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Warren trumps Morgan, 33-8, in Jamboree scrimmage

By Kevin Pierson

The Marietta Times

VINCENT – In just a few short months the simple concept of an ice bucket bath has turned from a dreaded punishment to an awareness campaign that’s gone viral across the United States, with more than $53.3 million raised for ALS, or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

And when Meigs football coach Mike Bartrum called out his friend Anthony Fish, the Warren Warriors became the newest group of athletes to take on the Ice Bucket Challenge after their football game with the Morgan Raiders Friday evening.

“They (Meigs Marauders) did a challenge and named us,” Fish explained. “They named the Meigs County schools and they named us and we accepted.”

Shortly after completing a 33-8 victory over the Raiders, the entire team and coaching staff of the Warriors gathered at the end of the field, where members of the Barlow Volunteer Fire Department doused them with cold water from a fire truck.

Celebrating their challenge, the Warriors realized the game is more than just the first opportunity for teams to get under the lights.

“It (Jamboree Game) is for a good cause,” said Warren senior Jared Isner, who had 110 yards rushing and two touchdowns in the game. “We have an alumni with the disease so we’re going to support him 110 percent.”

Enacted in 2009, Jamboree games are a third preseason scrimmage high school teams across Ohio are permitted to play in with complete game simulation, including running clock and in accordance with all OHSAA rules. Schools are charged a fee, with that fee serving as a donation to the OHSAA’s Catastrophic Insurance Fund, which provides financial support for high school athletes that suffer quad or paraplegia as a result of competing in high school athletics.

The schools can then select a charity to donate funds to, with the host school picking the cause.

As the opponent for the Warriors’ fund raising game, the Raiders also enjoyed the contest, sticking around at the end of the field to watch as the Warren players were doused.

“It (Jamboree games) is a good thing,” said Morgan football coach Derek Bragg. “It’s another chance for us to get work and it’s raising money for a good cause.”

While they were playing the game for more than just the enjoyment of sport, there were still four quarters to play in full game conditions, with the Warriors capitalizing in virtually every aspect to take the 33-8 win.

The Warriors held the Raiders to just 44 yards of total offense in the game, with 43 of those coming via the pass while racking up over 349 yards themselves.

In fact, Isner had more yards on one 64-yard touchdown than Morgan managed throughout the four quarters of play.

“It all starts up front,” Isner said. “You can’t have that nice running game without the line stepping up.”

On both sides of the ball the Warriors’ line certainly stepped up.

Morgan ran the ball 28 times in the contest but managed just a single yard. Only senior tailback Michael Apperson managed to record more than two yards in the contest and three Raider runners finished with negative yards rushing.

“They never got the ball past the 40-yard line in the first half,” Fish said. “I’m very happy with the way the defense played.”

All told, the Raiders had 18 plays from scrimmage that resulted in positive yards. Conversely, they had 14 that went backwards.

In point of fact, Morgan’s best offense proved to be the Warriors, who committed 16 penalties for a total of 130 yards in the game. Of course, the Raiders weren’t much better as they were flagged 14 times for 110 yards.

“We had a lot of delay of game penalties. I don’t know if it was me getting the plays in quick enough or us not getting out of the huddle,” Bragg said. “We’re out of shape. We need to condition more and we need to work on our offense, and we need to work on our tackling.”

As impressive as the stat line ended up offensively for the Warriors, it took them a while to gain traction as their first two possessions, which both began in Raider territory, stalled out.

It wasn’t until Isner broke free from a pair of tackles for a 64-yard touchdown run that the offense finally came to life. To that point Warren had more yardage assessed against them in penalties than yards gained.

“We just kept going back to the same plays. If it didn’t work, you do it again,” Fish said. “Once we got those first couple runs going we were able to keep Morgan on their heels.”

After Isner’s first TD scamper, the Warrior offense gained traction as it covered 52 yards in six plays to capitalize on its next offensive series and missed a 25 yard field goal as time wound down in the first half on the final possession before half.

