The calendar has yet to flip to October, but it already fills like the Pioneers are having nightmares every Friday night. Warren County suffered its third straight mercy-rule loss in Cookeville, falling 49-7 to the Cavaliers.
Warren County (1-5) has now lost its last five games and each of the last three have gotten ugly in a hurry. Cookeville went up 42-7 by halftime, leaving the clock to run the entire second half. A disastrous start for the Pioneers fueled the Cavaliers, who took the lead just five plays into the matchup and never looked back.
"Can we stop everything from snowballing on us? That's the question we have to answer and I have to answer," said coach Matt Turner. "It applies to the game, where we hit adversity early and never really recovered, and also applies to where we're at in the season.
"It falls on me to make sure this doesn't just keep spiraling. It's tough right now; We're going to keep working and keep putting in the time in the film room and on the practice field to hopefully stop this now."
Warren County received the opening kickoff and junior Gage Harris was planted at the Pioneer 18 before he could get off and running. The Pioneers followed by committing a false start before their first snap, then fumbling when they did get the play off. Sophomore Brady Swallows went for a hand-off, but the ball hit off the fullback's leg and Cookeville swooped in for a recovery at the Pioneer 12.
Two plays later, Caden Outlaw went untouched on an eight-yard sweep to give his team the lead.
Warren County found some lightning in the bottle on its next possession, needing just one play to get on the board. Sophomore Adrian Harris showed his breakaway speed on an 80-yard TD run, blasting through a hole at the line and splitting the Cookeville safeties before leaving them in the dust.
"We came back with a formation that we had some success with and thought we could get a look we wanted. That's what happened - the line opened the hole and Adrian showed off the speed we all know he has," said Turner.
Cookeville had an immediate answer in the first quarter as Thomas Johnson scored on a six-yard TD after a quick drive. When the Cavaliers got the ball back again, they used some trickery to make it a two-score game.
The Cavaliers scrambled Blake Owen out on a speed option, only to see him pitch it to Jackson Jones on a reverse. Instead of taking off with the ball, Jones stopped before the line of scrimmage and found Mason Taylor wide open behind the Pioneer defense for a 46-yard scoring strike.
Cookeville added three more TDs in the second quarter, scoring on a blocked punt, a 41-yard run by Owen and a 36-yard catch by Presley Jared from Owen.
Johnson would add a six-yard scoring run on the first drive of the second half before the clock ticked away on both teams late.
The Pioneers tried a little bit of everything offensively, including using Swallows and freshman Kristopher Robledo as passers, but nothing seemed to spark the group.
Warren County finished with just three first downs and Harris' 45-yard kick return in the third was one of the lone late highlights.
The Pioneers will hit the road again this week to take on Green Hill. It will be the first-ever meeting between Warren County and the Hawks, who suffered their first loss Friday to Gallatin 24-10.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
