In what has quickly become one of the most anticipated games on the schedule for Warren County football, the matchup versus Coffee County was expected to be a slugfest Friday night. However, those expectations were dashed as the Red Raiders defeated the Pioneers by a final score of 46-7.
Coffee County collected 410 total yards of offense behind its sophomore sensation, QB Alontae Taylor, who lived up to his billing.
Taylor ran the ball 18 times for 177 yards and he wasn’t doing it all with his feet. Taylor went through the air too, completing 7-of-11 passes for 135 yards. The Pioneers could not find a way to contain the slippery QB.
WCHS coach Tom Moore told his audience at his coach’s show last week, “Taylor is the fastest kid I have ever seen play high school football.” True to form, Taylor displayed explosiveness Friday night.
Tyrese McGee caught three passes from Taylor for 69 yards to lead the Red Raiders.
Warren County posted 208 total yards of offense. Running back Rickie King carried the ball 19 times for 85 yards. King struggled at times to find holes in the Red Raider defense. In one series deep inside Coffee County territory, King hurdled a defender and gained additional yardage on the carry.
Pioneer QB Isaiah Grayson went over the century mark last week, but this week he was only able to muster 35 yards on nine carries.
This week’s favorite target was sophomore wide out Tyree Ladet. Ladet caught two passes for 31 yards.
Lorenzo Wilson was relatively quiet versus Coffee County until the start of the second quarter. After a Red Raider fumble, Warren County had the ball deep in Coffee County territory at the 20.
With a short field to work with, Warren County found itself on the 7-yard line with a third-and-goal. Grayson took the snap and handed the ball off to Wilson. Wilson rolled to his right and Grayson slipped through the defense. Wilson pulled up, planted, and fired over the defense and found Grayson in the back of the end zone.
A 12-yard touchdown pass by Wilson was the only TD the Pioneers found Friday.
After having his best game of the season last week, Grayson could not seem to find his rhythm versus the Red Raiders.
Alontae Taylor stole the show on Friday night. On third-and-8 from the 42-yard line, Taylor dropped back and fired a shot that hit his intended target who slipped behind the Pioneer defense. The first quarter ended after back-to-back turnovers by each team and Coffee County led 7-0.
The Wilson touchdown pass tied the score at 7-7 early in the second quarter and it looked like it might be a game. But it was all Coffee County after that. The Red Raiders scored 39 unanswered points. The second quarter accounted for 27 of those 39 points.
Taylor took his game to the next level in the second quarter. He collected three of the four touchdowns just before the half.
His first came on a second-and-3 from the 27-yard line. He was there and then he wasn’t. He split the defense and raced 27 yards to the endzone.
On his second TD run, Taylor rolled out and turned the corner and raced down the sideline 43 yards.
In his final touchdown before the half, Taylor weaved in and out of traffic at high speed for a 25-yard jaunt right through the heart of the defense.
One more touchdown came in the second quarter off a pick-6 when Mill Harner stepped in front of a Grayson pass and raced just over 20 yards untouched. At the halftime break, Coffee County led the Pioneers 34-7.
The second half started with a Pioneer fumble on their first snap from the 13-yard line. Coffee County made short work of the short field. The drive was capped off by a two-yard run by Boone Riddle. The Red Raiders led 40-7.
The final score for the Red Raiders was in the final six minutes of the game. Justice Benitez darted straight through the offensive line and before the Pioneer defense saw him, it was too late. He covered 37 yards within seconds and put Coffee County up 46-7.
The Coffee was too strong for Warren County’s taste and the Pioneers were defeated on the road in Manchester by a final score of 46-7.
Coach Moore said, “We just didn’t have a good week of practice even though we were out of school for fall break. We need a better level of commitment from our guys.”
Warren County will play at Nunley Stadium this Friday, Oct. 23, versus Siegel with a kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. Siegel is winless for the season.