The last time the Warren County Pioneers were 5-0 there was no Facebook, no Snapchat, and no cellphones.
The last time Warren County football was 5-0 was in 1980.
Friday night, C.J. Taylor rushed for 321 yards and put the Pioneers on a path to history. C.J. scored all five Pioneer touchdowns, and probably drove the team bus back to McMinnville. The final score was 35-28.
The Pioneers won on night where they didn't complete a pass and survived a last-second Blackman throw to the endzone to leave Murfreesboro with a win.
Warren County charged out to a 21-0 lead with C.J. touchdown runs of 15, 16, and 80 yards.
At halftime it was 21-7, and the game appeared to be lopsided.
Heralded Blackman QB Drew Beam was held to 93 yards passing in the first half. The Blackman Blaze only had 18 yards rushing. It was a beautiful combination of dominating Pioneer offense and a stifling defense.
The second half was a continuation of the first. Warren County received the kickoff, and marched 78 yards on a scoring drive.
Sophomore Braylon Grayson dropped a handoff, picked it up, and turned it into a 42-yard run. It was that type of night for Warren County. Everything was working. And Mr. Everything, C.J. Taylor, finished the drive with a 6-yard TD run to push the WCHS lead to 28-7.
Blackman, sensing it was in trouble, went for it on fourth-and-8 on its own 46-yard line. Beam threw an incompletion, and Warren County took over on downs.
Warren County then drove downfield. You guessed it, C.J. Taylor scored again, his fifth TD. This time C.J. scored with a 34-yard run. Warren County was up 35-7.
Blackman then went into its passing game, and Beam began finding receivers all over the field. Beam exploded for 216 yards with a host of receivers in the second half. As time was running off the clock, Blackman had closed the gap from being down 35-7 in the beginning of the third quarter to 35-21 in the final minutes.
After a couple of exchanges of possession, Blackman scored with 16.8 seconds left. The score was now 35-28. Blackman kicked an onside kick, and added suspense by recovering the ball.
A short pass from Beam to Justin Brown put Blackman on Warren County’s 33-yard line with 14.8 seconds left. An incomplete pass by Beam left :03 on the clock.
That left one last heave to the end zone with the game, and an undefeated season, on the line. Beam went back to pass and threw the ball up for grabs in the end zone. The Pioneers knocked the ball down and the game was over.
The Pioneers remain undefeated, 5-0. Now they have the chance to make more history this week at Siegel and break a 29-year losing streak.