Dylan Leffingwell had his first throw of the game intercepted by Marietta's Matt Thompson.
But after that, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior quarterback played virtually mistake-free ball, passing for four touchdowns and 321 yards in a 44-24 triumph over the Tigers (1-1) in non-conference football action at Don Drumm Stadium Friday night.
It was a standing room only crowd at Don Drumm.
"I couldn't worry about that interception," Leffingwell said. "I just got myself together, because I've got great receivers and running backs. It was a lot of fun."
Leffingwell's leading receivers were Jeremy Hastie and Jeremy Fivecoait, who combined for nine receptions for 211 yards and three touchdowns. Josh Windland had three catches for 57 yards and one TD as the Warriors improved their record to 2-0.
Warren's Josh Mays gained 102 yards and scored a pair of TDs.
Fact Box
Warren 44, Marietta 24
at Don Drumm Stadium
Warren 10 14 13 7 - 44
Marietta 0 6 12 6 - 24
First quarter
W: Josh Mays, 22 run (Chas Miller kick), 5:04
W: Miller, 20 field goal, :20.3
Second quarter
W: Josh Windland, 34 pass from Dylan Leffingwell (Miller kick), 11:05
M: Dedder Baker, 4 run (run failed), 4:42
W: Jeremy Hastie, 42 pass from Leffingwell (Miller kick), 2:50
Third quarter
M: Chance Wright, 78 pass from Justin Futrell (pass failed), 8:48
M: Anthony Kimbrough, blocked kick in end zone (pass failed), 8:15
W: Jeremy Fivecoait, 53 pass from Leffingwell (pass failed), 7:54
W: Hastie, 15 pass from Leffingwell (Miller kick), 4:05
Fourth quarter
M: Quinton Coffield, 52 pass from Futrell (pass failed), 4:30
W: Josh Mays, 30 run (Miller kick), 3:04
Team stats
Warren: First downs 16, Rushes/yds 35/145, Passing yds 321, Total yds 456, Pen/yds 9/95, Punts/avg 3/30, Fumbles/lost 0/0
Marietta: First downs 10, Rushes/yds 26/72, Passing yds 222, Total yds 294, Pen/yds 5/57, Punts/avg 6/31, Fumbles/lost 2/1
Individual stats
Warren - Rushing: Josh Mays 12/102-2TD, Jeremy Fivecoait 1/35; Passing: Leffingwell 20-29-321-4TD-1INT; Receiving: Jeremy Fivecoait 4-95-1TD, Josh Windland 3-57-1TD, Jeremy Hastie 5-116-2TD
Marietta - Rushing: Dedder Baker 16/41-1TD, Mitchel Gearhart 7/30; Passing: Justin Futrell 9-21-222-2TD-1INT; Receiving: Chance Wright 4-131-1TD, Baker 2-24, Quinton Coffield 1-52-1TD
Next game: Marietta at PHS at 7:30 p.m. Friday; Athens at Warren at 7:30 p.m. Friday
Marietta was paced by QB Justin Futrell (222 yards passing, two TDs) and wide receiver Chance Wright (over 100 yards receiving, one TD).
"Justin threw well," said MHS coach Bob Springer. "And we learned some things tonight. We've got to get the ball to Chance Wright and Quinton Coffield more."
Warren staked itself to a 7-0 advantage in the opening period when Mays scored on a 22-yard touchdown run. Chas Miller kicked the extra point.
The Warriors' first points of the game were set up by a 35-yard run by Fivecoait on a fake point to the MHS 45-yard line. Leffingwell then completed a 16-yard screen pass to Hastie.
"The fake punt was one of the turning points in the game," Springer said.
Late in the first quarter, Miller kicked a 20-yard field goal to stretch the Warren lead to 10-0. That was set up by a 41-yard pass completion from Leffingwell to Hastie to the Tiger 2.
Early in the second quarter, Leffingwell hit Windland with a 34-yard scoring strike, and Miller booted the PAT to make it 17-0 Warriors.
Late in the second stanza, Marietta had its best offensive surge of the game. Futrell completed a 24-yard fourth-down pass to Dedder Baker, and then the Tigers got 15 more yards on a Warren roughing the passing penalty to the 21.
Futrell then completed a first-down throw to Wright just inside the 10.
Marietta got on the board when Baker swept left on a fourth-and-goal to reduce the deficit to 17-6.
Warren answered that with a TD of its own when Leffingwell completed a short pass to Hastie, who raced 42 yards to paydirt, making it 24-6.
About 20 seconds before the break, Miller was wide on a 22-yard field goal attempt.
Still, the Warriors led 24-6 at halftime.
"We we were very focused on this game," Leffingwell said. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves."
But Marietta came back quickly in the third, scoring twice to cut it to 24-18.
At the 8:48 mark, Futrell hooked up with Wright for a 78-yard TD. Almost a minute later, the Tigers' Anthony Kimbrough blocked a Warren punt and pounced on it in the end zone to reduce the deficit to eight points.
Regrouping, though, Leffingwell hit both Fivecoait and Hastie with scoring strikes to give Warren a 37-18 advantage.
Capping all the scoring in the fourth quarter, Marietta's Coffield caught a 52-yard TD pass from Futrell, and Warren's Mays ran 30 yards for a score.
"We came back, and the kids played hard," Springer said. "We just had too many breakdowns in coverage."
