Chance McPike returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and the Warrenton offense accounted for five touchdowns in the Warriors’ 41-6 win over St. Charles Friday night. 

Warrenton (4-0, 1-0 GAC North) scored on their first two drives to gain an early lead in their GAC North opener. McPike took the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown in Warrenton’s wire-to-wire win over the Pirates. 

With the skill position talent St. Charles possesses, Warrenton football coach Jason Koper thought it was critical to get off to a good start. 

“We were kind of talking about it. The best thing that we could do as a team would be to take the opening kickoff back,” Koper said. “Chance is such an explosive athlete. That’s the first touch he’s had on kickoff return. When we have him out there, we hope he gets the opportunity to touch the ball because every time he touches it, he could take it for a touchdown.”

The Warrenton offense added a touchdown on their second offensive drive to take an early 14-0 lead. After gaining the early lead, Warrenton was unable to put more points on the board before halftime. They had a turnover on downs, a punt and three interceptions in the first half after establishing the 14-0 lead. 

“We thought we were just going to be able to kind of do whatever we wanted on offense,” Koper said. “We got away from our game plan. That’s on me as the coach. I got away from what our whole game plan was. In the third quarter, we did exactly what we wanted to do offensively, which was establish the run game and complete short passes and just keep the drives going.” 

The Warriors added a touchdown in the third quarter and three fourth quarter touchdowns to put the game away. Charlie Blondin went 17-25 for 192 yards. He threw two touchdowns and four interceptions. Austin Haas rushed for 200 yards on the ground. Haas, Elias McPike and Kadin Stroer each had one rushing touchdown. Mason Thompson hauled in five catches for 77 yards. Ben Peth had a 41 yard touchdown reception. Austin White also hauled in a touchdown catch. 

Despite the Warrenton offense turning the ball over multiple times throughout the game, the Warrior defense limited St. Charles to six points. The Warrenton defense is giving up less than 12 points per game and has given up 13 points over the past two games combined. 

“Defensively, I thought we played about as flawless of a game as we could,” Koper said. “They had 12 third downs and only converted two of their third downs. So the defense was absolutely flawless.”

The Warrenton defense registered six sacks in the win. Treyvian Guthrie and Javon Jones each had two sacks. Aidan Bond and Cole Meyer had one sack. Peyton Dawson and Brandon Johnson each recorded an interception. Guthrie recovered a fumble. 

Warrenton heads to St. Charles again on a short week to square off against defending GAC North champion St. Charles West (2-2, 1-0 GAC North). 

“It’s a very different football team from St. Charles,” Koper said. “They’re bigger. They look to be more physical. They’re not quite as fast as what St. Charles was. So it’s going to be a different game prep.”

Warrenton is slated to square off against St. Charles West at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at St. Charles West High School.