Warner Robins has been the dominant team in Class 5A all year and many observers feel that if the Demons are going to lose a game, the best chance may be this week in The Swamp against Ware County.
No. 1 Warner Robins (6-0) will open Region 1 play against No. 5 Ware County (6-1, 1-0), which beat No. 7 Coffee 35-3 last week to earn a shot at the champion. Unless a good Coffee team can take down Warner Robins on the final week of the regular season, the winner of the Warner Robins-Ware game will be the region champion and the loser will be the runner-up.
“Unfortunately, we’ve got two of the best teams in the state in our region to open our schedule,” Ware County coach Jason Strickland said. “Fortunately, we were able to beat Coffee and get to 1-0 in the region.
“This week we’re playing as good a football team and I’ve seen in a long, long time. Coach (Marquis) Westbrook has done just an unbelievable job with that program at Warner Robins. There’s so much tradition and pride in that program. We’re going to have to play as good as we did last week – or even better to even have a chance. We get to play them at our place and our guys tend to play very well here, but we’ll have to play an exceptional game to even give ourselves a chance.”
Warner Robins has a dynamic offense that produces 54.8 points per game. Christon Lane has stepped in at quarterback and thrown for 1,393 yards and Malcolm Brown has run for 892 yards. Daveon Walker is the best of an excellent receiving corps and has 681 yards.
Ware County quarterback Thomas Castellanos, a Central Florida commit, has thrown for 1,534 yards and 14 TDs and rushed for 468 yards and eight touchdowns. Cartevious Norton, who was hurt and unable to play in last year’s game, has run for 832 yards and eight touchdowns.
Ware County is 0-3 all-time against Warner Robins. The Demons won last year’s game 22-19, which gave them the region championship.
The other top matchups this week include:
Cartersville at Blessed Trinity: This is a major contest for Region 7, where No. 9 Blessed Trinity (4-3, 1-1) hosts No. 2 Cartersville (6-0, 2-0). If Cartersville wins, the Hurricanes will play Calhoun for the region championship and doom Blessed Trinity to third place. If BT wins, the region could end up in a three-way tie.
Cartersville is led by senior QB Jake Parker, who has thrown for 750 yards and seven touchdowns, and running backs of Malachi Jeffries (413 yards, nine TDs) and Amari White (410 yards, six TDs). On defense, Myles Forristall leads the team with 8.8 tackles per game, with Jake Brasfied at 7.3 per game.
Blessed Trinity’s Justice Haynes is one of the top running backs in the state. He ran for four touchdowns last week in the loss to Calhoun.
The teams have met three times, with Blessed Trinity winning two, including 23-9 in the 2016 state championship game. Last year’s game was cancelled because of COVID.
Starr’s Mill at Griffin: Region 2 always comes down to this game, but that’s not so this year. Whitewater has already beaten Griffin, so the Bears need to take down the five-time region champions this week to have a shot at home-field advantage in the first round. A win by Starr’s Mill would set up a likely showdown with Whitewater for the title on Oct. 22.
Starr’s Mill (4-2, 2-0) is a running team with a variety of backs capable of carrying the load. Brandon Mathis (476 yards, eight TDs), quarterback Will Yarbrough (256 yards, four TDs), Gregh Joseph (342 yards, six TDs) and Andersen Cardoza (219 yards, one TD). Griffin (3-3, 2-1) has a multiple attack led by quarterback Khalfani Harps (741 yards passing, seven TDs; 138 yards passing, two TDs) and R.J. Johnson (516 yards rushing, four touchdowns).
Starr’s Mill leads the series 5-1 and has won three in a row. Starr’s Mill won 21-0 in 2020.
Greenbrier at Clarke Central: This contest features the offensive punch of Greenbrier (3-3, 2-1) vs. the top-notch defense produced by Clarke Central (4-2, 4-0). A win by Clarke will clinch coach David Perno’s third straight region title.
Greenbrier’s attack is led by quarterback Brooks Pangle, who has thrown for 1,385 yards and nine touchdowns and rushed for 154 yards. Malik Leverett (35 catches, 634 yards, three TDs) and Davin Driskell (21 yards, 384 yards, seven TDs) are the top receivers. Jackson Clayton has run for 505 yards.
Clarke Central’s defense has allowed only 13 points over the last two games, with Khyle Cowan (32 tackles), Jaylon Stone (31 tackles) and Kendrick Curry (28 tackles) leading the way. Quarterback Lucian Anderson III has thrown for 364 yards and rushed for 165 yards and running back William Richardson has run for 388 yards and three TDs.
Clarke Central won 56-21 in the only meeting between the two teams last year.
Hiram at Cass: This is a key game in Region 7 as far as the playoffs are concerned. Barring an upset, Cass (4-3, 1-1) can nail down the No. 4 playoff spot with a win. The Colonels have already beaten Woodland. A Hiram win means the Hornets (0-7, 0-2) can go back to the playoffs by winning the season finale against Woodland. Hiram has won the last four meetings between the two schools.
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