 1925. Seventy-three years later, the Yellow Jackets still had not managed a 10-win season. Only four times had the team gone undefeated in region play, with all instances coming in the early 1950s. In fact, by the late 1990s, Calhoun seemed to be reaching another rebuilding phase dotted with losses. That changed with the hiring of Hal Lamb in 1999.
Lamb came in from Upson-Lee, where he had mustered only five wins in two seasons. His first outing with the Yellow Jackets wasn’t any better at 2-8. However, two seasons later, Lamb led Calhoun High to its first-ever 10-win season. Astonishingly, the Yellow Jackets then rattled off 17 more 10-win campaigns to close out Lamb’s coaching career. Lamb turned around the program and established a sense of consistency that past Yellow Jacket teams could not maintain. His pursuit of excellence was no better illustrated than through those 119 consecutive region wins.
Following a loss to Darlington, Calhoun began its streak in 2001 with a 40-point victory over Armuchee. By 2004, the school had defeated five ranked region foes and extended the streak to 30 wins. The next five seasons provided no challenge at all, as the Yellow Jackets’ region became smaller through reclassification and their opponents became less talented. Calhoun’s dominance stretched beyond region competition, as they reached five consecutive state championship games, clinching the title in 2011 over Buford in overtime.
Calhoun had rarely been challenged in region, but any concerns about their lack of schedule strength were put down after the Yellow Jackets won the state championship again in 2014 and crushed ranked Adairsville twice in two years by a combined 87-23. By Lamb’s last season as head coach in 2018, Calhoun High had won three state championships and 18 consecutive region titles. And the streak? Well, it stood at 118 wins.
Clay Stephenson took over as Calhoun’s head coach in 2019, with the Yellow Jackets ranked 3rd in preseason polls. The fourth game of the season featured a relatively easy matchup against North Murray, whom the Yellow Jackets had blown out seven previous times. However, by halftime, the underdog Mountaineers led 10-7, due in large part to a Calhoun turnover on the first play of regulation. North Murray stifled Calhoun all game, and a fourth quarter fumble by the Yellow Jackets sealed a 31-7 blowout win for the Mountaineers, ending Calhoun’s record streak.
Regardless of the ending, Calhoun’s 119-game region win streak may go down as one of the most impressive in Georgia history. The Yellow Jackets avoided an upset loss for 19 years and gave legendary coach Hal Lamb a wonderful, record-setting sendoff. The streak may be the most outstanding display of consistency ever seen in this state’s history.
