After a hard-fought season so far, the Warriors find themselves playing in regionals against the Center Grove Trojans on Friday, Nov. 15, for the third straight season. They lost 14-0 to the Trojans last year.
The Warriors finished the regular season with eight wins and one loss, marking their best regular season record since the 2018 state champion team. The Warriors also finished the regular season with a season-defining 34-28 win against Cathedral on Oct. 18.
Over the season, Warren has fought to maintain a strong and hardworking team. Warren’s defense being one of the best in the state has allowed the Warriors to find success and win crucial games that allow them to play in this regional matchup. The team has also come into big games focused and “locked in” on the common goal of winning.
“I say this a lot, mental focus is a big thing for me,” junior Kaiden Harris said.
After the Cathedral game, Warren had many takeaways both on offense and defense, with their offense finding a great deal of success rushing the ball. The Warriors scored four rushing touchdowns, three of which were by senior Marcus Bell, and the other by sophomore Anthony Dennison.
Warren’s defense also made stops in key moments, which were paramount to the team’s win. Seniors Armonte Jackson and Madden Beriault both recorded an interception against Cathedral. This brought Beriault’s season total to eight interceptions, leading the team in takeaways. Beriault credits his takeaways during the season to his teammates' support.
With that being said, the Warriors are still aware that work needs to be done to refine the team’s overall skill. This has been done through preparation on and off the field weeks before their regional match up.
“We have a lot of time to prepare for our regional opponent,” Beriault said. “I think that is going to come into play because a lot of times our shortcomings are because of our lack of preparation. We were using [the weeks during sectionals] as split preparation so we were doing our Arsonal Tech prep, and our Center Grove prep on top of that, and watching Center Grove film.”
On all sides of the ball, the Warriors are going to have to play outstanding football against the Trojans. The Warriors are playing a team that has equal coaching and equal playing ability. Warren will have to battle back and fourth in order to keep alive in the road to state. Center Grove finished their season with a 5-4 record, losing to notable teams like Lawrence North and Cathedral. Center Grove turned it around in sectionals defeating Jeffersonville 72-7 , and Franklin Central . But Warren believes they are prepared for this matchup based on the way games have played out this season and their response to troubles and misfortunes.
“The team has learned to battle adversity, especially in the Lawrence North game, and then coming back and winning against Carmel by a lot, and that will help us because it will be a tough game and we will have to fight through it,” senior Keith Jackson said.
On offense this season, the Warriors have found success in the run game as well as finding success in the air. Last season against Center Grove in regionals, the Warriors were limited in the air. The Warriors’ defense, however, shut out the Trojans in the first half before allowing 14 points in the second half, marking a season ending 14-0 loss for the Warriors. This is one reason why the Warriors are conducting different drills to become better and enhance their performance against potential statebound teams.
“We are doing something different now,” Donovan Dungy said. “Our offense actually does play our defense and all the time two days a week. It pushes us to have more competition going on, so I feel like we are going to do way better [than last year].”
This year in the regular season the Warriors outscored their opponents by 132 points.
Outside of their games against Cathedral and Lawrence North, Warren has not played a large majority of a game, if at all, losing. Warren went into halftime against Cathedral down 14-7, and with 6:57 left in the third quarter the Warriors were losing 17-7. Warren did not lead Lawrence North at all. When playing a team like Center Grove, the team must prepare to play from behind. Center Grove has the ability to put up many points in very little time.
The Warriors will need to prepare for this, as in their game against Lawrence North the Warriors allowed for the Wildcats to score time and time again, and with no response the Warriors caved in to a humbling 33-7 loss.
“I don't like that we lost, but I do like that we have had to play from behind this year,” Beriault said. “I think it is important for us to come together as a team when we are down and win tough games like that.”
To the Warriors, the game against Center Grove could be season-defining, especially with recent history when playing the Trojans.
“I feel like this year will be different because we want it that much more than what we did previous years, and it is our last year for the majority of us, and so we are going to keep preparing so we can win,” Jackson said.