For the Warrenton football team, Aug. 26 seems like ages ago.

It was that evening that the Warriors lost their second game in a row, a 35-21 defeat to Troy to fall to 0-2.

Six weeks later, the team has won four out of five and can capture a share of the Gateway Athletic Conference North championship Friday against Orchard Farm.

“Going into the season I knew what kind of ball club we could be,” Head Coach Steve McDowell said. “It just took us a couple of weeks to knock the rust off and get comfortable with ourselves.”

That included a change at quarterback.

Junior Brenden Smith moved under center from wide receiver, which allowed then-quarterback Drake Meine to focus his attention at linebacker.

Smith is 25-for-49 this season with five touchdowns.

“He has really stepped up, especially with his running skills,” McDowell said. “It’s a read-option type of offense, and he’s done a nice job of knowing when to give the ball off and when to tuck it.”

When he has kept the ball, Smith averages 5.9 yards per carry.

Senior running back Cameron Richardson has helped carry the load, tallying 838 yards and eight touchdowns.

The Warriors will meet a stout defense Friday night.

Orchard Farm (5-2) has given up 21 points or less in five of its seven games this season.

The Eagles offense is led by running back A.J. Hibbler (560 rushing yards, 13 touchdowns) and quarterback D.J Kemp (57 percent passing, eight touchdowns).

Five different receivers have over 100 yards through the air.

“They’ve got a lot of weapons and show you a lot of formations,” McDowell said. “They want to have a short passing game and run the ball. We have to be very disciplined and stay home and do our assignments on Friday.”

The Warrenton defense has improved lately, giving up 10 points per game the last three weeks.

“We’re continuing to get to the ball and get turnovers,” McDowell said. “We’re more disciplined and our tackling is much better.”

Coming into the game, both teams appear similar on paper.

Warrenton beat St. Charles and Winfield by 34.5 points, while Orchard Farm’s margin of victory is 39.

Orchard Farm beat St. Charles West, 28-1, which Warrenton lost to in a rain-soaked affair last month.

It was Warrenton’s only loss since late August.

“If you take those first two games out of the picture, this is the team I thought we’d have coming into the season,” McDowell said. “We just made some mistakes early on, especially penalty-wise.”

Despite the early hiccups, Warrenton’s preseason goals are still within reach.

The Warriors will clinch a share of the GAC North title with a win, and are currently second in the Class 4, District 7 standings, which would guarantee them at least two home playoff games.

“We’ve got ourselves a good opportunity to share a conference title, but we just have to come out and take care of business this Friday,” McDowell said. “One of the goals we had coming into the season was a conference championship, and the door has been reopened for us, but we have to take care of Orchard Farm.”