McCallum wins Halloween game against rival Travis

On Halloween night last Friday, the McCallum football team beat district opponent Travis 70-41 in the Battle of the Bell. This was the latest installment of a rivalry that dates back to when the two schools opened in 1953.

“The rivalry is a big deal because McCallum and Travis opened at the same time,” senior quarterback Sabian Cannon said. “We know a lot of the Travis players. Me and other teammates see their players almost every day, so we know them well, which makes it a pretty big rivalry.”

According to Cannon, the game plan had not changed against their rival.

“This week we were really working on defense to try and keep containment on their quarterback,” Cannon said. “He is an all-state sprinter, so obviously he is an explosive athlete. After we contained him on offense, we were working to dominate and control the line of scrimmage.”

McCallum leapt out to an early lead behind long runs from senior running back Clement Jones and Cannon.

“It’s a great feeling when everything is working,” Cannon said. “When the offense is working, the defense is also clicking, and when the defense is dominating, they help boost the offense. We feel unstoppable when both sides of the ball are clicking and they really help each other out.”

At half time, the Knights led 49-14.

“When my team is up big, I really try to keep my other teammates from getting complacent,” Cannon said, “ especially when things are clicking on offense. I want the team to maintain their edge to keep working hard.”

Senior Rosevelt Mathews said he was happy about the win, especially since they had met head coach Charles Taylor’s expectations.

“It felt really good to know that we won the bell all of the years I have been here,” Mathews said. “We played hard and fought through some mistakes at the end when we kind of took our foot off of the gas a little. We could have prevented them from getting all of the points at the end, but other than that, I felt good.”

The Knights have one more regular season game before they head to the playoffs. And according the Mathews, the team is going to try to use their momentum to carry them deep into the playoffs.

“We are going to try to come out in practice and just work hard,” Mathews said. “We are just trying to get better at everything. We are trying to use the Battle of the Bell as a reminder that we still need to improve in some ways. We need to make sure we finish games when we are beating a team. If we do this, we have a chance to go deep into the playoffs, which is our goal. We want to go further than we did last year, which would mean three or four rounds deep.”