Football

Warriors shut down by Mexico

Derrick Forsythe, Correspondent
Posted 10/29/21

Daylight was scarce for the Warrenton football team during a 60-14 loss to Mexico last Friday. The Warriors found minimal running room, finishing with just 36 yards in the ground game.

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Football

Warriors shut down by Mexico

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Daylight was scarce for the Warrenton football team during a 60-14 loss to Mexico last Friday. The Warriors found minimal running room, finishing with just 36 yards in the ground game.

“They beat us up front offensively and defensively,” said coach Jason Koper. “They controlled the line of scrimmage, and we weren’t able to establish the run.”

Despite the setback and falling to 2-6 on the season, the Warriors will not be forced to board a bus for a long road trip to open district play this week. A narrow margin of victory in the points ranking system resulted in Warrenton being awarded a home playoff game this Friday against Moberly.

“We were very excited to get a home game,” said Koper. “That’s one of the goals of the season. We haven’t quite had the results we wanted along the way, but nonetheless, we still get a Week 10 home game.”

The Warriors are hopeful they can find more success than they did against Mexico, which scored four unanswered touchdowns in the second half. Warrenton trailed 27-14 late in the second quarter but would never again reach the end zone.

An even split of 27 rushing and passing attempts resulted in more success through air, as senior quarterback Caelon Weir completed 12 throws for 109 yards and one touchdown to two interceptions.

“Caelon’s leadership in that game, I was very impressed with,” said Koper. “He wasn’t getting much time, and we weren’t getting much going. I just thought he did a good job keeping composure and trying to encourage guys.”

Weir found senior Kolby Meine on a 24-yard touchdown strike midway through the first quarter, following a forced fumble by sophomore Jacob Ruff and recovery by senior Joe Evans.

“Defensively, we forced a couple turnovers and had a few big stops, but were only able to capitalize on one of them,” said Koper.

With the Warriors already trailing 27-6, Weir scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 1:40 left to go in the period.

“From that point we couldn’t really get anything going offensively,” said Koper. “The few times we did get a big hole opened up, their linebackers were flying downhill at us.”

Senior Issiah Jones had the bulk of the carries for the Warriors, managing just 29 yards on 14 touches. Freshman Austin Haas added 18 yards on seven carries.

“In the second half we really tried to rely heavily on the passing game,” said Koper. “During the second quarter and into the second half we tried to pass it more. We weren’t able to get many deep balls going or anything like that.”

Meine continued his consistent role as leading receiver, hauling in four catches for 45 yards. Haas also had four catches for 36 yards.

The Warriors did have senior T.J. Ray and junior Troy Lundy back in the trenches after having been sidelined for a few weeks, but Mexico still controlled the line of scrimmage.

“Going into the game I told our guys that was going to be the key, and Mexico got the best of us,” said Koper.

He expects Moberly to bring a different approach from anything like the Warriors have seen this season.

“They run more out of a shotgun with wing,” said Koper. “It’s a little different offense than what we typically see. They throw more than Mexico, so we’ll have to be sound in our coverage. We’ve got to get better assignment-wise on both sides of the ball going into the playoffs.”

Football, Warrenton High School

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