Nearly two years had passed since Christian Blondin last suited up in a Warrenton Warriors' jersey.

That wait ended Friday in the season opener for the 2025 football campaign.

Under the glow of Friday night lights and in front of a packed crowd for a long-awaited county rivalry, the junior quarterback returned to a familiar field — and the spotlight.

“I was definitely nervous at first,” Blondin said. 

Those early jitters quickly gave way to confidence as the game unfolded.

Blondin helped lead the Warriors to a 24-7 victory over Wright City. He completed 7 of 11 passes for 67 yards and one interception, while rushing 14 times for 43 yards and one touchdown. 

At halftime, Blondin had two simple words for his coach. 

“He came up to me at halftime and said thank you for talking me into playing again and I’m glad he did,” Koper said. 

Blondin added, “I regretted not playing last year.”

Besides having Koper in his corner, Blondin's mom, Stacey, also encouraged him to return to the sport. The signal-caller, who had played football during his freshman year but sat out as a sophomore, started training at the Elite Football Academy in the offseason. 

The spark was reignited. 

“I just told (Blondin during the offseason) we’d like him to come back and play quarterback,” Koper said. 

Like any new leader, Blondin admitted to feeling nerves early on. But support from his teammates and coaches quickly settled him down. 

“Koper helped. He calmed me down, told me it would be alright and to have fun,” Blondin said. “My O-line too. I have trust in them. They’re good, big and strong.” 

For Koper, Blondin was an easy choice to help lead his program who has had back-to-back undefeated regular seasons. 

“He’s got the overall tools – he’s a good runner, he’s got incredible arm strength,” Koper said. “He’s just got some growing to do.” 

With an offense built around a strong run game, Blondin’s size also made sense to Koper. 

“He’s a big kid and we need a big, strong kid back there because we’re going to run the football,” Koper said. “We didn’t do it as well tonight as we'd like to, but we’ll get it down as we go through the year and make the corrections we need to get us in the right spots.” 

Now that he’s shaken off the first-game jitters, Blondin said he feels more at ease. 

“I feel good and a little more confident,” Blondin said. “I think it just takes patience. I did some bad things, had some good runs.”

Koper said Blondin reminds him of a mix between two recent Warrenton quarterbacks: last year’s starter Brandon Johnson and Christian’s older brother, Charlie, who was the starter in 2023. 

“With Brandon Johnson, they’re very similar players. They have the ability to make good runs, good reads, so he just seemed like the perfect fit behind the line,” Koper said. 

“...Christian and Charlie are completely different personalities, but they both like to make big plays and scramble around in the pocket. Christian’s a whole lot more serious out there, so we  want to make sure he can laugh and smile a bit because when he does, he executes better.” 

As the season goes on, Koper wants to see the team adjust to Blondin’s play style. 

“It’s the first real varsity game with him, so we need to figure out where does he like to scramble, what does he like to do and where does he like to move,” Koper said. “Once we get that and get those guys to execute and be on the same page, we’ll be in good shape.”