The Patrick Henry football team came into Friday night’s matchup with the Hidden Valley Titans with expectations this season for speed.
Patriot quarterback Quishon Calfee took it upon himself to put the pedal to metal as PH rolled to the dominating 48-7 win at Dwight Bogle Stadium.
Calfee finished with 294 of total offense, running for 93 yards and completing 13-of-17 passes for 201 yards as the Titans had no answer for the senior’s athleticism.
“I’ve coached for 13 years and been a defensive guy the whole time,” Hidden Valley head coach Scott Weaver said after the onslaught. “That’s probably the best game that any quarterback has played against a team that I’ve coached.”
Calfee scored two quick touchdowns on a pair of six-yard runs to put PH up 14-0 before Hidden Valley seemed ready to right the ship with a score of their own that cut the Patriot lead to 14-7 in the second quarter after Titan receiver Ryan Mitchell hauled in a 15-yard touchdown pass from QB Jake Smiley.
The Titans appeared to be in good shape on the ensuing kickoff when the Patriots misplayed the ball and recovered on their own 1-yard-line.
But, Calfee led PH on a 99-yard touchdown drive to restore the Patriot lead to 21-7 and Patrick Henry never looked back.
“It was 14-7 and it went south from there for us,” Weaver noted. “Calfee did stuff the rest of the half that people just don’t do against us. We wanted them to have to drive down the field. It didn’t work tonight. We’re a young football team that played hard, but he was the deciding factor.”
It was a coming out party for Calfee, who had had ups and downs in 2014 as the Patriot quarterback.
“Yea, I had to show everybody what I can do,” the ultra-quick Calfee said. “It was like, if I see it (an opening), I’ll take it. We wanted to spread it out. I feel great. This is the first one of the season and it meant a lot to me to come out and play the way we did.”
Patrick Henry led 35-7 at the half and when they scored on their first possession of the third quarter to go up 42-7, the clock moved to continuous running mode with the 35-point lead, sending Calfee and the starters to the sideline in favor of the backups.
“Our speed was the factor,” Patrick Henry head coach Alan Fiddler said at midfield afterward. “We executed well and it was good to get the second stringers in there. Quishon is talented and he knows our system in and out. We just needed to give him protection and let him do things..”
It was a good sign for a PH team that finished on a down note in 2014 after a first-round playoff loss.
“We started in January to change the culture and attitude of our program,” Fiddler added. “Our coaches and players bought into it. Tonight, things looked good as we head forward. Too many penalties, but we’ll get that cleaned up.”
Bill Turner
