There was no better birthday gift Ben Matheney could receive this week than seeing his WCMS Pioneers pick up their first win of the season. Warren County finished off its regular season with a dominant road performance, beating Franklin North 28-6.
Pioneer QB John Medley threw two touchdowns and Cameron Redmore and Hunter Holt each rushed for scores as Warren County piled up the yards against the Gators. It was the culmination of a lot of work this year for a team that had flashed on offense, only to see turnovers cause anguish.
Against Franklin North, everything seemed to click as the team compiled 294 yards of offense.
"It was nice for everything to come together," said Matheney, who celebrated his 33rd birthday a day after his team's win Tuesday. "We still lost a fumble, but once is an improvement on the four we lost the previous week. We were able to sustain drives and had our best night throwing the ball."
Redmore helped get the team out in front early, busting off the edge to score in the second quarter. He went untouched from two yards out after Declan McAbee ripped off an 18-yard run to convert a fourth down and get the Pioneers to the goal line.
The passing game took over from there, with Medley locating Skylar Bouldin and Drake Jefferson for scores as the Pioneers built an 16-0 advantage entering the fourth quarter.
Bouldin's TD came early in the second half where he raced past the defense on a 27-yard connection, one where the talented young receiver was able to high-point the ball over the rotating safety at the goal line. Redmore added the two-point conversion run after Bouldin's first TD of the season.
Jefferson's score came on a 22-yard catch where the speedy wing broke free in the middle of the field and was able to beat the safety to the goal line. The Pioneers had the short field and scored quickly following Isaac Sain's punt block to set up the score.
Franklin North was able to bust up the shutout in the final period, but Holt finished off the Gators with his hard running to get to the endzone for the final TD of the night for the Pioneers. McAbee had another big run to set up the score and JC Carden secured a first down with a big catch-and-run on the possession.
Holt also had an interception in the effort and Enrique Hernandez caused havoc on the front line for the Pioneer defense.
"The defense played physical and was dominant. Enrique was the rock and forced triple teams to keep him from eating up the ball carrier," said Matheney.
With the win, Warren County earned the right to play one final game next week in the CTC playoffs. It will be a matchup of third-place teams from the East (represented by the Pioneers) and West divisions of the conference.
"This group is, without a doubt, the most improved in our conference and we look forward to capping off the season with another win next week," said Matheney.
Warren County will face Bridgeforth Middle in Pulaski Tuesday.
