Despite back-to-back losses to open the 2016 season, the goals for the Warrenton football team were still intact.

“We wanted to win a conference championship and a district championship,” Head Coach Steve McDowell said.

The Warriors opened their Gateway Athletic Conference North schedule with a 56-26 road win over St. Charles last week, and host St. Charles West Friday at 7 p.m.

Like Warrenton, St. Charles West comes into the game at 2-2 overall.

But McDowell isn’t fooled by the record.

“They’ve had some close ballgames this year, but they’ve had a tough schedule so far,” McDowell said. 

West lost to Cape Girardeau Central and (Class 6) Francis Howell Central in weeks two and three before beating Winfield last week, 74-27.

The team is known for its rushing attack, which is led by Alarenz Stanton and Brandon Carbray.

The duo has combined for 142 yards and 10 touchdowns through four games.

Seven other Warriors, however, have also combined to rush for 13 touchdowns.

“We’re going to have to stop the run first and foremost,” McDowell said. 

Warrenton did a better job against  the run last week against St. Charles after struggling in that department earlier in the season.

The Warrior defense gave up 296 rushing yards to Liberty and 383 to Troy the following week.

“We wanted to stop the run game and force them to pass, and we did that,” McDowell said of the strategy against St. Charles. “We just have to tidy up a few things in the secondary and we’ll be fine.”

St. Charles West quarterback Cameren Jett is 18-of-35 through the air for 265 yards and four touchdowns.

But like last week, stopping the run will be Warrenton’s top defensive priority.

West averages 33 rushing attempts per game, and tries to control the clock when it has the ball.

“We have to clean up some of our  tackling,” McDowell said. “That’s where they (St. Charles) had some of their big plays was because of our tackling. We have to avoid penalties, too. We had a ton of bad penalties that put us in a bad position, and they were penalties we could have avoided. If we clean those things up we’ll be a solid ball club.”

Warrenton will continue to start junior quarterback Brenden Smith at quarterback.

Smith took over for senior Drake Meine in week two.

“He’s just a good all-purpose athlete,” McDowell said. He can run, and he’s reading everything really well. His passing game is starting to get more accurate, too. If we can expand upon that a little bit, it will obviously become more of a threat.”

Meine has continued to be a part of the offense, running for 64 yards on 21 carries.

He also has six tackles at linebacker and is averaging 36.4 yards per punt.

“We put him in the offense as an H-back, and we’re going to utilize him as a receiver and as an athlete,” McDowell said. “He’s handled it very maturally. It’s obviously not what he wants, but he has handled it well.”

McDowell said St. Charles West is his team’s biggest roadblock to a conference championship this season, and he hopes Warrenton’s performances the last two weeks will continue.

“They’ve won the conference the last few years,” he said,” “and that’s just something that we have to take care of Friday night.”