No. 1 Warriors defeat Vian

No. 1 ranked Washington took control on both sides of the ball in the first half and held on to knock off No. 4 ranked Vian on the road last Friday night, 39-24.

The Warriors played near flawless defense in the first half and clicked on offense as well building a 26-zip advantage over the Wolverines.

“We knew Vian was explosive on offense,” head coach Brad Beller said. “We knew we had to limit their big plays. In the first half we played very well. We were very disciplined and held their running back (DeSean) Mays to five yards rushing.”

He had one pass reception for 11 yards.

“We did a great job of containing him,” the coach said. “It seemed like Hayden Milner and Ben Vaughn were in on every play. They both made tackles inside the box, outside the box and in the backfield. They were a big reason we were able to shut Vian’s offense down.”

Vaughn led the team with nine tackles and recovered a fumble. Milner had eight tackles including four for losses and had one quarterback sack.

But in the second half got their offense untracked.

“We knew we had the big 26-0 lead and wanted our offense to control the clock but we weren’t able to do that,” Beller said.

For the most part Washington was stellar on defense. Vian ran 40 plays and only had 109 yards of offense to show for it. But on five other plays the Wolverines gained 245 yards and scored four touchdowns, two in the third quarter and two in the fourth.

Three of the Wolverine touchdowns came on plays of third down and longer than 10 yards to go, Beller explained.

On those three plays Vian scored on a 71 yard pass, a 60 yard pass and a 59 yard run.

“It was crazy,” Beller said. “But we knew they are explosive.

Washington built their 26-point lead by scoring two touchdowns in both the first and second quarter.

Junior signal caller Major Cantrell opened the scoring hitting Cage Morris on a 58 yard touchdown strike. Later in the first period Cantrell scored on a 25 yard run.

The Warriors added two more rushing touchdowns in the second period. Cole Scott squirted in from 12 yards out and Kade Norman had a two-yard plunge.

Cantrell tossed a 10 yard scoring pass to Nate Roberts in the third stanza and Morris closed out the Warrior scoring with an 80 yard kick return to pay dirt.

“It was a great experience to travel 2 1/2 hours playing away in the heat and humidity,” Beller said. “It is an experience that will benefit us down the road as the season goes along.”

As is their modus operandi, the Warriors spread the ball around on offense.

Six different players rushed the ball and four different players caught passes.

“We were very balanced offensively. We were clicking, getting to the edge and playing very well. Major was 6-7 passing in the first half but was 1-7 in the second.

“We were smooth and crisp in the first half,” the coach said. “But once we got up 39-6 we relaxed and allowed a really good team to keep fighting.”

Cantrell finished the night going 7 of 14 for 151 yards and the two touchdowns and threw two interceptions.

The Warriors rushed the pigskin 42 times for 228 yards and three touchdowns. Hudson Howard led the rushing charts with 14 carries for 89 yards and Norman had 125 all purpose yards in the contest.

Washington hosts perennial power Sulphur this Friday night with kick off set for 7 p.m. he Warriors traveled to Murray County last year and came away with a 34-13 victory.

As usual Sulphur can run the football. Beller reports their offensive line play has really improved since their first scrimmage.

“But this year’s Sulphur team is a little more spread than what they’ve been in the past with the move in of quarterback Cache Barrett. He’s a good player and they have quite a bit of speed on the outside.

“I’m sure they are going to look to get the ball to their playmakers in space,” Beller said.

The Bulldogs operate out of a four man front on defense but are very multiple.

“As they are every year they are all about physicality. They run to the football very well and are aggressive on every snap of the game. We’ve got to execute each and every play or their defense will manhandle you.”

Beller said the key for the Warriors is to play 48 minutes of football. We can’t have the ups and downs and give up the negative plays on defense. We’ve got to play 48 straight minutes.”

Warrior notes:

Head coach Brad Beller nominated Hudson Howard as the Offensive Player of the Week. He rushed 14 times for 89 yards.

The Defensive Player of the Week nominee was Ben Vaughn, who had nine tackles including one for a loss.

Beller nominated Hayden Milner as the Defensive Lineman of the Week for his eight tackle performance. He had four stops behind the line of scrimmage and had one quarterback sack.

The Offensive Lineman of the Week was Tanner Winlock, who graded out at 87 percent last Friday night.