By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

Odd thing about Jones County.

If the Greyhounds’head coach had done the job “properly” early in the season, Jones County and that head coach would have packed up the equipment and awaited basketball to pick up again.

Jones County may have entered the 2020 season a little overconfident, and the result was an 0-3 start. Granted, there were two solid efforts against huge competition, nationally ranked Grayson and North Gwinnett.

Who’s going to win?
          The Maxwell Ratings have Warner Robins as a 22-point favorite, to win 35-13.
          That’s not far off for one reason that Mike Chastain is well aware of, and is partly responsible for: experience.
          He coached a good chunk of players as sophomores in his final year who played, and are now veterans, none moreso than Ahmad Walker, set for his 58th game.
          The Demons have an edge on defense, and offense, and a little more in the chamber on both sides, only a little more. Jones County has the edge in the kicking game.
          At home, though, with so many seniors and so much experience, for all the plays that’ll be made, expect the Demons to make a few more.
          And that 35-13 scores is no rout by any means.
|          Nevertheless, Warner Robins by 19 sounds good.

- Michael A. Lough

Then came a 30-6 loss to Veterans, a state-ranked Class 5A team.

“They had a great plan,” Jones County head coach Mike Chastain said, certain to credit the Warhawks for doing what they did. “They executed, and our guys weren’t ready to play.

“I take full responsibility for that. That’s my job as a head coack to make sure we’re ready to play. … You don’t just go out and beat people. You have to play.”

The Greyhounds have sure been playing since then, reeling off 10 straight wins and earning a second straight semifinal spot, against Chastain’s last team, which he took to a pair of consecutive championship games

Jones County visits Warner Robins Friday night in a GHSA Class 5A semifinal, which may not have come to fruition had the preseason and early season gone sort of normally

Because had there been focus and humility, the Greyhounds would be observers.

“No doubt,” Chastain said. “I think we learned that you have to play this game with a sense of urgency, and we weren’t doing that.

“ We weren’t doing our jobs. We weren’t fitting things the way they’re supposed to be fitting. We had bad eye discipline on defense. We had people not doing the right things.”

When the coaches kept showing players the fixable mistakes and the results, players may have been shocked to realize that when they listened more to coaches and followed directions, good things happened.

Like a 62-22 win over Union Grove, the first of the 10 wins. Two more convincing wins followed, and then the Greyhounds gutted out a 38-35 win over Region 4 contender Ola.

Wins of 50 and 49 points were next, and Jones County held on to beat Dutchtown 21-13 for the program’s second straight region title, and only fourth overall.

Meanwhile, Warner Robins was being Warner Robins. The Demons left an on-field win on the field at Valdosta, the 28-25 loss later award to Warner Robins in a forfeit.

The second-year head coach has the Demons in the GHSA Class 5A semifinals, against his old boss Mike Chastain and Jones County.
Video: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia.

The lone real hiccup came against 6A Lee County, a 27-7 loss in the fifth game of the season. The Demons responded by hammering Class 7A Camden County 43-7, the first of the current seven-game winning streak.

And Warner Robins is in its fourth straight semifinal. The last time that happened in the Demons’ storied and trophy-filled history?

Never.

Now, the program has a standard of deep playoff runs. This is where the Demons are supposed to be.

“I would say that,” head coach Marquis Westbrook said. “That’s a fair statement to make. We’re where we’re supposed to be.”

Quarterbacks and linebackers will be focal points.

Jones County’s John Alan Richter is a junior in his second year starting. Like his teammates, it took a few games to get in the right mindset.

“I think he’s made strides because of his confidence,” Chastain said. “He’s really playing in command, in charge.

“Once he realized, ‘We’re pretty good, I’m pretty good,’ he started playing with more confidence.”

To the tune of 1,906 yards, a 59-percent completion rate, and 17 touchdowns to nine interceptions.

Warner Robins’ Jalen Addie is among the state’s top players, and a 5A player-of-the-year contender. Addie and Richter are both 6-3, but Addie is a major running threat, owning some speed on a 210-pound frame.

Addie was a receiver and backup quarterback in Chastain’s final season at Warner Robins. He saw the progress accelerate a bit when naming Addie as the official No. 2 QB entering the playoffs.

“You want your No. 2 to be ready,” Chastain said. “And he was.”

Addie has completed 57.5 percent of his passes for 1,635 yards and 15 touchdowns to five interceptions, adding 833 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground.

“He’s a guy that can really process it, he’s got a good mind for the game,” Chastain said. “The thing people don’t realize until you play him is he’s tough to tackle. He’s not going to outrun the defense most times, but he’s got real good speed, is deceptive.

“You better bring your lunch when you try to tackle him.”

Mention to Westbrook how smooth Addie looks and ask about his first memory of the quarterback, and the coach laughs at the recollection of the first visions of the then-eighth-grader at Warner Robins Middle.

“He was just a long, goofy little guy,” Westbrook said.

But the head coach knew of the potential. After all, he played with Addie’s dad Antonio back in Crisp County.

Addie completed three passes for 101 yards as a sophomore, running 16 times for 60 yards and catching 28 for 328 and two scores.

But the jump to this level has been impressive, starting pretty much late in the 2019 regular season.

“Addie was sputtering a little bit with the offense,” Westbrook said. “He was still learning, it was his first year with (offensive coordinator Jeremy) Coach Edwards.”

Then came the regular-season finale against Veterans. He keyed the 47-147 win by passing for a season-high 292 yards on 13-of-24 passing, with three touchdowns, adding 55 rushing yards on five carries.

The road to the championship game was suddenly free of some speed bumps.

“He just took off,” Westbrook said. “He strarrted getting better and better, he starting talking to the offensive line, and being a leader. He took ownership.”

The quarterbacks have quality running backs behind them – Andrew Carner at Jones County and the duo of Jahlen Rutherford and Malcom Brown at Warner Robins – who will need to do some blocking.

Of Deon Richardson and JaVorious Venerable of Jones County and Ahmad Walker and Demarcious Robinson of Warner Robins.

Chastain has fond – and now not-so-fond – memories of both Demons.

“We were counting that No. 34, Ahmad Walker, Friday night will be his 58th game in his career,” Chastain said. “I won’t ever forget (that) Demarcious Robinson had 19 solo tackles against Rome (in the 2018 semifinal).”

Chastain then reeled off a list of other names who played extensively that year that are still in uniform.

“They’ve got seven guys that started for us or played extensively as sophomores,” he said. “They’ve got a bunch of guys that have played a lot of football. When you have that, good things happen.”

Robinson has been a mainstay, and Chastain said Venable’s nickname is “GOAT.”

This stage is now more familiar as well for the Greyhounds, who have a mix of underclassmen like Richter, freshman wideout Zion Ragins, and sophomore RB-DB Javious Bond, among others.

None are concerned about the outside “storyline” of Chastain coaching against his former team. A trip to Atlanta is the concern.

One team wants to cap a legacy with the elusive state championship, the other wants to further announces its presence on the state’s stage.

The schools are less than three dozen miles apart, and have only played five times, never in the playoffs, let alone for a trip to a championship game.

A sense of urgency won’t be an issue.