Warriors stave off Sulphur

Washington came away a nail-biting 27-25 victory over the Sulphur Bulldogs at Reed Field last Friday night.

Sulphur had scored on fourth down with one second remaining on the clock with a chance to send the game into overtime.

Quarterback Cash Barrett rolled to his right on the two point try but slipped before he could get the pass off and Washington clung to victory.

“It was kind of a mixed bag for us,” head coach Brad Beller said. “We didn’t play up to our standards. When the offense was clicking our defense struggled. When the defense was clicking the offense was struggling.

“We never clicked on both sides of the ball. It was a very uninspiring, ugly game and we’ve got to get that cleaned up,” the coach said.

Beller gave a lot of the credit to a young Sulphur team.

“It was their first game of the season and they brought a lot of energy and executed better than we did. Sulphur has a very bright future. Not that they haven’t been good but they are going to be really, really good in the next couple of years,” Beller said.

Both teams scored a touchdown in the first quarter but the Bulldogs led at halftime 10-7.

Kade Norman found pay dirt on a two yard scamper in the opening period.

Cole Scott, who has been slowed with an ankle injury, scooted in from two yards out in the third period. Scott moved to the end zone in the fourth quarter on a four-yard run and Major Cantrell hit Nate Roberts with a touchdown pass that covered 30 yards to close out the Washington scoring.

The coach praised the play of not only Roberts but right offensive guard Tanner Winlock.

“They both played really good games,” Beller noted.

Led by Keller Howard’s 10 tackles and two sacks, the Warrior defense held Sulphur to 46 yards rushing.

Naithen Spaulding had nine tackles and a pair of sacks and Ben Vaughn registered seven tackles and had three quarterback hurries that forced incompletions.

Over half of Sulphur’s yards came on four long pass plays.

“That’s two weeks in a row,” Beller said. “We’ve got to limit those.”

The Warriors travel to Jones Friday for a 7 p.m. kick off against the Longhorns.

The Jones quarterback, who engineers their spread offense, converted from a running back/slot receiver last year.

“He is very athletic and makes a lot of plays in the passing game moving around in the pocket,” Beller said. “He’s just a good football player. They have a couple of receivers who are good in space so they want to get them the ball.

“The quarterback gets rid of the ball quickly so any time we have the opportunity to get to him we need to make sure we corral him,” the coach said. “Otherwise he will move the sticks.”

Jones is a very talented defensive team that base out of a 3-4.

“They are very strong and athletic in their defensive line. “We need to do a good job of moving them in our run game and make sure we sustain blocks throughout the play.”

Key for a Warrior victory are limiting the big plays and sustaining drives on offense.

“We have not done a very good job of sustaining drives,” Beller noted. “We either get a penalty, have a negative play with busted assignments or a poor throw. We’ve got to sustain drives.”

Warrior notes:

Head coach Brad Beller nominated Nate Roberts as the Offensive Player of the Week. Roberts hauled in five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown.

Beller nominated Tanner Winlock as the Offensive Lineman of the Week. He graded out at 87 percent.

Nominated as the Defensive Lineman of the Week was Naithen Spaulding, who had nine tackles and recorded two sacks.

Getting the nod as the Defensive Player of the Week was Keller Howard, who notched 10 tackles and added a pair of quarterback sacks.