By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          There are good starts, and bad starts.

          Calhoun got off to a really bad start, and it made for a nice beginning for Warner Robins.

Full box score and play by play

          The Yellow Jackets botched their first two punts snaps, and the Demons converted them into touchdowns and then pretty much stayed in control for a 38-14 win Saturday to defend their GHSA Class 5A state title at Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta.

          Warner Robins ends the season at 14-1, Calhoun at 12-3.

          The Demons, in their long storied history, have never won back to back state titles. Until now. And they outscored those two opponents 100-42.

          JaFredrick Perry continued his monster postseason explosion, going for 233 yards on 24 carries, with two touchdowns, to go with a team-high 10 tackles. Christon Lane completed 14 of 24 for 157 yards and a score, Deuce Petty with five catches and Cam Flowers with two for 56 yards and a score.

Warner Robins held Calhoun to 273 yards in total offense, 140 yards below the Yellow Jackets’ norm.

          On a humid evening following a day of wind and rain, Calhoun punter Beau Black mishandled a punt snap, and Khebrion Puchoon recovered it at the Yellow Jackets’ 20.

          Four plays, Perry went in from the 3.

          Lather, rinse, repeat.

          New punter Chris Lewis botched the punt snap catch, got a kick off – sort of – and the bouncing ball went into the hands of big 280-pound Nathan Sanford, who rumbled 40 yards for the touchdown.

          Demons 14, Yellow Jackets 0, one second past the midway point of the first quarter.

          "We never really did much to help ourselves," Calhoun coach Clay Stephenson told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "We played hard and with a lot of heart, but we helped them a lot."

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          Warner Robins couldn’t quite pull away, Calhoun battling back to score on the first play of the second quarter to get within a score, after converting a fake punt for a first down and then a third and 11.

          The Demons were on target to regain some momentum, getting a first and goal at the 3. A TD run was nullified by a hold, and two plays later, Calhoun’s Cole Speer made an impressive one-handed interception in the end zone to shut the door on that scoring try.

          The Yellow Jackets were stopped on fourth and 6 and the Demons’ 9 after three straight incompletions.

          Then Warner Robins added a little cushion with a 35-yard Daniel Barber field goal with a minute left in the half for a 17-7 lead.

          Calhoun didn’t do well with time and timeouts left, going three-and-punt and using less than 20 seconds on the clock.

          The Yellow Jackets paid for with it and took a huge body blow.

          Warner Robins took over on its 34 with 31 seconds left. Three plays later, Christon Lane threw down the right side and Cam Flowers went up in traffic to pull it down and finish off a 51-yard scoring play with six seconds left.

          Barber’s kick made it 24-7 at the break.

          "That play was huge for us," Warner Robins coach Marquis Westbrook told reporters. "We had no intention of sitting on it. That's the way we played all year."

          Calhoun recovered the second-half onside kick, but gave that back on Antwon Jackson’s interception.

          Little happened for awhile, although Calhoun embarked on a nice drive, starting on its 34 with 3:25 left in the third after the rare Demon punt.

          The Yellow Jackets drove into the red zone, but opened the fourth quarter with Sergio Sanchez’ field goal being blocked by Chayce Smith.

          The knockout punch was inevitable.

          Three plays later, Perry went through a hole on the left side, shrugged off a tackle, and then huffed and puffed his way for a 46-yard touchdown run, diving to get in at the pylon.

          Barber made it 31-7 with 11:03 left in the game.

Lane added a 4-yard run at the 5:44 mark, and Calhoun managed a second touchdown with 4:38 left in the game, set up by a 55-yard run by Gage Leonard, 20 percent of the Yellow Jackets yardage for the night.