Championship Gameday: Balance, playmakers, championship pedigrees = Warner Robins vs. Calhoun

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          It’s become a regular appointment for Warner Robins.

          There was Dec. 15, 2017, on a cold night at McConnell-Talbert that was made colder by visiting Rome in a 38-0 win.

          There was Dec. 11, 2018 in the Georgia Dome, when both teams did their darndest to give the game away, Bainbridge finally taking it 47-41 in three overtimes.

          There was Dec, 13, 2019 at Georgia State’s new-to-football stadium, when Warner Robins was on the verge of its first state title since 2004 only for Buford to come back and win 17-14 in overtime.

          And there was Dec. 30,2020, capping an unsettling year dominated by COVID-19 and interruptions, when Warner Robins seemingly used all the pent-up frustrations of three previous losses and put a 62-28 beatdown on perennial contender Cartersville.

          And now the latest visit by Warner Robins to the Class 5A state championship game is here.

          Weather will play a role as the Demons try to defend their state championship at 3:30 p.m. Saturday against Calhoun at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.

          The Demons are again a slight favorite, taking on a team fairly similar to their own.

          “They’re pretty balanced,” Warner Robins head coach Marquis Westbrook said. “They do toss it around a bit, but they hang their hats on being balanced.”

          Calhoun averages 21.9 passes a game and 29.4 rushes, combining for 413.4 yards a game. The Yellow Jackets get 57.2 percent of their yards through the air, led by quarterback Christian Lewis, who has completed 67 percent of his passes for 3,038 yards, 33 scores and three picks.

          The bulk of the rushing yards come from Caden Williams, with 1,356 yards and 16 TDs on 203 carries.

.         Doing the work up front is a line that’s got more size on one side.

          “They’ve got a pretty decent O-line,” Westbrook said. “They’re not mauling people off the ball, but they do a good job of position blocking.”

          A major weapon is Georgia commit Cole Speer at wideout (and DB).

          “He’s a speedster,” Westbrook said. “They get it to him in multiple ways: screens, they do throw the deep ball, run reverses, things like that.”

          Speer has 15 receiving touchdowns and 1,120 yards on 48 catches, and adds 108 yards and three scores on 12 rush touches.

          Calhoun goes with a 3-3-4 scheme on defense.

          “They’ve got guys that blitz from both sides,” Westbrook said. “They try to confuse you with the slants. They have good size at cornerback.”

          Christopher Lewis leads Calhoun with 98 solos, eight tackles for loss, and four sacks. Blaze. Hammett and Nathan Fuller are next, splitting 143 solos.

          Both have key two-way players, like Warner Robins’ JaFrederick Perry, who’s a three-way player doing work on special teams.

          Perry has taken center stage at running back since starter Malcolm Brown suffered a season-ending injury, and he’s up to 1,208 yards and 22 touchdowns only 108 carries, good for 11.2 yards a carry.

          The perception of Brown being the tough between-the-tackles runner and Perry being a breakaway guy is just that, perception.

          “Fred seeks out contact. He’s aguy who can run around you or punish you. Malcolm is actually much faster. Malcolm’s faster than Fred. But Fred can run.

          “Neither one has shake you see in the open field, like a Barry Sanders, but they can slice, that type of runner. Fred is more of one of those contact seekers.”

          And will be a major impact player for the trophy seekers.