It wasn’t a perfect game, but a strong start coupled with a good finish carried the Warrenton football team to victory on Friday.
Warrenton ran away with the 34-7 win over visiting Wright City after scoring on the team’s first two drives of the game.
“It feels great, it’s good to come out and beat our crosstown rival by this much,” Warrenton sophomore quarterback Mason Sanders said. “It’s a big confidence boost for the rest of the year coming up.”
The Warriors took the 7-0 lead when a 10-yard scoring run by Brad Tucker capped a nine-play, 85-yard drive and Jake Kinney's point-after-touchdown added to the score with 5 minutes, five seconds remaining in the first quarter.
After a Wright City three-and-out, a four-play, 49-yard Warrenton drive ended when Mason Sanders found Jordan Lopez on a 44-yard scoring strike with 1:30 left in the opening quarter, making it 14-0 after the PAT.
Warrenton could have added to the lead in the first half, if not for a couple of score-nullifying plays.
In the Wildcats' drive after the second score, a fumble recovery by Warrenton sophomore Henry Schneider and subsequent return for a score was wiped out by a personal foul on the Warriors.
Warrenton Coach Jason Koper praised his team for its response to the tough first half with a cleaner run of play over the game’s final two quarters.
“That was not, necessarily, the calmest halftime speech on things we’ve got to clean up,” Koper said. “I’m proud of the guys for battling. We scored more in the second half.”
Then, shortly after the midpoint of the second quarter, Kinney bounced a 30-yard field goal attempt off the right upright.
Sander and Lopez hooked up on a second score with 10:40 to play in the game to make it 21-0.
Wright City’s only score made it 21-7 when junior quarterback Kaden McCurdy found fellow junior Kaveon Schulte from six yards out with 9:03 left.
Wright City Coach John Kleekamp said that the game proved tough as the Wildcats wore down physically in the second half.
“We just couldn’t keep momentum going,” Kleekamp said. “We couldn’t string plays together and Warrenton did a good job defensively of closing the door at times and making big plays when they needed to make them.”
The final two scores belonged to Warrenton, though, as Sanders scored on a 12-yard run with 6:40 left and Eli Schneider scored on a 33-yard scamper with 2:43 left.
The win was the third in the last three seasons by the Warriors over the team’s Warren County rival.
During the 2024 season, Warrenton defeated Wright City 17-7 before earning the 24-7 win at Wright City a year ago.
Up next, Warrenton will head to Washington for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Thursday, while Wright City will open the home portion of its schedule at 7 p.m. Friday against Westminster.
“To not play overly well and win 34-7 in week one is a good step,” Koper said. “But we’ve got to tighten things up because it’s going to get tougher in a hurry.”
