WARNER ROBINS – Mark Wright faked the inside hand- off and sprinted around right end to give the Demons a 9-3 lead with one minute left in the game. Jake Grubbs kicked the extra point make it 10-3 and that’s how it ended.
The Demons scored all of their points by taking advantage of Eagles miscues. A muffed punt reception recovered by Warner Robins’ Stephen Clark gave the Demons possession at the Northside 13. Four plays later Warner Robins scored.
The Eagles uncharacteristically turned the ball over four times in the game, three of the turnovers were interceptions.
“What can you say,” said Warner Robins head coach Bryan Way. “Our defense played great.”
Maurice Gray, starting only his fourth game as a defensive back for the Demons, intercepted two passes in the first half.
“I knew they were going to throw to their best receiver,” Gray said. “I just went for the ball.”
His first pick led to a Jake Grubbs 41-yard field goal as time ran out in the first quarter. Gray outran Northside’s Spencer Hill to the 33-yard pass and made an over-the-shoulder catch that gave the Demons possession on their own three.
Warner Robins used the remaining seven minutes and 52 seconds of the first quarter to get Grubbs within field goal range.
A Mark Wright pass to Alton Sanders led to a 39-yard gain that set up the three-pointer.
“We don’t do as good a job throwing it around like they do,” Way said of Northside’s passing attack, “but we do throw it.”
Warner Robins passed for 57 yards, both of them Wright to Sanders. Northside ran their offense from the shotgun and relied predominately on short passes.
Jacobi Rodrigues completed 13 of 20 pass for 106 yards and three interceptions. The Eagles first three plays from scrimmage were tosses to the flat.
His longest pass was a 31-yarder to Nick Cherney in the fourth quarter, and Cherney gained 20 of that on his own.
Each time Rodrigues went deep, he was picked. He attempted a 32-yard pass in the fourth, but defensive back Dominque Davenport got position on the receiver and made the interception to kill the Eagles drive and give the Demons the ball at their eight.
“Not too many teams can drive for scores completing five-yard passes,” Way said. “Our guys were well prepared, and they played like it, We didn’t give up any big plays.”
For a team that averages over 215 yards a game rushing, Northside was held to 75 yards on 18 carries.
The same was happening to Warner Robins. They rush for over 300 yards a game, but against Northside’s defense, mustered 144 yards on 43 carries for a 3.3 yards per carry.
Warner Robins led 3-0 at the half, but the Eagles’ Sean Mayo tied the game at 3-3 with a 28-yard field goal.
The Demons’ 11 yard line was the closest the Northside offense came in the game.
“We were gong to make them earn it,” Way said. “They have a sophomore quarterback like we do, and he made a couple of throws they probably wished he hadn’t.”
WR: 3 0 0 7 – 10 NS: 0 3 0 0 – 3 Scoring summary: First quarter: WR – Jake Grubbs 41-yard field goal. Third quarter: NS – Sean Mayo 28-yard field goal. Fourth quarter: WR – Mark Wright 2-yard run (Grubbs kick). WR NS 11 FD 8 43-144 Rush-yrds 18-75 57 Pass-yrds 106 2-6-0 Com-Att-Int 13-20-3 3-35 Punts-yrds 3-40 2-1 Fmbls-lst 2-1 4-40 Pens-yrds 2-10 Leaderboard: Rushing – (WR) Kyle Hicks 13-65; (NS) Jacobi Rodrigues 8-36. Passing – (WR) Mark Wright 2-6-57; (NS) Rodrigues 13-20-106. Receiving – (WR) Alton Sanders 2-57; (NS) Nick Chereny 5-51, Spencer Hill 4 -28.
