WARNER ROBINS -- Ty Odom might never get the chance to throw the ball 40 times in a game as Warner Robins’ starting quarterback.
But he’s fine with that as long as the Demons keep winning. And they have done plenty of that in Odom’s senior season.
Odom and the Demons travel to Lovejoy on Friday for the GHSA Class AAAA semifinals with the winner advancing to next week’s championship game. At 11-2, the Demons have had a bounce-back season after going 2-8 last year and not reaching the playoffs since 2006.
“This team, we have a will to win, and we have the drive to win after last year,” Odom said. “We had 5:30 workouts in the mornings during the offseason, and everyone was working hard. It takes guys willing to work and just focused on winning. We just wanted to do everything we could to win; that’s all that is important for us.”
For Odom, that means taking a bit of back seat to a dominant running game and accepting his role running he offense.
Odom has completed 74-of-164 passes for 1,119 yards and 12 touchdowns this season. Warner Robins’ running game has piled up 2,731 yards on 514 attempts, led by Brian Sutton with 923 yards and Stephon Cross with 581. DeAnthony Mack and Dede Wright also both have more than 400 yards, as well.
Odom has added two touchdown runs to his scoring total.
“I still get to throw the ball 12 to 20 times a game, and that’s enough to have a balanced attack with how strong our running game is,” Odom said. “Sure, I’d like to throw it 40 times, but if we throw it 20 times a game and win games, that’s all that matters. I don’t throw it a ton, but the ball does go through my hands on every play, and I have to run the offense that way.
“I have to be a field general or a coach on the field and do what’s right for the offense.”
Odom and the Demons must be doing something right. They have won eight straight entering Friday’s game, and they have rebounded from a four-season stretch that saw them win only 16 games.
“He has improved greatly over last year, and his progress has gone right along with our improvement overall,” Warner Robins head coach Bryan Way said of his quarterback. “We’re an offense that runs it 70 to 75 percent of the time, but he is more than capable of throwing the ball and doing what we need him to do.”
That includes leading the Demons to wins on the road.
Warner Robins has lost only one game on the road this season: the season opener at Peach County. The Demons’ past two wins in the playoffs -- over Chattahoochee and East Paulding -- have both come on the road.
“We’ve gone on the road and won games, and that says there’s something special about this team,” Odom said. “It’s always great to win a game, but to go on the road and beat a team in its own stadium, that’s a lot of fun and is really exciting.”
