In a nail-biting rematch from an earlier defeat, the Calhoun A Yellow Jackets team defeated Murray County A by a score of 140-120 at Dalton State's 21^st annual High School Invitational academic tournament. The gentlemen of Calhoun A competed along with teams B and C from their campus in the Lorderbaum Building against 13 squads from Northwest and Southeast Whitfield, Dalton, Ooltewah, South Gwinnett, and Cass. This tournament marks the first time in the recent history of Calhoun High's academic team that a varsity squad has captured a major title. The junior varsity squad earned a major championship last week by winning the central sub-region of the NWGA RESA Bowl.
     After a full day of competition, the Calhoun trio of teams garnered a sterling record of 15 wins and 8 losses for the day; one of the matches included Calhoun A pitted against Calhoun C. Dalton State will host its annual Scholars Bowl in April and Calhoun plans to participate. Members of Calhoun C included: captain senior Zach Budzius, junior Richard Faulkner, and freshmen Walter DeGuire and Will Carter. Team B's roster included the following five sophomore Jackets: captain Clifford Lance, Gail Smith, Brett Walraven, Ava Langford and LeAnne Reagin. Tournament champion team A included: captain Anthony Molla, Graves Ethridge, Richard Huie, Joey Garcia (all seniors) and junior Michael Butler. Team coach Terry Bennett noted that the final rounds were held in the same room in which Calhoun competed in the 2006 Scholars Bowl.  Calhoun lost nine consecutive matches on that date; two years later the fates were certainly reversed. Many thanks to team parents Paul and Mary Molla, staff assistant Ryan Lovell and bus driver Roger Gresham for all their help on this trip.