Bainbridge, Warner Robins to battle in huge region championship game at The Mac
Warner Robins hosts Bainbridge on Friday in the biggest regular-season game for the Demons since, well, awhile, and even longer against somebody not named "Northside."
There was a non-region game between Atlanta Journal-Constitution No. 4 Warner Robins and No. 1 Lowndes back in 2000, won 48-25 by the Demons.
Warner Robins was No. 5 in Class 4A and Baldwin No. 4 when they were region mates in Class AAAA in 1983, the Demons winning 17-7, but with three region games left.
So, indeed, it's been awhile since the Demons and their opponent were both ranked this high and playing in the finale for a region title and top seed in the playoffs, with Bainbridge No. 5 and Warner Robins No. 4 in the latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution Class 5A poll.
"We've had a real good week of practice this week," Warner Robins second-year head coach Mike Chastain said. "We're as healthy as we've been all season. Maybe the healthiest we've been all year."
Warner Robins hasn't been 9-0 since the state championship year of 2004, when the Demons were 9-0-1 in the regular season, opening with a 7-7 tie with Houston County.
So they haven't had a perfect regular season since 2000, when they ended up 11-1.
Bainbridge has been similarly up and down - a little more down - the past decade or two. Since 2000, the Bearcats have had 10 winning seasons. At 7-2 this year, they were 5-6 last year and 13-1 in 2015, their best season since winning the state championship in Class 3A with a 14-1 mark in 1982.
The Demons went 11-3 that year and reached the Class 4A semifinals.
Bainbridge opened this season at No. 3, fell out after losing to Class 6A –and No. 1 for several weeks – Lee County and returned to the pools in late September.
The Bearcats haven’t had many such monster 10th-game region-title showdowns in long time, either.
Back in 1993, Bainbridge – and head coach Sonny Smart and defensive back Kirby Smarter – were No. 10 when they beat No. 9 Tift County 38-15 to take the Region 1-AAAA title.
And things are in place for the game to live up to any and all hype.
Bainbridge has Dameon Pierce, a former Alabama commit who changed to Florida – over Auburn - in August. With the firing of Jim McElwain, it’s a safe bet that some familiar major-college faces will be at Friday’s game to show interest in flipping Pierce.
The 5-11, 205-pounder was third in the state entering last week’s games with 1,540 yards, and is up to 1,709 yards with 26 touchdowns and a 100-yard game every week this season, according to the latest information posted to Maxpreps.
He’s averaging 213.6 yards a game and 10.3 yards a carry, and has passed 6,300 yards for his career, and is unofficially 12th on the state’s all-time list.
Pierce, who also called Auburn a “home away from home” in between commitments, is a four-star, according to 247Sports.com.
Warner Robins’ offensive tackle Christian Armstrong is a four-star prospect and No. 37 overall in the state. He has committed to Florida State.
Junior quarterback Dylan Fromm is in the top 15 in the state with 2,169 passing yards, and he has completed 61 percent of his passes. Julius Cobbs is in the top 25 with 768 receiving yards.
"They're fast on defense," Chastain said of Bainbridge. "I think they're similar to a Lee County."
And the Demons' Eli Mashburn is one of the top kicking weapons in the state, having booted three game-winning field goals in the final seconds this season.
The region champ hosts the No. 4 team from Region 2, currently 1-9/1-3 South Effingham, a 34-2 loser to Class 4A West Laurens in mid-September. Second place hosts the third-place team from that region, either New Hampstead (5-3/2-1) or Ware County (3-5/2-1).