Friday Night Football Roundup

Warner Robins Demons: The kings get a rest

The scoreboard looked like a varsity basketball game when the Warner Robins Demons finished their execution of the Camden County Wildcats. The Demons won 77-34 and improved to 6-0 on the season. 77 points was the most the Demons have scored since the program’s national championship winning season in 1976 (defeated Jordan at home 90-0).

Warner Robins put on a show with 675 total yards of offense. Senior quarterback Christon Lane went 17-22 passing for 350 yards, four passing touchdowns with no interceptions and rushed for a touchdown. Senior wide receiver Daveon Walker had seven receptions for 147 receiving yards with two touchdowns and senior receiver Deuce Petty had two catches for 104 receiving yards and a touchdown. Junior tailback Malcolm Brown rushed for 172 yards and two touchdowns and senior do-it-all athlete JaFredrick Perry had six carries for 110 yards and two touchdowns. Perry also led the team with nine tackles on defense.

The Demons have scored at least 48 points through all six games this season, dominating every team they’ve seen. The reigning 5A state champions get a well-deserved break in the season this week with no game on Friday night. The Demons will prepare for the region schedule coming up starting with No.6 Ware County (4-1) on Friday, Oct. 15. Two of the four region rivals the Demons will face are currently ranked in Class 5A, Ware and No.4 Coffee (6-0). Those two programs also play each other this Friday.

Houston County tops Veterans

The Houston County Bears walked out victorious over the Veterans Warhawks in The Battle at Freedom Field last Friday night. The Bears won 35-21 and are now 4-3 overall on the season and 6-2 all-time against the Warhawks.

Senior running back Simeon Askew continued his sensational rushing season with 275 yards on the ground and three touchdowns while averaging 8.1 yards per carry against the Warhawks. Askew has amassed 1,460 rushing yards through seven games and leads the state of Georgia by a margin (he had 294 more rushing yards than the No.2 rusher in the state before suiting up last Friday). At this rate Askew will shatter the school’s single season rushing record in his next game. Eric O’Neal has held the record since 2009, when he rushed for 1,609 yards.

The Bears are on a bye this week before entering the Region 1-6A schedule coming up. After the break the Bears will play No.2 Lee County (6-1), then Valdosta (2-4) and finish the regular season with the Northside Eagles (4-2). The top two seeds in Region-1 will secure home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs and of frankly one of those top two spots are wide open for the taking. Houston will have time to rest up and prepare for the most important part of the season.

Across town, the Warhawks are 1-5 following Friday’s loss to the Bears. They are also heading into the toughest region schedule in 5A (Region 1-5A), where they’ll face the No.1 Warner Robins Demons (6-0) , No.4 Coffee Trojans (6-0), No.6 Ware County Gators (4-1).

Northside Eagles are back in action

The Northside Eagles were able to regroup and rest last week and will return to action against Luella (5-1) this Friday.

The Eagles are 4-2 this season with two losses against two of the top programs in the state (Warner Robins and Colquitt County). This Friday is homecoming for the Eagles and last season Northside beat Luella 43-9. This week may see the return of Eagles senior quarterback Cameran Brown, who’s been injured since the Warner Robins game.

Northside plays Luella at home this Friday, Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

The game against Luella is the last non-region game left on the schedule. First task on the region schedule for the Eagles is a home game against Valdosta (2-4) on Oct. 15.

Perry gets surprised with a loss

The Perry Panthers suffered a surprising loss in heartbreaking fashion against Spalding last week. The Panthers were behind in the fourth quarter but started to rally back with a score to close the gap to 31-26 with about five minutes to go.

The Panthers’ defense forced a turnover on downs and marched down the field to get inside of Spalding’s five-yard line. As the last couple of minutes ticked from the clock Perry called a wildcat run, their usual bread and butter near the goal line, and fumble just yards away from the plane. Spalding recovered the ball to seal the game and upset Perry in The Panther Pit. It was the second fumble Perry lost that night.

Perry lost 31-26 in their first region game of the season and dropped from No. 3 to No. 10 in Georgia High School Football Daily’s Class 4A rankings. Spalding catapulted to No. 9 in 4A.

Speedy sophomore wide receiver Dakarai Anderson had five catches for 140 yards and a touchdown in the loss and senior receiver Daequan Wright finished with six catches for 127 yards and a touchdown and also had a touchdown rushing. Junior quarterback Armar Gordon posted 299 passing yards with two touchdowns.

The Panthers’ first loss of the season put them at 4-1 on the season and 0-1 in Region 4-4A. The blow is one they’ll surely learn from and the Panthers may have fire in their eyes this Friday as they get a break from region play to face No. 10 in Class 2A, Washington County (3-1).

Last time Perry played Washington County was in 2005 and Perry won. The Panthers will be at home for the game this Friday, Oct. 8 with kickoff scheduled at 7:30 p.m.

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