In a high school football season full of accomplishments, perhaps the most impressive is that some Pioneer fans have made the statement that the team didn’t win by enough Friday night in Manchester.
Complaining about a Pioneer victory shows there are new expectations entirely for this talented team, which has built an 8-0 record and secured a playoff berth.
In what’s been a season of milestones, No. 10 ranked Warren County has a chance to reach two more this Friday at Nunley Stadium.
The Pioneers will earn the right to host to their first home playoff game since 1983 with a win against Riverdale. Warren County can also improve to 9-0 for only the third time in school history.
The 1980 Pioneer team coached by Bobby Newby started 9-0 on the way to an 11-2 season. That team lost to Oak Ridge 29-14 in the playoffs.
The only other time a Pioneer team was 9-0 was the 1973 team coached by Pedro Paz. That team started 10-0 before losing to Baylor 34-14 in the playoffs.
For the first time in recent memory, there’s much at stake in a Warren County/ Riverdale game. Perhaps the most welcome change of all is the game is expected to be competitive.
Riverdale and Warren County have had four common opponents thus far this season – Rockvale, Blackman, Siegel and Cookeville. Both are 4-0 against those common opponents.
Riverdale has an average margin of victory against those four teams of 22.5 points per game. That includes beating Rockvale 48-8 and beating Siegel 28-0.
Warren County has an average margin of victory against those teams of 10.2 points per game.
The Pioneers beat Rockvale 18-13 and beat Siegel 25-20.
Warren County is led by Mr. Football contender C.J. Taylor, who had his first turnovers of the season Friday against Coffee County. Taylor threw two interceptions and also had a fumble.
But C.J. finished with two rushing TDs and he threw for two more scores to account for four of the Pioneers five TDs in a 35-19 win.
For the season, the Pioneer offense is averaging 31.8 points per game. The defense is only surrendering 13.3 points per game.
For Riverdale, the Warriors are averaging 25.2 points offensively. The defense is surrendering 15.3 points per game.
Despite allowing 19 points to Coffee County, it marked the fourth time this season the Pioneer defense has not surrendered a touchdown. The Red Raiders scored two defensive TDs and had a kickoff return for a score.