Houston County football falls short in homecoming shootout against Warner Robins 

WARNER ROBINS – While the rain put a damper on a celebratory evening, Warner Robins (3-1) played spoiler for Houston County (3-1) as the Demons defeated the Bears 54-44 in a back-and-forth contest. 

Javien Durham, Colin Anderson, and Co.’s rushing attack made the evening difficult for the Demons’ defense while Antwann Hill Jr led the way through the air for the Bears. 

Skylar Williams, the “Pinball Wizard,” ran all over the Houston County defense, punishing the Bears for extra yards as he bounced off defenders left and right. 

PHOTOS: See more shots from Friday night’s action.

Both teams traded touchdowns and field goals in the first half to make the game 10-all midway through the second quarter. 

The Demons returned a kickoff deep into the Bears’ red zone and threatened to score. However, the Houston County defense kept Warner Robins out of the end zone and the Demons had to settle for a field goal. 

Hill and Durham moved the chains for the Bears on their next drive, which resulted in the Bears going up 17-13. 

On the next possession, Williams had a 57-yard rushing touchdown called back due to a block-in-the-back penalty call. 

Houston County started the third quarter off with a five-and-a-half-minute scoring drive, with Durham scampering into the end zone for the touchdown. 

With his hard-hitting rushing style, Williams continued to break tackles and pinball off defenders as he made his way downfield on a 50-yard run followed by a 10-yard rushing touchdown to bring the score to 24-20. 

Rasean Dinkins had another big night for the Demons, recovering a fumble in the third quarter, returning a kickoff for a touchdown, and adding another rushing touchdown late in the game. 

Hill found Gavin Kurpis across the middle for a 32-yard touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter. 

Warner Robins and Houston County traded scores every two minutes as both offenses were firing on all cylinders with both defenses scrambling to keep up.

Williams kept the ball on a third-and-long situation, juked a couple of Houston County defensive backs, and ran the ball 20 yards before being brought down. Two plays later, Williams found the end zone again to make the game 47-44. 

To make matters even more demoralizing for the Bears in the fourth quarter, the Warner Robins Demon marching band played Steam’s “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye,” in between timeouts as the Demons iced the game with their final score of the night. 

Hill attempted to bring the Bears back into the game, but all his passes fell incomplete and he was sacked for a loss on their last possession. 

Houston County head coach Jeremy Edwards was understandably upset with the outcome of the game and shared a few thoughts as the rain let up: 

“We did not do enough to win the game. We made too many mistakes, made some crucial errors on special teams that ended up costing us. [Warner Robins] is a good football team – hats off to them, they earned the win.” 

UP NEXT 

The Houston County Bears will travel to the Tift County Blue Devils (2-2) in a non-region game next Friday, Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m.