GRIDIRON GREYHOUNDS
A region title is at stake on Friday for the Greyhounds, and the shot will come against one of their more recent nemeses.
Winners of five in a row, Jones County (6-2) goes to Warner Robins (5-3) on Friday in the next-to-last game of the regular season. The gravity of the game at McConnell-Talbert Stadium is quite simple. The winner will be region champions with the loser facing a potential secondround trip in the playoffs to either Ware or Coffee counties.
The win by JCHS would be its fourth region title in five years.
“Our guys are really fired up. If you can’t get fired up for this one, you probably should not be playing,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Chastain said. “Since you started in January, this is what you are aiming for, the first step is a region championship. Our guys are fired up and ready to go.”
A game with a lot riding on it is no stranger to a matchup between these two squads. Last year’s game in Gray had region title implications with the matchups in 2020 and 2021 being in the state playoffs, the first of those in the quarterfinal round.
All three of those games went to the Demons, who have advanced to the state title game the past six years, winning a state title in 2020 and 2021.
One dynamic gone from past three years comes with the opposing head coach headset. Marquis Westbook has departed for Peach County, and the Demons tapped Shane Sams to replace him in the offseason.
Like the Greyhounds, the Demons have gotten on a bit of a strong streak of play as of late. While JCHS started 1-2, Warner Robins snapped out of a 1-2 start itself, winning four of five games. Two dramatic wins were rolled into that, comeback wins against Ola and Dutchtown. That, combined with a 39-35 win over Northside, makes it clear that the Greyhounds will need a 60-minute effort given the Demons track record for fighting to the very end.
“They’ve got good players. For whatever reason, late in the game, they figure out how to get it to those good players,” Chastain said. “Hopefully we can put it into a position where they don’t have a chance to come back.”
Warner Robins played Dutchtown and Ola to start its region schedule. Last week’s 35-7 win against Eagles Landing came after an open week preceded by a 27-14 victory over Union Grove. Jones County’s recent schedule has been more rigorous. After games against Locust Grove and Eagles Landing to start region play, the Greyhounds two recent games before last week’s open date were against Ola and Dutchtown, wins of 48-17 and 35-28.
On Friday off of Davis Drive in Warner Robins, all of the lead up ends with a region title being up for grabs.
