WARRENTON, Ga. -- The football season has come to an end for the Warren County High Screaming Devils.
In the first round of the Class A state playoffs, which were played in Rome last Friday night, the Screaming Devils lost another heartbreaker, 16-14, at the hands of Darlington.
"It's disappointing that our season had to end in such a heartbreaking way," first-year head coach Marleau Blount said. "I wish we could have won and still been in the playoffs."
Coach Blount said he is proud of his team's success and hopes to build on it in the future.
"I think we have a bright future," coach Blount said. "We're going to lose several players to graduation, but I think we have several promising players coming up that will help us."
The Screaming Devils lost several games in similar fashion this season, including close games to the Washington-Wilkes Tigers and Lincoln County Red Devils.
One of the biggest problems was being able to convert extra points and two-point conversions.
Take the game against Darlington, for example.
After Darlington jumped out to a 16-0 lead, the Screaming Devils tallied a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to put themselves right back into the game.
Unfortunately, the first of two conversion runs failed, which proved to be the difference in the outcome of the game.
"If we had been able to do that a lot better, we'd had more wins and might still be in the playoffs," coach Blount lamented.
Scoring touchdowns for Warren County in the third quarter were Coby Reynolds on a 36-yard run with 6:39 left and Buster Wilson on a 44-yard run with 4:03 left in that quarter. Following Wilson's TD, Reynolds ran for the conversion.
Reynolds ended up being the Screaming Devils' leading rusher with 22 carries for 119 yards. Wilson, meanwhile, carried the ball 6 times for 83 yards.
As a team, Warren County rushed 47 times for 220 yards, while Darlington rushed 42 times for 153 yards.
Warren County quarterback Dondracus Dozier completed only 1-of-9 passes for 19 yards -- the completed pass caught by Dominique Menchacha.
The Screaming Devils finished the season with an overall 4-7 record.
