WINFIELD - For the second consecutive week, Coach Steve McDowell watched in frustration as his Warrenton football team surrendered a two-touchdown lead. Only this time, the Warriors would make the last-minute stops needed to secure victory.

Warrenton improved to 2-5 with a 21-19 win at Winfield, holding off its hosts’ final drive after a defensive-heavy second half.

“I’m happy with a win,” said McDowell. “It’s just doggone frustrating that we let Winfield back into this game, when it shouldn’t never have been.”

A week prior, the Warriors had allowed Hogan Prep to rally back from down 14-0 to walk away with a triple overtime victory.

“We were in the same spot as last week, and we tell them, ‘let’s put it away,’” said McDowell. “And we just can’t finish it and put these teams away for good.”

The Warrenton defense found itself backed against the wall, as the offense came up empty in the second half following a productive opening two quarters. Senior Brett Smith has demonstrated reliability in the secondary for the Warriors throughout the season and again stepped up in the final moments to thwart Winfield’s desperation drive.

“Defensively, Brett had a heck of a game,” said McDowell. “With a pick and a couple of breakups, he’s our defensive MVP of the night as far as I’m concerned. He had the game-saving breakup for us.”

With senior starting quarterback Nolan Chmiel recovering from an injury, sophomore Caelon Weir stepped in to guide the Warriors’ offense, completing nine of 14 passes for 91 yards. His primary target was senior Sam Toenges, hauling in three receptions for 30 yards.

Weir helped engineer three scoring drives in the first half, putting Warrenton on the board with a short run just two minutes into the game.

“I thought Caelon did a great job tonight stepping in for Nolan at quarterback,” said McDowell. “He did a very admirable job.”

Winfield responded to notch the game at 7-7, but a strong running effort by the Warriors helped them maintain control. Senior Logan Dowd scored on runs of one and five yards in the second quarter, boosting his team ahead 21-7 at halftime.

He finished with 125 yards on 23 carries, while senior teammate Dylan Smith added 61 yards on 13 rushes.

“I thought for the most part our running game was in good shape,” said McDowell. “Logan and Dylan both had a good night running the football.”

The Warriors came out poised to continue their offensive execution in the second half but were unable to again reach the end zone. 

“We had tremendous opportunities,” said McDowell. “We put together a drive to kill the clock and run out of time. We drove the ball 80 yards down the field and took four minutes off but came up short on a fourth and one situation. It’s there, and we don’t take advantage of it.”

Winfield found success in its passing game during the third quarter, clawing closer with a 65-yard completion from Charos Sutton to Austin Carson.

Will Killingham broke loose for his second rushing touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, narrowing the margin to 21-19 after Winfield failed on consecutive extra-point attempts.

After a disciplined start to the season, the Warriors struggled with mental mistakes for a second straight week, gifting its hosts extended drives on several occasions. 

“The silly penalties we had hurt us a lot,” said McDowell. “We’ve got them in a punt position, they fumble the ball and we come up and make a hit where there’s no need to.”

The win gave Warrenton its second GAC North triumph of the season — both in suspenseful fashion.

Defensively, Owen Ireton collected seven total tackles, while Dylan Smith had six takedowns. 

Brett Smith and Dylan Smith each had an interception, while senior Cody Crump added a sack.

Going to the Eagles Nest 

Coach Steve McDowell is hoping for a complete game from his Warrenton football team this Friday, as the Warriors travel to Orchard Farm for another GAC North matchup.

Much of the season has found the Warrior offense struggling in the second half and scrambling to hold off rallies by the opponent. Warrenton will look to apply consistent pressure against the Eagles, executing throughout the four quarters.

“We’ve just got to find the attitude to finish off these games,” said McDowell. “If we can do it in the first 24 minutes, we should be able to in the second 24 minutes.”

Orchard Farm enters with an identical 2-5 record to the Warriors, having beaten Brentwood and Winfield. Other mutual opponents include losses against St. Charles West and St. Charles.

McDowell expressed the need for his team to reduce the amount of penalties coming off two games where it has put it in pressure situations in the final moments.

“We’re going to have to clean a lot of things up from last week’s effort and do a better job mentally,” said McDowell.

The Warriors anticipate the return of senior quarterback Nolan Chmiel, who sat out in Week seven to rest an injury. Caelon Weir proved his abilities as a backup signal caller during a victory at Winfield in the absence of Chmiel.

McDowell expects the Warrenton secondary to be busy again this Friday, as the Eagles will keep the defense guessing out of a spread attack.

“They’ll run a lot of 3 by 1 and want to try to run the ball a little bit and chuck it deep when they can,” said McDowell. “If they watch film they’ll see they can chuck it deep over us, which baffles me.”

Quarterback AJ Snow has completed 28 of 76 passes for 220 yards and one touchdown to four interceptions. McDowell anticipates he will present perhaps more of a threat on the ground, where he has rushed for 581 yards on 80 carries.

“Snow is probably one of the fastest kids we’ve got in the conference at the quarterback position,” said McDowell. “They’re going to be solid on the line and have a good team.”

Zachary Roberts has paced Orchard Farm on the ground, with 819 yards and nine touchdowns on 113 carries.

Defensively, the Eagles will present a 4-3 front.

“They swarm pretty well to the ball and have a good linebacking corps,” said McDowell.

Warrenton quarterback Caleon Weir delivers a pass during Friday's win at Winfield.