By Michael A. Lough

centralgasports@gmail.com

Warner Robins

          Having hosted the Northside-Warner Robins game, McConnell-Talbert Stadium won’t see anything it hasn’t seen before when Rome and Warner Robins battle in the GHSA Class 5A state title game Friday night.

          Parking will be a little different, seating will be a little different, the visitors side will overflow, and not with whoever the “visitor” is when the Demons and Eagles play.

          And there will be a line for tickets, thanks to unprecedented events of the past week.

          The stadium thought it was done a week ago after Warner Robins dispatched Carver-Atlanta 31-7 in a semifinal, but weather issues last week affecting travel to and from Mercedes-Benz Stadium forced the postponement of six of the eight title games.

          And that has put Warner Robins principal Chris McCook, school staff, city officials, law enforcement and emergency services workers in overdrive. But with that other game every year, they’re prepared.

          “That’s the game plan that we go by,” McCook said. “We know what that kind of crowd is.”

          Security this time falls on Warner Robins alone, and McCook expects 30-40 members of law enforcement, as well as a fire truck and two ambulances.

          “I told ‘em, ‘I don’t want to put a cap on security,’” McCook said. “It may be 30, it may be 40 officers. I feel more comfortable when I have that many.”

          With the weather and changes, months of logistics with the GHSA, assorted member schools, law enforcement, and officials with Mercedes-Benz Stadium were all but rendered irrelevant. And just as suddenly, six high schools had to prepare for something that hasn’t happened since 2008 when the finals were moved from local sites to the Georgia Dome, which started hosting the semifinals in 1996.

          There are similarities between hosting a Northside-Warner Robins game, but a state championship game is bigger, and offers less flexibility. So, it’s likely some ticketless-before-the-game fans will be turned away. There have been conflicting reports about whether tickets used last week are usable this week.

          “There’s still the factor of the unknown,” McCook said. “We can’t account for the folks that had a ticket for those four games that day, because those tickets are still valid.”

          Advance sales online and at schools were stopped early in the week to prevent too many tickets being sold and trying to insure a fair distribution of tickets.

          The change meant major upheaval regarding tickets, and few options.

          Those with tickets from last weekend are guaranteed admission, if they arrive in time, to Friday’s games. Gates open at 6 p.m., and ticketholders will be admitted. At 6:45 p.m., ticket sales will commence.

          McCook said pregame sales for the two teams totaled about 5,100, 3,000 from Rome and 2,100 from Warner Robins. He expects to sell another 4,000 tickets after the ticket-holders are admitted.

          The seating capacity of McConnell-Talbert has long been inaccurately represented, thus large crowds exaggerated, a topic of which drew a chuckle from McCook, who was at an event earlier in the week and listened to talk of 20,000 people at a game.

          “Then you had a nine-inch butt,” he said was his reply. The McConnell-Talbert of today is the same structure, albeit with of renovations and upgrades, as the McConnell-Talbert built in 1968.

          In 2004, the GHSA changed its equation to determine capacity for stadiums without seatbacks to 24 inches per seat, up from 18 inches. That coincided somewhat with increase is size of the average American body, which rose about 25 pounds from 1960 to 2002.

          That dropped seating capacity, for GHSA concerns, to 6,244, according to McCook, 3,122 on both sides. Under the old 18-inch standard, capacity is about 8,300. The average office chair seat width is about 18 inches.

          Scott Hill, the director of facilities for the Houston County Board of Education, said in August of 2016 just before the opening of Freedom Field near Houston County High, that the National Fire Protection Association fire code, which includes entrances/exits in its equation, allows for about 8,200 seats at The Mac.

          McCook said about 1,200 worth of seats have been added with temporary bleachers, and there’s room on a grassy incline past the West end zone.

           “I actually sat down there,” McCook said of Thursday’s walk-through. “I said, ‘This is better than the view I have on the sideline.’ It’s a great place to watch a ballgame.”

          Determining how many standing-room only fans can see the action is difficult, but it’s a safe guess that about 10,000 or so people will be able to fit with standing-room only and obstructed views.

          “I honestly want anybody that wants to be there, as long as we can stay in a safe manner,” said McCook, who said had scores of good conversations this week with concerned Rome fans, “I want everybody to have an opportunity to come in and enjoy the game.”

          He said the black market has become part of the scene, that he’s heard of people paying up to $150 for a ticket.

          This is the first state title game hosted by the Demons in 29 years, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association website.

          Warner Robins traveled to Statesboro for the 2004 championships, after beating Ware County 40-0 in the Dome, and knocked off the Blue Devils 34-13 for the title.

          The Demons were at home in 1988 when they beat Brookwood 33-6 for the Class 4A title, and in 1976 for a 34-0 win over Griffin. They were on the road for the 21-7 loss to Clarke Central in the 1985 finale, and for the 21-0 win over Newnan for the 1981 championship.

          For all the controversy and debate of the past week, win or lose, McCook has one simple goal.

          “Everybody wants me to have a reaction for this or that,” said McCook, who coached football and soccer at Houston County before entering administration. " My goal (Friday) is for everybody, home and visitor, to walk away with the best football experience they’ve had all season. That’s what a championship game should be.

          “I want every Rome fan to leave their knowing that they were treated well and had just a wonderful game experience. As people have talked about this week, from ’88 and ’81, ’76 and ’04, they all remember that game.

          “This is going to be a historic night, and you’re going to remember this game.”