WARRENTON - What a difference a few weeks can make.

Just look at the Warriors, who found a way to flip their season around over the course of three Friday nights.

Times were tough at October’s onset as Warrenton dropped to 1-5 on the campaign following a 34-26 three-overtime heartbreaker handed out by Hogan Prep on Homecoming.

But something must’ve clicked in the setback because Warrenton’s been on a roll ever since, notching nothing but victories, including last Friday’s 31-22 triumph over Ft. Zumwalt East in the regular season finale on Senior Night.

And while they definitely weren’t tabbed as postseason hosts before the recent win streak, it’s happening. There will be at least one more home football game this year as the No. 4 Warriors (4-5) take on No. 5 Kirksville (2-7) in the Class 4 District 4 opener this Friday (Nov. 1) at 7 p.m.

“We’re playing our best football of the season and this is when it counts,” Warrenton Coach Steve McDowell said. “It’s a lot better than playing your best at the beginning and then tailing off the end.”

We’ll get back to the postseason in a bit, but last week’s victory is worth revisiting due to the Warriors’ ability to overcome a little adversity.

With senior quarterback Nolan Chmiel still nursing an injury, sophomore Caelon Weir got the start and got the hosts on the scoreboard twice with a pair of rushing touchdowns.

His second from five yards out with 48 seconds left in the second quarter put Warrenton up 14-7 for its first advantage of the game, but knocked Weir out of it after tweaking his knee on the play.

The Lions responded quickly. They scored on a 1-yard TD, with the PAT blocked in the closing seconds of the first half, then went back ahead 16-14 with a field goal on the opening drive of the second half.

It’d been a while since the Warriors had the ball, and they already had a new offensive gameplan drawn up when they did, following Weir’s injury.

“We had to readjust some things at halftime,” McDowell said. “We came out, ran our Power I (formation) and moved the ball very efficiently, while also controlling the clock.”

After turning to the power I, senior Logan Dowd powered the Warriors to the lead for good on a 55-yard run and fellow senior Owen Ireton made it 28-16 on an 11-yard rumble with five seconds left in the third.

Ireton became the 11th Warrior to find the end zone this season with the first touchdown of his prep career, but the game ball probably belonged the big boys up front, who simply wore down the Lions’ D-line as Warrenton picked up chunk gain after chunk gain on the ground.

“Our offensive line just did an outstanding job,” McDowell said. “I’ve got to give credit to Josh Heap, Jack Russell, TJ Ray, Cody Crump and Tristian Bihlmaier. They really helped secure the win.”

FZE made it a one score game on a 90-yard kick return by Joshua Johnston following Ireton’s score, but Warrenton’s defense made all the stops it needed in the fourth and senior Brenden Day, who was successful on all four of his PAT attempts, hit a 19-yard field goal in the final minute for good measure.

“We held on and had a lot of kids step up for us,” McDowell said. “We played a good ballgame and really came together as a team.”

Warrenton gained 251 yards on the ground with Dowd recording a season-high 135 rushing yards on 21 carries.

Jacob Parker had 34 yards on six totes, Ireton totaled 18 on four carries. Sam Toenges had a 10-yard run and a 16-yard catch. Dylan Smith had two catches for 16 yards.

Weir completed five-of-11 pass attempts for 41 yards and ran for 54 more on seven rushes. And while junior Tyler Conoyer didn’t attempt a pass after taking over under center in the second half, he did help the Warriors execute three scoring drives.

Defensively, Dowd had a game-high nine tackles (seven solo). Ireton had eight tackles, Heap and Logan Newman seven apiece, Crump, Russell and Parker six each and Jesse Cook made five.

The Lions ended their regular season with a 1-8 record and were led offensively in Week 9 by QB Tyler Lindemann, who ran for 82 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries and completed three of seven passes for 46 yards. In addition to his return score, Johnston accumulated 76 yards on 15 carries and had two catches for 16 more.

East, which beat Warrenton twice last year, has lost three of the last five meetings but is 9-4 in the all-time series.

Warrenton honored its 18 seniors during Friday’s regular season finale, a class that’s made a profound impact on McDowell and the coaching staff.

“This has been a great group,” McDowell said. “It’s a big class and they’ve been a big part of our program over the four years. I appreciate everything they’ve done for Warrenton Warrior football.”

There's still a bit more go to though.

HERE COMES KIRKSVILLE

Kirksville’s Tigers shifted the landscape of the district a bit when they outlasted Marshall 26-21 last week in a North Central Missouri Conference game that denied the Owls the possibility of a home postseason opener.

Quarterback Paxton Dempsay had three rushing touchdowns and a 16-yard TD pass to Noah Copeland to snap a five-game losing streak and lift the Tigers to 2-7 overall on the campaign.

Kirksville, which is averaging 21 points per game while allowing 29, beat Fulton 45-26 for its other win. The losses have come from Macon (28-20), Chillicothe (50-21), Clark County (14-12), Hannibal (41-27), Palmyra (33-6), Mexico (34-20) and Moberly (14-12).

“They might be 2-7, but that’s a pretty decent 2-7 ballclub,” McDowell said. “They pass the ball quite a bit and have a receiver they like to target, who’s a big kid with the ability to go up and get the ball so we have to be very efficient with our pass defense. (Kirksville) also runs some zone read to we have to make sure we’re assignment responsible."

McDowell said Chmiel and Weir could both potentially suit up against the Tigers.

“Offensively, we want to come out, control the ball and the clock and put together some drives like we did against East,” he said. “And we’re confident that whoever is under center can assume responsibility and take care of business.”

This will be the second-ever meeting between Warrenton and Kirksville. The Tigers visited town three years ago in the 2016 district opener with the Warriors coming out on top 52-20.

Friday’s Kirksville/Warrenton winner plays the victor between top seeded Liberty (6-3) and No. 8 Ft. Zumwalt South (0-9) in next week’s quarterfinals.

The other opening round district matchups are No. 7 Ft. Zumwalt East at No. 2 Hannibal (5-4) and No. 6 Marshall (2-7) at No. 3 St. Dominic (6-3).