By Michael A. Lough

centralgasports@gmail.com

Warner Robins

          Mike Chastain paraphrased the legendary tirade of an NFL head coach when describing Rome.

          “Nothing fancy,” the Warner Robins head coach said. “Like (late NFL coach Dennis Green) said, they are who you think they are.”

          Friday night, the Wolves were maybe even a little more than some thought, and people thought big things about Rome.

          The Wolves opened with a great drive, ate up more than half of the first quarter, and came up empty, missing a field goal.

          That, alas, was not a good omen for Warner Robins. The Demons needed less than two dozen seconds to throw three incomplete passes and punt.

          So set was the tone for the night.

          Rome’s offense was held out of the end zone until the second quarter, but a pick-6 by Trai Hodges on the second play of the second quarter got the Wolves going to a 38-0 win over Warner Robins before the expected overflow crowd at McConnell-Talbert Stadium for their second straight GHSA Class 5A state title.

          It tied Eagle’s Landing Christian’s 41-3 win over Athens Academy in the Class A private finale as the largest margin of this year’s championship games. Rome beat Buford 16-7 in last year’s championship, but handled those Wolves 45-7 in a semifinal. The last 5A finale with such a large margin was Gainesville’s 49-13 win over Ware County in 2012.

          Rome won five postseason games by 53, 56, 49, 38, and 38 points, compared to by 56, 45, 29, 7 and 9 last year. By contrast, it was Warner Robins’ worst playoff loss since losing 45-7 to Valdosta in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs in 1997.

          It wasn’t anywhere near the madhouse some were expecting, and official attendance is likely lower than many expected.

          Maybe a few folks knew something.

          “They’re a good football team, there’s no doubt,” Chastain said. “They’re a very good football team up front, they’re good in all areas.

          “But when you turn the ball over like we did and not make plays when you had a chance to make plays, you’re not playing good and you’re definitely not going to win a championship playing the way we played.”

         Tempers flared in the handshake line as something of a brawl broke out between the teams. Overall, scuffling - there were punches thrown - lasted about two minutes. Another mild scuffle broke out on the Warner Robins sideline about 20 minutes after the game, when the field most mostly clear.

          It led to the trophy ceremony being abandoned, although Rome was able to somewhat celebrate getting the trophy in an end zone amid an unsettled postgame.

          The for the Demons, the game was a little unsettled, too.

          Warner Robins was 3 for 10 on third down, two coming by penalty and the Demons fumbling after gaining first-down yardage.

          The Demons couldn’t get anything going, in part because of their own inefficiencies and in part because of Rome’s front four living up to expectations. Dylan Fromm was 10 of 25, and he didn’t have too many chances to set his feet and go through progressions.

          “The thing about our defensive line is it’s super fast and super physical,” Rome head coach John Reid said. “I think you look at it, ‘I don’t know how this is going to unfold, because they were so good.’ We were really just trying to take away what they did best and try to hang in there.

          “We saw pretty early that the quarterback was a little rattled. Our physicality and our speed up front and the way we come off the ball, it should give them problems and it did.”

          His longest completion was 19 yards as the Demons all but abandoned the run in trying to fend off linemen Adam Anderson, Quon Griffin, T.J. Camack and Jamarcus Chatman.

          Warner Robins wasn’t without chances, even down 21-0 at halftime.

          A third of those points came on the interception. Another third were set up by the Demons botching the reception of a routine pooch kick, giving Rome the ball on Warner Robins’ 28, and it scored three plays later.

          A penalty on the kickoff put Warner Robins on the Rome 44. The Demons lost a yard, passed in complete, got flagged for holding and lost 15 yards from the line of scrimmage and faced third and 26.

          They did prevent a late second-quarter knockout punch when Jabari Miller picked off a deflected pass. Warner Robins had nearly a minute to try something from its 28, but Fromm was sacked for a 10-yard loss on first down, and the Demons ran out the clock.

          Rome’s starting field positions in the first half: own 17, 50, own 21, Demons’ 28 and own 20. The two offensive touchdowns came on the drives starting on their 21 and Warner Robins’ 28.

          Warner Robins’ possession to open the second half lasted less than a minute before a punt punted. This time, Rome did something with it, somewhat matching that first drive of the game that got nothing.

          The Wolves converted a third and fourth down on the 49-yard drive that patiently ate up a little more than five minutes. Knox Kadum, as he did pretty much all night, made the right read and kept it up the middle for 13 untouched yards and a touchdown. Warner Robins three players later got a first down pass that wasn’t, thanks to a fumble. It went just as Reid hoped: three and out on defense and then score. 

           Rome added a field goal, putting a running clock in place for the fourth quarter. That latter fact was something Reid didn’t expect.

          “I told the kids, whether we get in a low-scoring game or a high-scoring game, whatever, if we can keep playing hard, we can come out on top,” Reid said. “We had no idea that we’d be that dominant in a state championship. A running clock.”