Warner Robins needs perfection against prospect-heavy Carrollton
Carrollton can be assured of knowing one thing.
If it has the chance to knock Warner Robins out, it better do it. Give the Demons a chance to keep breathing, and they will.
Ask Peach County, and Coffee, and Thomas County Central, and South Effingham, and Eagle’s Landing. Five of them led Warner Robins in the second half, and one – one-win South Effingham – trailed by only a touchdown at halftime.
Three lost on field goals in the final seconds, once on the last play of the game and another after leading 21-0 at halftime.
Another lost in overtime. Another led by two touchdowns, then came back after turnovers to tie it up only to lose by the late field goal.
If an opponent leaves the door open, Warner Robins will apparently at some point walk through, and that’s why the Demons are 12-0 and host Carrollton Friday in a Class 5A quarterfinal.
The odds of being able to do that again drop drastically.
“You can’t survive being minus 3 in the turnover margin,” Warner Robins head coach Mike Chastain, citing one issue in last week’s 26-23 overtime win over Eagle’s Landing. “You’re not supposed to win playoff games being minus 3 in turnovers. We had to pull it out because we were minus 3 in turnovers.”
But the Demons did against scrappy Eagle’s Landing. “Scrappy” isn’t a word to necessarily describe Carrollton.
“I talked to a recruiting analyst the other day,” Chastain said. “He was telling me that they have four Division I players on the roster.”
Now, Division I ranges from the power conferences to mid-major FBS/I-A programs to FCS/I-AA programs, like the Mercer team that challenged Auburn and the Liberty team – which is transitioning up to FCS – that beat Baylor. But Division I is Division I.
“They have a lot of good players,” Chastain said. “But they’re also coached up. Their coaches do a really good job.”
Carrollton is 10-2, the losses to Class 5A defending champ and No. 1 Rome and to region foe Hiram, which finished 4-6 and didn’t make the postseason (but lost five of its games by 11 points or less). Chastian said the Trojans were without nine starters in the Hiram loss, including starting quarterback Mark Wright.
The Trojans finished second in Region 7 behind Rome, and entered the postseason ranked 10th in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Georgia Sports Writers Association polls. They will bring some momentum to their first trip to the International City and McConnell-Talbert Stadium.
They thumped Clarke Central 35-16 in the first round, no huge surprise, but dominated Region 5 champ Arabia Mountain 44-0 last week. The offense took advantage of five turnovers, and running back Jaylan Thomas had a solid night.
The Trojans got going with a defensive stand in the red zone early, and a fumble recovery led to a touchdown en route to a 13-0 first-quarter lead. Carrollton just kept rolling from then on, led by a defense that kept setting up the offense with turnovers and sacks.
The lead was 30-0 at halftime, which was more points than Arabia Mountain had given up in any game since Oct. 23, 2015, also the last time the Rams surrendered that many points (45-28 loss to St. Pius X).
Little of all that surprises Chastain.
“We’ve talked about that as a staff,” Chastain said. “We said that we fell like talent-wise, they’re probably the most talented team we’ve played all year long.”
Wright has battled injuries, but has still completed 69.1 percent of his passes for 1,327 yards. Backup Kashif Taylor is pretty good, too, with 515 yards on 44 completions, seven touchdowns and one interception.
Thomas has 1,566 yards and 20 touchdowns in 11 games, thanks in part to talent and in part to his offensive line.
“Everybody says it’s the quarterback that makes them go,” Chastain said. “But I think the running back is who makes them go. They do a good job of getting the ball to him out in space.”
Or going behind an offensive line Chastain said was huge, and had three of those 14 Division I prospects.
Jarius Burnette came through with the game-winning touchdown last week despite a thigh bruise, Jaeven West picking up his snaps in the second half. Dylan Fromm, who has passed for nearly 2,900 yards, was intercepted three times week, half of his season total entering the game.
It all means that Warner Robins can’t afford the four turnovers and ill-timed penalties of last week, and not taking advantage of field position and opportunities.
“The turnovers, that’s got to get better,” Chastain said. “We had three picks last week. We can’t have that happen again. You’ve got to be hitting on all cylinders to be able to win the big games, and this week is definitely classified as a big one, there’s no doubt.”