Warner Robins

          Sam Bish is a senior, and a center. The class and the position indicate a calm, patient, almost chilled demeanor.

          Bish gets stressed, nervous, and memory challenged on Fridays as the time winds down to kickoff for Warner Robins. The head spins a little bit.

          “I’ve always gotten stage fright,” he said.

          As he sits and explains that, one finds it hard to believe, for he is bright, personable, prepared and thoughtful, all traits you expect out of a senior and a center.

          But as the end of the Friday school day in the fall approaches, Bish progresses to pregame stress. It doesn’t go away after the anthem, or coin toss, or entrance through a banner to the field.

          Not until somebody kicks the ball off. Then: Ahhhh.

          “When I get down there and we start playing,” Bish said, “it’s gonna kinda go away.”

          So, yes, his expectation was for a fairly sleepless night on Thursday as Warner Robins prepares for its first state championship game since members of this senior class were about 4 or 5 years old. The offensive line’s execution this season – Dylan Fromm has passed for 3,437 yards in his varsity debut and Jarius Burnette has 1,253 yards to lead the run game – belies the nerves of the anchor.

          Bish is probably in the minority on the team with what went through his mind first upon waking up last Saturday after the semifinal win and not thinking of Friday’s game against Rome.

          “I was sore,” said Bish, whose father was a punter at old Southeast in Macon. “They were really big, and strong. It was a struggle to get them where I wanted them to go. It put a big strain on my body.”

          Bish and his offensive line mates Christian Armstrong, Jahmere Bryant, Chris Georgia and Manasseh, among others, got Carver defenders where they wanted more often than not en route to a 31-7 win. The Demons have won four playoff games by 13, 3 (in OT), 29 and 24.

          The fairly stunning but convincing 63-24 win over Carrollton that had Demon Nation – and statewide onlookers – buzzing was harder than it looked. The Demons got past it quickly.

          “It was a fight the whole time,” he said. “They didn’t give us anything. We earned (it). We still had to fight for everything.”

          Up until Monday, Bish operated simply with the mentality that he still got to practice and play with teammates and friends.

          “It was just another day of practice,’ Bish said. “Then I thought about it. It was like, ‘wait, we’re the only two teams practicing in 5A now.’ ”

          And for a good while, his main cause for excitement remained the season opener.

          “Beating Northside was the happiest thing,” Bish said. “I think halfway through the season, I was like, ‘I beat Northside, I’m so happy.’”

          He said the scare against three-win Thomas County Central, a 30-28 win thanks to Eli Mashburn’s last-second field goal, straightened the Demons, at least him, out a bit.

          “That gave us a confidence boost, too,” he said. “We came back from a 21-0 deficit to win it. That gave us a boost in (being focused). I think before then, the week, we played around a lot.

          “I think after that game, we started focusing more.”

          Head coach Mike Chastain pulled out a modernized version of Hickory basketball coach Norman Dale in “Hoosiers”, who measured parts of the court at massive Hinkle Arena.

          “I think you’ll find these exact same measurements as our gym back in Hickory," the Gene Hackman character said to his wide-eyed players in hopes of relaxing them.

          The Demons were instructed to investigate Mercedes-Benz Stadium online.

          “He told us to look at pictures to make sure we get the ‘awe’ factor out before we get there,” Bish said. “Once we get there and we get down in that locker room, it’s business time. We’re there for the game, not for the stadium.”

          It’s doubtful anybody on this team knows anything about the last set of Demons to go this far, other than their last head coach, Bryan Way, was that team’s head coach.  That Warner Robins beat Rome, the championship opponent, 35-32 in the quarterfinals is of little import, or relevance to this game.

          A few might be familiar with sophomore quarterback Mark Wright, who often threw as many passes in a game as current quarterback Fromm tries on one possession. Or running back Alton Sanders, who ran for 266 yards and four touchdowns in the semifinal at the Georgia Dome.

          Or defensive back Maurice Gray, who went on to play at Oklahoma State. Or kicker Jake Grubbs, who entered the championship game 59 of 61 on PATs and 6 of 8 on field goals. Or all-state linemen like Justin Brown and Jonathan Crenshaw.

          Chastain chuckled at how unfamiliar his team was with a coaching predecessor that spoke to the Demons earlier in the week: Robert Davis.

          Friday afternoon butterflies aside and waking up thinking about the night before rather than the upcoming state championship, Bish said, yes, he is having fun.

          “I get happy,” Bish said. “But it’s business.”

          Which is what he’ll be on Friday, happy and about business. And mighty stressed. But that equation has been perfect so far.