With its 51-26 homecoming win over Winfield Friday night, Warrenton kept itself alive in the Gateway Athletic Conference North race heading into the final conference game of the season.

The Warriors (6-1, 2-1 in conference) are tied for second place with St. Charles West, and both teams are one game back of Orchard Farm (3-0).

Warrenton travels to Orchard Farm Friday at 7 p.m., and would earn a share of the conference title with a win.

“I told them they have another opportunity to get that conference championship,” Warrenton Head Coach Steve McDowell said. “If we had taken care of business against St. Charles West, we wouldn’t be in this situation. But we still have that opportunity to share the championship.”

St. Charles West beat Warrenton Sept. 15, 34-28.

Orchard Farm took charge in the conference a week later with its 30-27 win over St. Charles West.

The Eagles have won four straight games after going 0-3 to start the season.

“They’re a hot team,” McDowell said. “They started off 0-3, but they had some pretty tough ballgames.”

The Eagles lost to O’Fallon Christian, Lutheran North and McCluer South-Berkeley before beating Brentwood Sept. 8.

The team is led offensively by seniors Cade and Caleb Grimes.

The duo has combined for 915 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, and average 23.2 yards per catch.

The running game has come along lately, and senior running back Tyrique Johnson has 682 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 118 carries.

“They’re a tough team on both sides of the ball,” McDowell said. “Offensively, they’re very well-balanced. They threw the ball a lot early in the season, but they’ve established a good run game, so we’re going to have to prepare ourselves for both and be very disciplined.”

Defensively, the Eagles have given up 13.6 points per game in GAC North play.

Caleb Grimes has a team-high 79 tackles at linebacker while leading the team with four sacks.

A win over Orchard Farm would not only clinch a share of the GAC North championship, it would also keep Warrenton in first place in the Class 4, District 7 standings.

The Warriors finish the regular season next Friday at home against Fort Zumwalt East, and are expected to host a playoff game the following week.

“It’s an opportunity to maintain that No. 1 spot in the district standings, and we just want to continue our roll going into week No. 10,” McDowell said. “It’s going to be a tough team Friday night, but we have to focus on them. We can’t focus on week nine, we can’t focus on week 10. We have to focus on this game right here.”