A first half defensive stand and Warrenton’s deep passing game propelled the Warriors to their third consecutive win to start the season. 

Warrenton (3-0) blocked a field goal on the first play of the second quarter with the game tied 7-7 and scored three touchdowns later in the quarter to take a commanding lead in their 42-7 win over Owensville. 

“We started off a little slow in the first half, but we all came together as a team right there in the second half and then we kind of took off from there,” Warrenton junior running back Austin Haas said. “We’ve just got to bond as a team and keep going from there.”

With the game tied at the start of the second quarter and Owensville facing a 4th and 1 from the Warrenton 3-yard line, Owensville opted to attempt a 20-yard field goal. Warrenton blocked the field goal and took the lead early in the quarter on Charlie Blondin’s  75-yard touchdown pass to Mason Thompson on the ensuing drive. Blondin hit several Warrior receivers on deep passes to set up scores in the second quarter. 

“Their safeties, they weren’t playing very deep,” Blondin said. “They only have one guy in the middle. So on the posts, I could just hit them on the hashes.” 

Warrenton head coach Jason Koper stressed the importance of the defensive stop deep in the red zone and the blocked field goal to start the quarter. Warrenton seized the momentum to score three touchdowns in the second quarter and take a commanding 28-7 lead into halftime. 

“To not give them continued momentum was just absolutely massive for us,” Koper said. “A huge block, a huge shift in the momentum. You could see it on their side. And that kind of seemed to be what sparked our defense to play strong the rest of the game.”

Warrenton scored a pair of touchdowns later in the quarter on 1-yard touchdown runs by Blondin and Kadin Stroer to give Warrenton a 28-7 lead at the half. Deep passes to Peyton Dawson and Chance McPike set up Warrenton inside the 5-yard line on both touchdown drives. 

“We’ve got so much skill,” Koper said. “We’re so difficult for teams to defend and it makes it easy to go for those deep shots in those scenarios.”

Warrenton’s focus shifted to the ground game in the second half. Junior Austin Haas scored on a pair of rushing touchdowns to extend Warrenton’s lead to 42-7 with a few minutes remaining in the third quarter and trigger the running clock. Haas also scored Warrenton’s first quarter touchdown on the ground. 

Haas credited this offensive line for helping create running lanes. 

“Give it all to my big boys, I mean, that hole was huge,” Haas said. “Every play. I mean, I didn’t have to make a cut. When I don’t have to make a cut, it’s hats off to them. Really. I mean, they did the work. I’m just running the ball and they did a great job.”

The Warrenton defense shut out the Dutchmen over the final three quarters. Owensville’s lone touchdown came on the second drive of the first quarter. Peyton Dawson recorded an interception on the Dutchmen’s first drive to set up Warrenton’s first score. 

Koper thought the Warrior defense played great except for the first couple drives of the game when he thought they were out of alignment and did not execute well. The defense picked up the intensity as the game went on, Koper said. 

“I look at our team and I feel like that’s the most improved part of our game. I mean, our offense is obviously better than last year, but our defense is just absolutely dominant at times,” Koper said. 

Koper said Joe Goldsmith and Kadin Stroer “have been just our passion and our leaders in practice.” They get the team motivated, Koper added. 

The Warriors, who received votes in the Class 4 Missouri football media rankings, are set to open GAC North play with a road game at St. Charles Friday. Koper said Warrenton’s goal is to play four complete quarters. 

“We just haven’t played four complete quarters yet,” Koper said. “And that’s the one thing that we got to work on. We talked about tonight, we didn’t quite execute the way I would have liked to tonight in four quarters. But, you know, if we clean up the mistakes and a few less penalties, we’ll get there. And the goal is to play your best football in week 10. And I don’t think we’re anywhere near there yet.”