Championship Gameday: On the teams and coaches, a scouting report, and predictions for Warner Robins vs. Calhoun

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

Scouting Report (analysis)

          The weather report showed a week ago that gameday was going to be pretty nice.

          Mother Nature changed her mind.

          Now, winds and rain are expected visit Center Parc during the game, more in the second half. Neither team has had much experience this year in bad-weather games.

          The teams are fairly similar in their consistency and discipline, being fundamentally sound without a huge list of power-5 prospects.

          Neither offensive line is huge, and both will play blockers 5-8 or shorter. Both have marquee wideouts, with Warner Robins’ Daveon Walker and Calhoun’s Cole Speer, both having cracked 1,000 yards receiving, Walker with 13 touchdown catches and Speer with 15.

          Both quarterbacks are pretty much pure quarterback, prone to stand in the pocket, read defenses and make decisions. They’ve combined for 507 pass attempts, with only seven interceptions against 63 touchdowns, each completing at least 65 percent of his passes.

          And the defensive work is spread out, with two-way players (JaFredrick Perry for Warner Robins and Christopher Lewis for Calhoun) leading their teams in tackles. The Demons have six more interceptions, but the Yellow Jackets have a pair with four each (Speer and Quin Smith).

          The sudden barrage of moistening humidity Saturday will be ballhandling absolutely huge, from center/QB snaps to clean handoffs to jet sweeps, let alone on-target passing and making catches. Friday’s action at Center Parc was disrupted a bit by massive fog that chose to stay around.

          Neither quarterback is prone to take off too quick from the pocket: Warner Robins’ Christon Lane has 53 yards on 51 carries with three touchdowns, and Calhoun’s Christian Lewis has 50 yards and six touchdowns on 58 carries.

          A year ago, folks thought Warner Robins and Cartersville were evenly matched teams with major postseason pedigrees, and the Demons roadgraded the Purple Hurricanes 62-28 on a cloudy day.

          Yet again, here are two evenly matched teams with major postseason pedigrees.

Maxwell Ratings/Georgia High School Football Daily Prediction: Warner Robins 28, Calhoun 21

The Sports Report pick: Some sunshine and a bright start to the day made both teams happy, but the impending weather is likely to have more of an impact on Calhoun, which throws more.

          Both have quality running backs – Warner Robins’ Fred Perry has 1,208 yards and 22 TDs and Calhoun’s Caden Williams has 1,356 and 16 – with quality No. 2s in Chaz Sturn for Warner Robins and Gage Leonard for Calhoun. And both have key two-way players.

          So, with the humidity and weather, conditioning and regulating some snaps will be big. Somebody other than a “headliner” is likely to come up with the key momentum-changing play or two.

          And that player is likely to be wearing cardinal and white.

          Warner Robins by 14