CALEDONIA — After it was over, just before the Caledonia High School huddle broke with a cheer, Ethan Ramirez crouched and spun the football on the 45-yard line.
The junior had just wrapped up one heck of a performance for the Cavaliers in Friday’s MHSAA Class 4A playoff opener against New Albany. He made big plays on the defensive line. He set up his team’s first touchdown with a big gain on the ground, then scored the next one himself. He even broke through the New Albany line and blocked an important field goal.
“I don’t expect anything less from him,” coach Michael Kelly said. “He’s a big-time football player for us.”
Ramirez’s big game was exactly what Caledonia needed.
The junior provided a spark for the flu-ravaged Cavaliers team (5-6) — missing half its starting defense — in a 21-18 comeback win over the Bulldogs (7-4).
“Caledonia’s living to play another week,” coach Michael Kelly said.
The Cavaliers advanced to take on Clarksdale on the road next Friday in the second round.
They rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second quarter, scoring three consecutive touchdowns to propel itself into a double-digit lead.
Caledonia went 2 for 1 around the halftime break, scoring with 57 seconds left in the second quarter and taking the lead on Ramirez’s 2-yard touchdown run with 9:22 to go in the third.
Quarterback Daniel Wilburn Jr. put Caledonia up by 11 with a 50-yard rushing score in the fourth quarter.
New Albany quarterback Braden Shettles responded with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Hicks, but Caledonia got the ball back with under five minutes to go and put the game away.
The Bulldogs jumped offside on fourth-and-1, and Karsten Gullette joined Ramirez and Wilburn in salting away another playoff win for the Cavs.
“When the game’s on the line, you make sure you put it (Gullette’s) hands and give it to your best players, and that’s what we did and they got a few first downs and they iced that thing away,” Kelly said.
The Cavaliers ran out the clock both on the game and on a promising season for the Bulldogs.
“The biggest thing about this team, I think, is their relentless effort,” New Albany coach Cody Stubblefield said. “They battled week in, week out. There was never any issue as far as us not giving great effort. They did it all year. They battled.”
New Albany made its surge in the second quarter, with Whit Robbins opening the scoring on a 27-yard field goal and Kody Atkinson adding a 36-yard touchdown run.
The Bulldogs converted multiple long fourth-down tries on their last touchdown drive thanks to impressive throws by the freshman Shettles and nice catches by wideout Jeb Bolen and running back Jareil Bowling.
But Caledonia was happy to let New Albany run almost four minutes off the clock, a big statement by a depleted defense missing five starters to illness
Wilburn — currently playing both sides of the ball — said the Cavs have dealt with this degree of roster attrition for a few weeks now and are hoping to be at full strength by next Friday’s game.
“We’ve got a sick football team,” Kelly said. “Our kids just gutted their way to that win tonight. It wasn’t pretty. We’ve got to get healthy. Maybe the flu will get on out of Lowndes County.”
The flu isn’t the only thing that’s gotten into the Cavaliers lately.
Caledonia — largely written off after a 1-4 start — cinched up a home playoff game by virtue of a 34-14 win last week over Shannon.
The Cavs have won three of their past four games, with a loss to powerhouse Itawamba Agricultural the only blemish.
Wilburn said he’s seen a marked difference from where Caledonia was early in the year.
“We weren’t a team yet,” he said. “We had to come together. We really had to trust each other.”
The Cavaliers did that Friday night.
On the team’s final score — Wilburn’s 50-yard keeper — Caledonia players followed their quarterback all the way down the field. Micah O’Daniel, who scored the Cavs’ first touchdown in the second quarter, delivered one final block to get Wilburn into the end zone untouched.
Those kinds of plays made it easy to see why the Cavs were able to rally so many times Friday night. After they fumbled on first-and-goal at the 2 on its opening drive. After they fell behind by two scores before halftime. After they let the Bulldogs cut the lead to three points late.
Caledonia wasn’t fazed, and that’s why the Cavaliers are still alive.
“That’s all we ask our kids to do: find a way,” Kelly said. “That’s two years in a row we’ve won a football game here in the playoffs. Tip your hat to these kids: We’ve got a lot of perseverance.”
Caledonia 21, New Albany 18
New Albany (7-4) 0 10 0 8 — 18
Caledonia (5-6) 0 7 7 7 — 21
Second quarter
NA — Whit Robbins 27 FG, clock 7:07
NA — Kody Atkinson 36 run (Robbins kick), clock 3:21
C — Micah O’Daniel 9 run (Reed Frady kick), clock 0:57
Third quarter
C — Ethan Ramirez 2 run (Frady kick), clock 9:22
Fourth quarter
C — Daniel Wilburn Jr. 50 run (Frady kick), clock 8:44
NA — Jayden Hicks 5 pass from Braden Shettles (Hicks pass from Shettles), clock 4:53
Team statistics
First downs: New Albany 15, Caledonia 13
Rushing yards: New Albany 186, Caledonia 248
Passing yards: New Albany 210, Caledonia 37
Comp.-att.-int.: New Albany 18-26-0, Caledonia 1-4-0
Penalties-yards: New Albany 20-180, Caledonia 5-45
Fumbles-lost: New Albany 0-0, Caledonia 2-2
Individual statistics
PASSING: New Albany — Braden Shettles 18-26, 210; Caledonia — Daniel Wilburn Jr. 1-4, 37.
RUSHING: New Albany — Kody Atkinson 21-145, Ke’Lan Simpson 5-19, Braden Shettles 2-17, Dedric Robinson Jr. 0-5 (including lateral yardage), Nehemiah Boyd 1-0; Caledonia — Daniel Wilburn Jr. 12-91, Ethan Ramirez 4-55, Braden Walters 3-38, Karsten Gullette 7-34, Tecondrey Irby 6-13, Micah O’Daniel 3-10, Avery Hodge 2-7.
RECEIVING: New Albany — Zay Jones 1-63, Kody Atkinson 4-42, Jareil Bowling 2-40 (including lateral yardage), Jeb Bolen 4-22, Kaleb Shumpert 2-17, Kaleum Shaw 3-13, Dedric Robinson Jr. 1-8, Jayden Hicks 1-5; Caledonia — Braden Walters 1-37.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion