Warner Robins riding high with 2-0 start
WARNER ROBINS -- The Warner Robins Demons are riding high at 2-0 overall and 1-0 in GHSA Region 2-AAAAA heading into their third game of the season and second region contest against the Cross Creek on Friday.
The Demons offense has been explosive and streaky, scoring 34 unanswered points against Peach County in the opener and 35 unanswered against Greenbrier last week, but the victories haven’t come without mistakes.
Warner Robins has fumbled nine times, losing four, and has committed 21 penalties, including 15 against Greenbrier. The Demons’ defense also has been susceptible to explosive plays with opponents recording four touchdowns of 50 yards or more, three of those through the air.
Head coach Bryan Way has focused his team’s attention to those areas in practice this week.
“I’ve been pleased with our play on both sides of the ball along the line of scrimmage,” Way said. “I think all of our kids have given great effort and done some good things. The negative is that defensively we’ve given up too many big plays and offensively we’ve had too many turnovers and penalties. We can’t survive those types of things against quality opponents.”
Running back Javian Bradford-Jackson has been a bright spot for the Demons in replace of starter Terry Harris III, who suffered an MCL tear in the opening half of the Peach County game. Harris’ injury won’t require surgery, but he’s not expected to return for at least several more weeks.
Bradford-Jackson rushed for 172 yards against the Trojans and 205 yards last week in Harris’ absence.
The move of dynamic playmaker Marquez Callaway to flanker has opened up things for everyone in a Demons offense averaging 477.5 yards per game. Callaway had 10 touches for 196 yards a week ago and is heavily involved in the offense on every play, whether he gets the ball or not.
“We’ve moved him to a flanker as opposed to a Z-receiver or an X, where’s he’s been the past two years,” Way said. “It affords us to move him around more and put him in different places to get him the ball in different ways. He needs to be involved because even if we’re faking it to him, that draws attention.”
Cross Creek enters its first road game of the year after falling 44-6 at home against Jones County a week ago. The Razorbacks (1-1, 0-1 Region 2-AAAAA) finished winless in region play last season, including a 49-7 loss to the Demons.
“They’ve got good looking players,” Way said. “Their linemen look like big strong kids, and they have speed at the skill positions on both sides of the ball. Athletically, they’re as good as anybody we’ve played and maybe will play.”
Elsewhere in Region 2-AAAAA, Houston County (2-0, 1-0) boards the buses for its first road game of the season, when the Bears visit Richmond Academy (0-2, 0-1) , while Northside (2-0, 1-0) looks to avoid looking ahead to a revenge match with Jones County when it visits Lakeside-Evans (1-1, 1-0).
Richmond Academy is winless and fell 42-28 to Houston County a season ago, on its way to a 4-5 region campaign. Lakeside-Evans defeated Richmond Academy 24-3 last week and was the strongest team from the Augusta side of the region in 2013. The Panthers went 6-3 in region play a year ago narrowly missing a playoff berth and were 4-1 at home, including huge victories over Jones County and Houston County.
This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 10:53 PM with the headline "Warner Robins riding high with 2-0 start ."