Robert Toombs faces Memorial Day for GISA Class AA title
Robert Toombs clinched its spot in the GISA Class AA championship game with a 57-26 win over Windsor, a team the Crusaders had lost to during the regular season.
The championship matchup will be a similar situation. The Crusaders were beaten 42-21 by Memorial Day during the regular season. The Crusaders hope they can right their early season wrongs once again.
The two teams square off Saturday at Mercer.
"We played Memorial earlier in the year, and we were up 21-14 at the half," Robert Toombs head coach Thomas Smith said. "Memorial did a good job of capitalizing on our mistakes. It's something to build off of; you played a very good half with them, and your kids know you can play with them at that level as long as you don't give them anything.
"The guys definitely came into last week against Windsor with a chip on their shoulder and did a good job on that one, and we are trying to continue the momentum this week,"
The Crusaders enter the game on a three-game winning streak, winning by double digits in all three of the contests. Memorial Day is riding its own hot streak as it has won seven straight games but hasn't faced much adversity since these two teams met in October.
"We had a young team coming into this year, and they have progressed a lot throughout the season, but we have been hitting our stride here in the playoffs," Smith said. "We have put up about 50 a game in the three rounds, but coming in we know we have a tough challenge in Memorial."
While the Crusaders have used their offense to dominate in the playoffs, Memorial Day has showcased its defense, recording a shutout and then giving up just six points in the semifinals. Since losing its first three games, Memorial Day has not given up more than 21 points in a game.
"Memorial does a great job of finding a weakness and exploiting it," Smith said. "Defensively, they have great team speed and fly to the ball well. We have to do a good job of keeping them off balance, having some misdirection plays and that kind of stuff, so they can't just fly to the football. Our key offensively is to not let them zone in on what we are doing,"
The Crusaders have a history with championship games at Mercer. It's the site of Robert Toombs' last state title victory when it downed Curtis Baptist 26-14 in 2013.
Memorial Day also has experience on Five Star Stadium field as it claimed last year's Class AA championship against Piedmont Academy 42-35. It also knocked off Valwood in 2013 at Mercer and will try to win three straight titles Saturday.
"It's a great environment, it gets both sides fans there, and the kids really enjoy it," Smith said. "It's something they can carry with them after they are done playing ball."
The Crusaders own five championships overall. Saturday's game marks the third time in the championship game for this year's Robert Toombs senior class. The Cruasaders are 1-1 in those games, losing to Frederica in the 2012 Class A title game.
"It's one of those goals that you talk about at the beginning of the year, but the biggest thing that we talk about is the process of getting better each week. Our guys have done a great job this year of each day taking the next step," Smith said. "We have a lot of guys who have been there before, and we are going to be counting on their leadership during the game with some of our younger guys,"
This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 6:33 PM with the headline "Robert Toombs faces Memorial Day for GISA Class AA title ."