(Franklin, GA) — The Heard County Middle School Braves opened the 2019 football season last week with a non-league road loss at Callaway.

The Braves got off to a fast start and led the game 12-8 before Callaway’s depth got the best of them in hot and humid weather. The Cavs took the 30-18 win.

After the Cavs put together an impressive open drive to make it 8-0, the Braves’ Gavin Barlow pulled off the play of the game when he returned the ensuing kickoff for a quick touchdown.

Big Antwan Carter rumbled in from 35 yards out to put the Braves up 12-8 after the first quarter. A back-breaking turn of events led to two Callaway scores with under a minute to play in the first half as they lead 22-12 at the break.

First year head middle coach Zack Janney says he wants to see an improvement in effort from his squad.

“Callaway’s always tough and they really changed up their offense from what they’ve been doing the last five years so it was tough for us to scheme on defense — but we also had some issues with effort and we’re going to fix effort,” said Janney after the game.

The middle Braves will be back in action this Thursday when they travel to Bremen. They will then travel to Villa Rica on September 5 before returning to HCMS for a home opening match-up with Temple on September 12.

The middle Braves again hit the road for two games as they travel to Carrollton on September 19 and Mt. Zion on September 26 before returning home for the regular season finale versus arch rival Bowdon on October 3.

The semifinals of the small school championship will be on October 17 with the championship game taking place on October 24.