Warrenton was unable to sustain the momentum of its fast start in their district championship game loss to Hannibal last week. 

Warrenton (11-1) fell to Hannibal (11-1) 55-32 in last week’s district championship game. Warrenton ends the season with the second most wins in school history after winning an outright conference championship and two district tournament games. 

“Just proud of the work ethic,” Warrenton football coach Jason Koper said.  “What I told these kids when we broke it down, it’s not the wins and losses. It’s what they’ve done for the community. And I don’t think they’ll understand that for a long time. But I’m seeing the effects firsthand right away and the good they’ve done for our community. This team’s special, no matter what the end result was.”

The Warriors started fast in last week’s district championship game and had a chance to take a two touchdown lead early in the game. The Warrenton defense stopped Hannibal on fourth down on the first possession of the game to give the Warrior offense the ball at their own 46-yard line. After quarterback Charlie Blondin hit Chance McPike for a 18-yard pass, Austin Haas scored on a 36-yard touchdown run through the middle of the Hannibal defense to give Warrenton the early 6-0 lead. 

Warrenton junior Brandon Johnson intercepted a Hannibal pass on the next possession to give Warrenton the ball back. The Warriors drove the ball from their own 22-yard line to the Hannibal 24-yard line but the drive stalled after a false start, three incomplete passes and a fourth down interception. 

“I got to do a better job making sure we get some better plays in there in that second series,” Koper said. “Have the opportunity to go up 14-0. We’ve just got to do that. And I think, in a roundabout way,  that was kind of the tip of the iceberg that caused that massive momentum shift.”

The momentum shifted to the Hannibal sideline on the next play when Hannibal junior Mike Ferreira broke through the right side for an 89-yard touchdown run. Hannibal scored one more touchdown in the first quarter and three second quarter touchdowns to take a 34-6 lead.

Warrenton drove down the field at the end of the half for a 75-yard touchdown drive, capped off by Chance McPike’s 16-yard touchdown reception. 

“The second quarter was disappointing,” Koper said. “Our attitude, our effort, our execution was highly disappointing. Second half, if we played like that the whole game, we probably still lose by a score or two. But, you know, I think it’s a tight game all the way up to the fourth quarter.”

The Warriors and Pirates traded touchdowns in the third quarter, with the Warriors unable to trim the deficit closer than 14 points. Warrenton trailed 40-26 late in the third quarter when Hannibal took over at their own 3-yard line. After a short gain, Hannibal’s Aneyas Williams scored on a 93-yard touchdown run to push Warrenton’s deficit back to three touchdowns. 

“Williams is a special player,” Koper said. “You can see the extra gear. You can see him breaking the tackles and that’s what he did tonight. He just made plays and that’s what a four star running back does. So do I think we could have executed a little better on him? Absolutely. But that’s just a good player making big time plays. And  if you want to win and you want to get past week 12, you’re gonna have to beat players like that year in and year out.”

Warrenton’s lone touchdown of the fourth quarter came on McPike’s 89-yard kickoff return for touchdown. McPike finished the game with 123 yards receiving and two receiving touchdowns. 

“Chance has the ability to be the Warrenton version of Williams,” Koper said. “He’s that type of athlete. He’s got to grow up. He’s a freshman yet but when you see the big play making ability of him, yeah, he’s got the chance to be that same type of athlete. I’m just glad that he’s on our football team.”

Koper confirmed Warrenton’s offensive strategy changed after Haas left the game in the first half due to an injury. He did not return to the game. 

With Haas not on the field for a major portion of the game, Warrenton shifted to a spread offensive philosophy and put the game in Blondin’s hands. Blondin finished the game with 304 yards passing and two touchdowns. 

“Just put the ball in Charlie’s hands and he did a really good job of it,” Koper said. “We asked him to throw a lot more than what he had tonight. And he did a great job. Not having Haas changes the playbook totally, I mean, he’s a great threat out of the backfield, whether it was running the ball, whether he’s catching the ball when we go to empty. So it changed things up and it killed our depth.”

After finishing last season with a 4-7 record and one district tournament win, the Warriors won their first 11 games this season, including a pair of district tournament wins. They beat Lutheran St. Charles 21-20 in the first round and top district seed Parkway North 28-21 in overtime to advance to the district championship game. 

“We lose some very important players,” Koper said. “There’s huge shoes to fill. But we’ve got a heck of a core coming back next year. So I think next year could be a great year for us. Got to fill in those shoes and see who’s going to step up and make plays. We had a lot of those questions answered this year and you take it to the next level. We’re gonna need that again next year.”