GREYHOUND FOOTBALL
Healthy as they had been since early in the season, the Greyhounds hit back time after time against Warner Robins on Friday at Greyhound Field.
But in games where teams swap score upon score, missed chances to keep the pace or move ahead can at times make a difference, and that was the case for Jones County on Friday as Warner Robins outlasted Jones County in the final quarter to win 54-30.
The Greyhounds trailed by a score as late as 2:49 to go in the third quarter, down 38-30 before the Demons rolled up two touchdowns and a safety in a span of 12:26 on a night in which Warner Robins that changed offensive coordinators midseason, appeared to click on all offensive cylinders, racking up 550 yards. It came as the Demons outpaced the Greyhounds offense that was at its most potent mode since the second game of the season against Dacula as JCHS hit up Warner Robins for 340 yards as Javious Bond played for the first time since Sept. 2 against Perry, rushing 16 times for 86 yards. Quarterback Judd Anderson was 22-of-40 for 236 yards, coming within 20 yards of matching a mark set in game two against Dacula with his three touchdowns matching a season high.
Still, it was not quite enough to stay even with Warner Robins that in the end can now win the region Friday with a win against Locust Grove and an Ola victory against Dutchtown.
As for the Greyhounds, their postseason lives are now on the line Friday at Union Grove. The postseason scenario is fairly simple. A win gets the Greyhounds (7-2, 3-2) into the playoffs while a loss gives that spot to Union Grove since a Greyhound loss would put each team with 3-3 region records. Either way, Jones County would play on the road in the state playoffs at either Ware County or Coffee.
“It’s a tough loss. You hate to lose one late in the year just before you have a chance to go to the playoffs,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Chastain said. “But if we take care of business Friday, we have a good chance to be in a good spot. We’ve played some really good teams; we just have to get it all together all in one night.”
A Jones County win and Dutchtown win against Ola would put the Greyhounds fourth in the region with an Ola win placing Jones County third.
Of course, the Ola-Dutchtown result will mean nothing to Jones County’s postseason hopes should JCHS lose Friday at Union Grove.
The Greyhounds have won seven in a row in the series, including 38-22 last year and 62-22 the year before with just
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one of those seven wins being by fewer than 10 points. But past history against opponents counts for little once the game starts, as shown earlier this year when Ola beat Jones County after coming up short in eight previous tries.
“We’re going into a game where if we lose, we’re done. Our guys have to know that,” Chastain said. “We’ll just continue to talk about how we feel like we can beat any team in the state, but the flip side is that we can lose to any team in the state, too.”
Jones County found itself rallying from behind early on Friday against Warner Robins. A deep 64-yard pass down the far sideline was hauled in by Isaiah Canion for a touchdown and 7-0 lead, and the Greyhounds started slow offensively, seeing their first two drives go three and out, included the first two plays from scrimmage being a sack and tackle for a loss.
But the Greyhounds dug in and battled, even in the face of the adversity of two first-half turnovers, the first half of a total of four on the night by Jones County.
The Greyhounds stopped the Demons early offensive surge with a fourth-down stop near midfield and got on the board early in the second quarter by way of Bond on special teams, as he blocked a punt and returned it as Jones County trailed 7-6 with 10:26 to go in the second quarter.
“If we’re fully healthy, we’re a really good team,” Chastain said. “Javious came back and played extremely hard. He helped us a lot.”
With that, the offensive back and forth was underway. Warner Robins quarterback Chase Reese slipped through the Greyhound defense for a 64-yard touchdown, and the Greyhounds answered with a drive downfield to score on a 14-yard pass from Anderson to Eli Chastain, trailing 14-13 with 6:06 to go until halftime.
Down 17-13 following a 40-yard Warner Robins field goal, untimely penalties bit the Greyhounds. After a punt into Demons territory was called back due to a penalty, the re-kick landed in Greyhound territory, and the very next play was a 36-yard screen pass on a touchdown to Chaz Sturn, who had nine catches for 181 yards. It put the Demons up 24-13 before another JCHS drive stalled inside the 10-yard line, where a Brendan Waters field goal made it 24-16 at the half.
The Greyhounds came out firing to begin the third quarter when Anderson found Tyler Stewart for a touchdown from 49 yards away, and a two-point conversion pass from Ed Chester to Anderson tied it at 24-24 with 11:00 to go in the third. From there, however, the Demons started to pull away, going up 31-24. Jones County had a chance to draw even before an interception inside the Warner Robins 20 ended the scoring chance. A long screen to Sturn moved the Demons down field and a two-yard run extended the lead to 38-24 with 3:26 to go.
Still, Jones County was not yet out of it, especially when Stewart hauled in his second touchdown pass, this one from 58 yards cut the Warner Robins lead to 38-30 with 2:49 to play. Even after a 15-yard touchdown run by Sturn made it 44-30 with 20 seconds left in the third quarter, Stewart would keep the hopes of a comeback alive with an interception at the goal line to prevent a score. But the Demons cashed in on the field position, getting a sack for a safety and 46-30 lead with 11:33 to go, and Warner Robins added another score down the stretch to seal the win.
“We still feel really good about our team,” Chastain said. “Warner Robins is a really good team and is doing some good things. They still have some really good players.”