Leading 13-0 at the break, the Warriors wasted no time putting the game away as they scored three times in the third quarter.

The first possession after halftime the Warriors were aided by a pair of Raider penalties, which accounted for 30 of the 70 yards on the scoring drive, before Tanner Huck scored from 33 yards out with 8:48 on the clock to make the score 19-0.

Taking possession on downs after Michael Smith sacked Morgan quarterback Brayden Hoskinson at the 5-yard line, the Warriors needed just three plays to score again as Jake Davis raced in from 2 yards out.

The final possession of the third saw Trevian White score from 10 yards out as time expired in the stanza for a 33-0 Warrior advantage.

Down but not out, the Raiders managed their best offensive production of the game in the fourth quarter. Taking over at the Warrior 37, the Raiders spoiled the shutout when quarterback Dakota Leopold connected with Chris Langerman on a 23-yard touchdown pass with 4:12 to play in the game. Caden Williams converted the 2-point conversion for Morgan to set what turned out to be the final score.

“We kept playing on defense. We started to block better and run the ball better in the second half,” Bragg said. “We’ve just got to bring that fire and energy to them.”

Even though they’re officially still 0-0, Fish saw a lot of benefit in his team’s first victory of the 2014 season, which is also his first after taking over as coach of the Warriors in the offseason for Andy Schob, who is now the assistant principal and athletic director at Fort Frye.

“It (Jamboree) gives us an opportunity to see the things we need to work on under the lights,” Fish said. “A scrimmage at 10 o’clock on a Thursday doesn’t give you the same effect as playing on a Friday night.”

Warren 33, Morgan 8

Morgan 0 0 0 8 – 8

Warren 7 6 20 0 – 33

First quarter

W: Jared Isner 64 run (Robert Fish kick) 0:18

Second quarter

W: Isner 6 run (kick fail) 7:59

Third quarter

W: Tanner Huck 33 run (kick fail) 8:48

W: Jake Davis 2 run (Fish kick) 4:17

W: Trevian White 10 run (Fish kick) 0

Fourth quarter

M: Chris Langerman 23 pass from Dakota Leopold (Caden Williams run) 4:12

Team stats:

MORGAN

First downs: 4; Rushes/yds 28-1; Passing (comp/att/TD/int) 4-9-1-0; Passing yds 43; Total yds 44; Penalties/yds 14-110; Punts/avg. 6-32.3; Fumbles/lost 2-1

WARREN

First downs 9; Rushes/yds 48-315; Passing (comp/att/TD/int) 2-4-0-0; Passing yds 34; Penalties/yds 16-130; Punts/avg 0-0; Fumbles/lost 1-1

Individual stats

Morgan: Rushing: Michael Apperson 10-27; Brayden Hoskinson 5-(-25); Cole Earich 6-1; Dakota Leopold 3-(-5); Caden Williams 1-1; Trace Coleman 3-2; Passing: Brayden Hoskinson 3-8-20 yds; Dakota Leopold 1-1-23 yds, TD; Receiving: Brenden Vincent 1-17; Michael Apperson 1-0; Dylan Johnson 1-2; Chris Langerman 1-23, TD

Warren: Rushing: Derrick Carey 4-25; Jared Isner 9-110, 2 TDs; Andrew Henthorn 2-3; Mark McDermott 1-2; Troy Huck 1-6; Clinton Anderson 1-(-1); Ronnie Hill 1-7; Justus Johnson 5-34; Tanner Huck 5-56, TD; Seth Balderson 3-19; Jake Davis 3-1, TD; Trevian White 3-11, TD; Nicholas Fish 1-10; Bryce Gandee 1-12; Passing: Andrew Henthorn 1-2-4 yds; Bryce Gandee 1-2-30 yds; Receiving: Jake Davis 1-4; Bishop Ford 1-30

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