Warner Robins surges late to take the Crosstown Showdown for the seventh straight year

That surge helped Demons head coach Shane Sams get his first career head coaching win with Warner Robins, against their biggest rival no less.

“It feels amazing. These coaches and these players have done a tremendous job,” Sams said. “The biggest thing I gotta give them, they battled. They battled, they never got down. They battled all the way to the end and came here, fought. They’ve done a tremendous job with that. And personally it feels good because a lot of them talk a lot of smack about my coaching record and all this stuff. They’ll always have to live with that. My first career win is against Northside.”

To give Sams this special win, his players had to overcome a 17-point deficit with two minutes left in the third, and they delivered with a 39-35 final score.

Northside led 21-5 at the half and frankly, the Demons just didn’t look good.

Their only scores of the half came from a safety that resulted from a snapping error by Northside and a field goal that, were it not for giving up two big tackles for loss inside the 10, could have been a touchdown and their first lead.

Instead Briston Blasingame brought down a 36-yard pass with a defensive back draped all over him to put Northside up 14-5 with 1:52 left.

Then a special teams member for the Demons touched, but didn’t field, the kickoff and Northside took over on the Demons’ 9-yard line with 1:48 to go in the half. That resulted in a 4-yard touchdown run for E.J. Riley.

The Demons had moments, but couldn’t finish the job when they got the opportunity, at least, until they came out in the second half.

On their initial drive of the half they went almost entirely away from the passing game and chipped away on the ground with guys like Trey Gunnings, Terry Wright and Jeremiah Jackson until they got to the 22-yard line.

From there, new transfer Judd Anderson who subbed in for Chase Reese, found Isaiah Canion who leaped into the air, brought down the ball and punched it in the end zone. The two-point conversion was intercepted but the Demons finally found the end zone and were only down 21-11.

“We told them at the get go that we were dominating both lines of scrimmage. We felt that we were being more physical than them,” Coach Sams said of what he told his team at halftime. “They were just making a couple more plays in critical moments. We knew every single time, we were driving on them, we had the ball on their side of the field. We just weren’t executing. I told them we’re playing better, we just gotta finish the game.”

That comeback didn’t really seem like it was going to come into fruition, though, as on the first play of Northside’s next drive Damien Dee ran it 54 yards to take that touchdown right back and put the Demons down 28-11.

Anderson threw three straight incompletions on the Demons’ next drive and it looked like their first time in the end zone may have been a one-off.

The defense was starting to put it together when they showed up big on third and fourth down of the ensuing drive to force a punt, but Anderson’s intended receiver slipped and fell as the ball went straight into Ja’quavian Turner’s hands to give the ball back on the Demons’ 27-yard line.

Penalties helped the defense hold Northside to a field goal, and the special teams blocked that attempt. Anderson then found Cam Flowers 40 yards away in the corner of the end zone for six, and the Demons only trailed 28-18 with plenty of time to go in the game.

After a forced fumble on Dee, Anderson found Isaiah Canion for a 23-yard catch and six points, and the Demons were within one score at 28-25.

Northside made their way down to the Demons’ 21-yard line thanks to Dee’s quick thinking while scrambling, but they came up less than empty on that drive.

After a forced incompletion Northside brought their field goal unit out, but the Demons not only blocked the attempt but also returned it for a touchdown to take their first lead of the night.

That lead lasted for about four minutes as Northside made their way down the field and got it to Ricardo Jones for 12 yards and the lead, up 35-32 with 4:45 left in the game.

As the Demons made their way to midfield a nearly game sealing turnover was, almost, caused.

Canion made a catch but fumbled the ball on a big hit and was in no position to fall on the ball, and he had no teammates around him.

Luckily for the Demons, a Northside defensive back instead of falling on the ball, attempted to scoop it up and missed allowing Canion to crawl over and recover the fumble.

Following that costly mistake for Northside Jeremiah Jackson ran it in 6 yards for a touchdown, and eventually the win.

Northside did have a minute to work with, but the Demons’ defensive line made sure that it didn’t matter.

After his Gatorade bath and hugging it out with a couple of players and coaches, Sams made his way over to the Northside sideline.

There he hugged and talked to seniors like Dee and Jones who were clearly emotional after the close loss. To Sams, even after rivalry games like this one, it’s always bigger than football.

“You know, big thing about it is I coached them for one year and they’re still like my kids over there,” Sams said. “I mean, at the end of the day, I’ve coached them, they’re kids, man, I love ‘em. They fought hard just like it is, and I’m gonna make sure they know I love ‘em and they’re heck of ball players.”

Warner Robins improved to 1-1 on the season following the win, and Northside fell to 2-1.

UP NEXT:

Warner Robins takes a trip to Valdosta to face the 2-1 Wildcats on Friday, Sept. 8 at 8 p.m.

Northside has the week off before facing North Cobb at home on Friday, Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m.